On the eve of the NHL's draft lottery, which will definitively determine the draft order of the 14 non-playoff teams, the Central Scouting Bureau released it's final rankings of all draft eligible players for 2011. With perhaps a few surprises, the final rankings have added some speculation and intrigue as to who may be available when the New Jersey Devils make their selection.
While the Devils would be currently making the eighth overall selection in the draft, there's a chance that could change by Tuesday night when the draft lottery is completed. The Devils have a 3.6% chance of winning the lottery, but should they do so, they would be making the fourth overall selection since the most a team in the lottery can move up is four spots. If a team currently seeded 9-14 were to win the draft lottery, the Devils would slip back one spot in the order, making them the ninth overall selection.
Central Scouting has determined the following players as the top 10 North American skaters in the draft:
1 Nugent-Hopkins, Ryan - Center - Red Deer - WHL
2 Landeskog, Gabriel - Left Wing - Kitchener - OHL
3 Huberdeau, Jonathan - Center - Saint John - QMJHL
4 Hamilton, Dougie - Defenseman - Niagara - OHL
5 Beaulieu, Nathan - Defenseman - Saint John - QMJHL
6 Couturier, Sean - Center - Drummondville - QMJHL
7 Baertschi, Sven - Left Wing - Portland - WHL
8 Strome, Ryan - Center - Niagara - OHL
9 Murphy, Ryan - Defenseman - Kitchener - OHL
10 Siemens, Duncan - Defenseman - Saskatoon - WHL
A very interesting note to the ranking of these final 10, is that not one player is slotted in the same spot as their mid-term ranking. Depth throughout the top 10 is a definite strength of this draft, with not a lot of certainty on where players will end up when it's all said and done. Nathan Beaulieu, a defensemen, crashes the party of the top 5 and moves up four spots from his mid-term ranking, leaping ahead of such highly regarded prospects as Sean Couturier, Ryan Strome, and the small but blazingly fast defenseman, Ryan Murphy.
Sean Couturier (a hulking center in the Jordan Staal mold) who was the consensus #1 pick at the beginning of the 2010-2011 season, now has slipped to 6th among North American skaters. Chris Bordeleau, Central Scouting's chief QMJHL scout told NHL.com that Couturier now being ranked 6th reflects more on the players in front of him improving by leaps and bounds over the course of the season, and not that Couturier's play has slipped; "Sean Couturier is a good hockey player, but there were players who got better."
The player among the top 10 who made the highest jump up the chart from his mid-term rank, is Niagara Ice Dog Center, Ryan Strome, going from 19th to a final ranking of 8th. Finishing your OHL season with 33 goals and 101 points in 65 games will tend to get you a positive ranking, and the highly skilled center is well deserving of his giant leap up to #8.
Swedish defenseman Adam Larsson (CSB's top-rated European skater) is considered by most to be the only European skater who will be selected in the top 8, and is sure to go in the top 5 of the draft. That could leave players such as Ryan Murphy, Sean Couturier, and Ryan Strome available for the Devils to take should they be selecting 8th overall. All three players are considered by many to have the potential to be the best player taken in the draft. If any or all of those players are taken prior to the Devils selection, it could leave a player who is ranked even higher such as center Jonathan Huberdeau, or defenseman Dougie Hamilton available for the Devils to take.
With strong depth throughout the top 10, it appears certain the Devils will get a highly skilled player, and have generally taken the "best player available" approach at the draft. We'll know for certain where the Devils will be picking once the Draft Lottery takes place Tuesday at 8:00 p.m. on Versus. In the weeks to come, TheDevsDomain.com will go in depth on all the prospects who may be available to the Devils. However, with where they may be selecting and who may still be available, it's shaping up that for the Devils the best player available may very well end up being the best player in the draft.
Check out Central Scouting's final ranking of all North American and European players here:
http://www.nhl.com/ice/draftprospectbrowse.htm?cat=1&year=2011
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