The National Hockey League’s Central Scouting Service has released the November edition of its annual watch list, identifying and classifying the top few hundred prospects for the upcoming 2016 NHL Draft.
The most noteworthy find within the watch list is the expansion of its “A”-level group – the prospects considered potential first round selections – from 24 players on September’s preliminary list to 34 players on the new edition. The 34 players are distributed across nearly a dozen different leagues in five countries, spanning major-junior, college and European professional hockey. The secondary “B”-level group – prospects considered likely second or third round selections – contains 62 players distributed even more widely than the “A” grouping.
For comparison’s sake, please check out my Alternate Rankings and Eldon MacDonald’s War Room rankings.
A-LEVEL PROSPECTS
From the British Columbia Hockey League (2):
- D Dante Fabbro – Penticton Vees
- F Tyson Jost – Penction Vees
From Minnesota high school hockey (1):
- F Riley Tufte – Blaine High School (was “B” level in September)
From the National Collegiate Athletic Assocation (2):
- D Luke Kunin – University of Wisconsin Badgers (Big 10 conference)
- D Charlie McAvoy – Boston University (Hockey East conference)
From the Ontario Hockey League (11):
- F Alex Debrincat – Erie Otters
- F Taylor Raddysh – Erie Otters (was “B” level in September)
- F Max Jones – London Knights
- D Olli Juolevi – London Knights
- F Matthew Tkachuk – London Knights
- F Nathan Bastian – Mississauga Steelheads (was “B” level in September)
- F Michael McLeod – Mississauga Steelheads
- F Alex Nylander – Mississauga Steelheads
- D Jakob Chychrun – Sarnia Sting
- F Logan Brown – Windsor Spitfires (was “B” level in September)
- D Mikhail Sergachev – Windsor Spitfires (was “B” level in September)
From the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (3):
- F Pierre-Luc Dubois – Cape Breton Screaming Eagles
- F Julien Gauthier – Val-d’Or Foreurs
- F Pascal Laberge – Victoriaville Tigres (was “B” level in September)
From the United States Hockey League (3):
- F Kieffer Bellows – United States National Development Team
- F Clayton Keller – United States National Development Team
- D Chad Krys – United States National Development Team (was “B” level in September)
From the Western Hockey League (6):
- D Kale Clague – Brandon Wheat Kings
- D Jake Bean – Calgary Hitmen (was “B” level in September)
- F Simon Stransky – Prince Albert (was “B” level in September)
- F Sam Steel – Regina Pats
- D Max Lajoie – Swift Current Broncos
- F Tyler Benson – Vancouver Giants
From SM-Liiiga in Finland (2):
- F Jesse Puljujarvi – Karpat
- F Patrik Laine – Tappara
From the Swedish Hockey League (2):
- F Rasmus Asplund – Farjestads BK
- F Carl Grundstrom – MODO Hockey
From the Swedish junior league (1):
- G Filip Gustavsson – Lulea (was “B” level in September)
From Switzerland’s National League A (1):
Positional breakdown:
- 1 goalie
- 10 defensemen
- 23 forwards
B-LEVEL PROSPECTS
The “B” group contained 74 players in the September rankings and was trimmed down to 62 players for November’s update.
Changes to the B group from September:
- Promoted To A (11): Taylor Raddysh (OHL), Nathan Bastian (OHL), Logan Brown (OHL), Mikhail Sergachyev (OHL), Pascal Laberge (QMJHL), Samuel Girard (QMJHL), Filip Gustavsson (Sweden), Riley Tufte (U.S. high school), Chad Krys (USHL), Jake Bean (WHL), Simon Stransky (WHL)
- Promoted From C (7): Dennis Cholowski (BCHL), Adam Mascherin (OHL), Joseph Raaymakers (OHL), Logan Stanley (OHL), Vladimir Kuznetsov (QMJHL), Oskar Steen (Sweden), Linus Lindstrom (Sweden)
- Demoted To C (9): Otto Makinen (Finland), Tarmo Reunanen (Finland), Kenneth Johnson (U.S. high school), Tye Felhaber (OHL), Dimitri Sokolov (OHL), Mathieu Sevigny (QMJHL), Gabriel Sylvestre (QMJHL), Sebastian Aho (Sweden), Jeff de Wit (WHL)
- Newly Ranked Players (2): Connor Bunnaman (OHL), Boris Katchouk (OHL)
- No Longer Ranked (1): Frederik Forsberg (Sweden)
Positional breakdown:
- 10 goalies
- 26 defenders
- 26 forwards
Based on Central Scouting’s assessments and projections, roughly 96 players are in the mix to be drafted in the first three rounds of the 2016 NHL Draft. Those 96 players break down into 11 goalies, 36 defensemen and 49 forwards.