Consensus Top 30

Having just released my top 30 I thought it would be a fun exercise to take a look at some of the better known prospect evaluators out there to get a rough idea what the industry thinks.

I have included six lists: Brendan Ross of McKeen’s Hockey, HockeyProspect.com, Craig Button of TSN, Corey Pronmann of ESPN , Damian Cox of Sportnet  and International Scouting Service (ISS) . Rather than repost every list I have linked their list to their name in the previous sentence. All of them are free with the exception of Pronmann’s which requires ESPN insider.  

Every list ranked 30 players with the exception of Craig Button who ranked 60. There were 66 players ranked in total. If a player was not ranked he was recorded as a 67 rather than a zero.

Consensus Rankings

1. Conner McDavid
2. Jack Eichel
3. Noah Hanifin
4. Oliver Kylington
5. Pavel Zacha
6. Dylan Strome
7. Mathew Barzal
8. Mitch Marner
9. Travis Konecny
10. Lawson Crouse
11. Daniel Sprong
12. Colin White
13. Zach Werenski
14. Kyle Conner
15. Jeremy Roy
16. Evgeni Svechnikov
17. Mikko Rantanen
18. Nicolas Roy
19. Matt Spencer
20. Ivan Provorov
21. Jordan Greenway
22. Jakub Zboril
23. Nick Merkley
24. Jermey Bracco
25. Paul Bittner
26. Graham Knott
27. Thomas Novak
28. Brock Boeser
29. Jansen Harkins
30. Ryan Gropp

*Bolded players not ranked in my Top 30

Order is different obviously but a comparable list to mine. Only six players were different between the two. Explanations as to why I left those players out are as follows.

Lawson Crouse at ten is crazy to me. I understand why he's so highly thought of I just respectfully disagree. He's a big guy at 6’3 200, and is a great skater. Much like Nick Ritchie last season all the scouts are drooling over the potential of him becoming a big time power forward in the NHL. The issue I have with him is he hasn’t shown to be that great of a hockey player so far in his OHL career. Last season he had just 27 points in 63 games, which put him 32^nd among all CHL 16 year olds. We know the size is there but I need to see the skill be there before I put him into my top 30.

Jordan Greenway and Graham Knott are in a similar situation.

Matt Spencer is an interesting case. Living in Peterborough has given me the opportunity to see him play a ton over the past two seasons. The first thing that stands out is his skating, he's an elite skater. He's a puck moving type of defencemen with a high skill level. The reason I left him out of my top 30 was much of the same as with Crouse, he hasn’t been able to use all his tools to find success on the ice yet. He managed 15 points last season in 64 games, which put him 17^th among 16yr old CHL defencemen. He needs to show he can translate his tools into production before I can feel comfortable with him in my 30.

Thomas Novak and Brock Boeser are two players I don’t have a good read on at this point in the season. Both played High School hockey last season, which makes interpreting their stats difficult. Both have moved on to the USHL this season which eliminates that problem going forward.