HockeyProspect.com Top 30 2015 NHL Draft Prospects Ranking – September edition

Connor McDavid will try to go wire to wire on ranking lists leading up the the 2015 NHL Draft in Florida in June. Behind McDavid are several other top players including U.S born players Jack Eichel and Noah Hanifin, who will both be playing in the NCAA this season.

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Pavel Zacha had a great start with a strong pre-season after just an average performance when we saw him last in Finland at the U18 Championship. We saw Kyle Connor this summer in Lake Placid and more recently at the USHL Fall Classic. Connor remains a player way up our rankings list. After just an average performance at the Ivan Hlinka tournament, our Euro scouts have sent in some very good early reports on Oliver Kylington. We have been big fans of Lawson Crouse going back to his OHL Draft season. He was great at the Ivan Hlinka and sits high in our pre-season list. We really like what Travis Konecny brings to a team. He will be interesting to watch this season. He’s a very talented player who lacks in the size department, this always makes for interesting debates when it comes to draft rankings. Matthew Barzal has the pure talent to move into our top 5 rankings, but he needs to start getting more out of his talent more often. He had a poor showing at Team Canada camp leading up to the Hlinka. While he was better once the tourney started, in our opinion he still had moments in which his effort level was not that of a top 5 NHL Draft pick.

!In the middle area of the first round we have U.S born players Thomas Novak who we ranked back in May and Brock Boeser who along with Novak, impressed at the Ivan Hlinka in August. Jordan Greenway is a truck on skates, who we just want to show a little bit more consistency. We really like Nicolas Roy and like Greenway, just want him to ‘bring it’ with a bit more consistency. Yevgeni Svechnikov has a ton of talent and will have a chance to shoot up rankings playing in the QMJHL this season. Matt Spencer played his way into the top pairing at the Hlinka.

!Moving towards the end of our top 30 there is still plenty of talent. We really like Nick Merkley’s game and he had a strong showing at the Hlinka. Mitchell Stevens played well in August and some scouts might make a few extra visits to Saginaw this season. It was a difficult task picking the last few players in our top 30. We expect it could prove to be a pretty fluid list, with so many talented players in the mix to be selected in the first round in this years NHL Draft.

Top 30 2015 NHL Draft Prospects Ranking