A Look at NHL Central Scouting’s Final Draft Ranking

So, I am not going to break down NHL Central Scouting’s rankings in its entirety, just those Ontario Hockey League players ranked (or not ranked). After all, this sight is all about the OHL, right?

Let’s begin in the blue paint. One name that we have been pushing on OHL Writers for most of the season is Patrick Leaver of the Oshawa Generals. We selected Leaver as our Draft Eligible Goaltender of the Year at the end of the regular season. Central scouting showed him a lot of love on their final list as Leaver had the highest jump among ranked OHL netminders climbing 13 spots from 29 on the midterm rankings to 16 on the final rankings.

Leaver wasn’t the only netminder with a massive jump. Niagara IceDogs Josh Rosenzweig went from unranked on the midterm list to 22 on the final list.

Of course, when you have risers, they must be accompanied by fallers and the OHL had their share. Brett Brochu of the London Knights dropped 15 spots from 16 to 31. Dom DiVincentiis of the North Bay Battalion dropped 10 spots from 14 to 24.  

When it comes to skaters, we have been big fans of Christian Kyrou of the Erie Otters since about the drop of the puck this season. We gave him serious consideration as our Draft Eligible Defenceman of the Year. In the annual OHL Coach’s Poll he was voted the most improved player in the Western Conference and the Most Underrated Player in the Western Conference as well as the second-best Offensive Defenceman in the Western Conference. Among draft eligible defencemen, he finished first in goals, second in points and third in assists. Central Scouting (finally) moved him up a whopping 131 spots from 179 to 48.

But that wasn’t the biggest jump. Matthew Maggio of the Windsor Spitfires jumped 149 spots from being not ranked (there were 251 players ranked on the midterm rankings so we used 252 as Maggio was not ranked) all the way up to 103 on the final rankings. Among draft eligible players, Maggio finished second in goals, assists and points. He was our runner up to Draft Eligible Forward of the Year. In the Coach’s Poll, he finished just ahead of Kyrou as the most improved player in the Western Conference and tied for third as the Hardest Worker in the Western Conference.

But the highest jump belonged to Amadeus Lombardi of the Flint Firebirds who moved up from not being ranked all the way to 94 on the final rankings. I can’t understand how he was not ranked on their midterm ranking, but they got this right.

Another player that deserves mentioning is David Goyette of the Sudbury Wolves who moved up 22 spots from 35 to 13. It’s a massive jump in its own right as that puts Goyette in the bottom third of the first round instead of middle second. And that’s a much-deserved spot for him. He deserves first round consideration.

Two of the biggest fallers are Ruslan Gazizov and Colton Smith, both of the London Knights who dropped from 62 to 149 and 129 to being not ranked respectively. For Comparison’s sake, Bob McKenzie had Gazizov at 15 and Smith as an honorable mention on his midterm rankings (only 80 players were ranked).

I do think that Central Scouting got a couple of Guelph Storm prospects correctly. For most of the season, Matthew Poitras was ranked ahead of Danny Zhilkin on a lot of lists. Poitras was ranked 23 on the midterm rankings and drops to 45 while Zhilkin was ranked 27 and drops to 35. We’re not saying we agree with the overall ranking, but that Zhilkin is rightfully ranked ahead of Poitras and we’ve been saying that for some time.

Vsevolod Gaidamak of the Ottawa 67’s was the highest ranked player on Central Scouting’s midterm rankings to fall off the chart on their final ranking. He went from 121 to being not ranked.

Nice to see a little love for James Hardie of the Mississauga Steelheads who moved up 56 spots from 204 to 148. But we are also surprised to see Tucker Robertson drop 53 spots from 109 to 162.

If you are looking for our final list, it usually comes out after the Memorial Cup. Until then, here is NHL Central Scouting’s rankings with their midterm and final ranking shown:

PLAYER	TEAM	NHL MID	NHL FIN
Shane Wright	Kingston	1	1
Pavel Mintyukov	Saginaw	5	6
Luca Del Bel Belluz	Mississauga	11	8
Owen Beck	Mississauga	19	10
David Goyette	Sudbury	35	13
Matyas Sapovaliv	Saginaw	13	23
Michael Buchinger	Guelph	36	30
Ty Nelson	North Bay	25	32
Bryce McConnell-Barker	Soo	28	34
Danny Zhilkin	Guelph	27	35
Vinzenz Rohrer	Ottawa	46	42
Hunter Haight	Barrie	47	44
Matthew Poitras	Guelph	23	45
Christian Kyrou	Erie	179	48
Paul Ludwinski	Kingston	29	49
Gavin Hayes	Flint	68	51
Isiah George	London	42	53
Servac Petrovsky	Owen Sound	52	58
Cedrick Guindon	Owen Sound	76	59
Jake Karabela	Guelph	61	62
Pano Fimis	Niagara	77	75
Spencer Sova	Erie	28	80
Jorian Donovan	Hamilton	39	81
Evan Konyen	Sudbury	88	85
Beau Jelsma	Barrie	137	88
Amadeus Lombardi	Flint	252	94
Matthew Maggio	Windsor	252	103
Lucas Edmonds	Kingston	107	104
Kiriil Kudryavtsev	Soo	103	108
Liam Arnsby	North Bay	66	115
Rodwin Dionicio	Niagara	132	118
Kocha Delic	Sudbury	200	122
Jackson Edward	London	75	123
Tnias Mathurin	North Bay	152	126
Zakary Lavoie	Mississauga	124	134
Samuel Mayer	Peterborough	120	139
James Hardie	Mississauga	204	148
Ruslan Gazizov	London	62	149
Aidan Castle	Owen Sound	155	151
Brady Stonehouse	Ottawa	138	152
Nolan Collins	Sudbury	252	153
Kyle Jackson	North Bay	182	158
Tucker Robertson	Peterborough	109	162
Gavin Bryant	Owen Sound	160	179
Bryce Cook	Niagara	163	183
Braeden Bowman	Guelph	217	194
Kai Schwindt	Mississauga	252	196
Sam Alfano	Peterborough	190	207
Max Namestnikov	Sarnia	219	211
Landon Sim	London	213	215
Kasper Larsen	Mississauga	252	220
Kirill Steklov	London	196	221
Roberto Mancini	Saginaw	195	222
Caeden Carlisle	Soo	252	223
Vsevolod Gaidamak	Ottawa	121	225
Colton Smith	London	129	225
Stuart Rolofs	Oshawa	142	225
Bryce Cook	Niagara	163	225
Tyler Savard	Soo	183	225
Brody Crane	London	188	225
Ryan Abraham	Windsor	210	225
Nolan Dann	Sarnia	225	225
Simon Slavicek	Flint	LV	225
GOALIES		NHL MID	NHL  FIN
Andrew Oke	Saginaw	8	9
Nolan Lalonde	Erie	10	14
Patrick Leaver	Oshawa	29	16
Charlie Schenkel	Soo	12	17
Jacob Oster	Guelph	15	18
Josh Rosenzweig	Niagara	33	22
Domenic DiVincentiis	North Bay	14	24
Marco Costantini	Hamilton	33	29