ISS top 30 for January

[Oakville Squires]

Right now I would probably rank my top 10 as Mcdavid, Eichel, Marner, Strome, Hanifan, Crouse, Kylington, Rantanen, Zacha and Konecny but I am sure it will change several times before the draft. I have 5 1st rounders this year (1 likely top 2, 2 likely top 3 to 8 and 2 likely in the 9 to 12 range). The issue I am going to run into is after activating Kucherov, Lehner andd Zadorov I will only have room for 3 prospects on my prospect roster so will hopefully be able to package some of the later picks to get a higher one.

[franklin]

Right now I would probably rank my top 10 as Mcdavid, Eichel, Marner, Strome, Hanifan, Crouse, Kylington, Rantanen, Zacha and Konecny but I am sure it will change several times before the draft. I have 5 1st rounders this year (1 likely top 2, 2 likely top 3 to 8 and 2 likely in the 9 to 12 range). The issue I am going to run into is after activating Kucherov, Lehner andd Zadorov I will only have room for 3 prospects on my prospect roster so will hopefully be able to package some of the later picks to get a higher one.

No Barzal?

[Oakville Squires]

No Barzal?

Good catch as that was an oversight on my part. Make my top 10 Mcdavid, Eichel, Marner, Strome, Hanifan, Crouse, Kylington, Barzal, Rantanen and Zacha.

[theIceWookie]

A big jump for Lawson Crouse and Mikko Rantanen!

Rank Player Position Team League
1 McDavid, Connor C Erie OHL
2 Eichel, Jack C Boston University H.E.
3 Crouse, Lawson LW Kingston OHL
4 Hanifin, Noah LD Boston College H.E.
5 Rantanen, Mikko RW TPS Turku FinE
6 Werenski, Zach RD Michigan BigTen
7 Strome, Dylan C Erie OHL
8 Barzal, Mathew C Seattle WHL
9 Marner, Michell C London OHL
10 Provorov, Ivan LD Brandon WHL
11 Zacha, Pavel C Sarnia OHL
12 Kylington, Oliver RD Farhestad SweE
13 Merkley, Nick C Kelowna WHL
14 Konecny, Travis C Ottawa OHL
15 Connor, Kyle C Youngstown USHL
16 White, Colin RW USA Under-18 NTDP USHL
17 Carlo, Brandon RD Tri-City WHL
18 Svechnikov, Evgeny RW Cape Breton QMJHL
19 Greenway, Jordan LW USA Under-18 NTDP USHL
20 Bracco, Jeremy RW USA Under-18 NTDP USHL
21 Harkins, Jansen C/LW Prince George WHL
22 Chabot, Thomas LD Saint John QMJHL
23 Korostelev, Nikita RW Sarnia OHL
24 Spencer, Matthew RD Peterborough OHL
25 Carlsson, Gabriel LD Linkoping SweJE
26 Novak, Tom C Waterloo USHL
27 Meloche, Nicolas RD Baie-Comeau QMJHL
28 Dergachev, Alexander RW St. Petersburg SKA-1946 RusJr
29 Zboril, Jakub LD Saint John QMJHL
30 Bittner, Paul LW Portland

I feel like this is a little too driven by the WJC's. Provorov, Course, Rantanen making jumps, Dergachev (although I love this, he deserves it) making his first appearance in the top 30.

Frankly, while Crouse was impressive, there is no way he's top 3 potential IMO. He's got the possibility to be top 10 I think, but not top 5. His scoring is way below where it should be for a top 10 pick (although it is reminiscent of Jake Virtanen last season)

It's also a crying shame that Meier isn't top 30. Definitely deserves to be. Kid is going to be a stud.

Also where the heck is Jeremy Roy?

[Big Ev]

Will be anything that Crouse is a Top 5 pick.

[Axeman33]

Will be anything that Crouse is a Top 5 pick.

I assume you meant to say "bet" but I got ya.

I personally don't think Crouse goes top 5. Top 10 probably but I can see kids like Hanifan, Werenski and quite possibly Strome and/or Marner going ahead of Crouse. Zacha might even slip up there along with Rantanen as well.

I like Crouse, but I am just not sure he's going in the top 5.

[Pengwin7]

Just curious... is anbody willing to put some dots (...) between player groups in the rankings.
I don't know anything about draft-eligible prospects (not named McDavid/Eichel) until the summer when I do research.

But I'm curious if there are tiers of players that could be separated a bit.

[Axeman33]

FWIW, here's Sportsnet's "expert scout", Damien Cox's top 30 for January.

http://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/junio...pects-january/

[Rodgort]

FWIW, here's Sportsnet's "expert scout", Damien Cox's top 30 for January.

http://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/junio...pects-january/

I am of the mind they sportsnet has a bunch of people who do research and pass it off to Cox. I dislike him.

Anyway, a little off topic, anyone watch too much Archer (or watch a lot of US news) and because of that everytime you read ISS you keep reading it as ISIS? Maybe just me.