I am a novice prospect tracker here to give my takes on prospects in upcoming drafts. Each prospect I have listed are players I have paid attention to. Some attributes are much more important to me than others, so I rank players completely different than others. I break a players attributes into a few different categories: shooting, skating, hockey IQ, puck skills/playmaking, and physicality/compete. Prospect rankings are a difficult and impossible science to get right because of how many variables go into it. It is also not as simple as adding up how good each prospect is in each category. You have to really dig into a players profile and see how they will adapt to higher levels. I am a beginner and do not claim to be an NHL scout whatsoever. I have been looking at NHL prospect profiles since the 2017 draft and try to take in as much information from strong sources.
Every year the NHL draft is an exciting moment. The NHL draft shapes the future of each individual franchise and is a crucial part of any rebuilding team. Teams like the Chicago Blackhawks, Arizona Coyotes, St Louis Blues, and Montreal Canadiens are just a few teams that are in the middle of a full-scale rebuild. Hitting on picks and players is a hard feat, but for the ones that consistently do, they usually rise to the top. Look at teams with recent playoff success like Tampa Bay, Dallas, and Carolina. Tampa drafted Vasilevskiy, Kucherov, Killorn, Cirelli, and Colton with picks #19 or later. Carolina drafted Slavin, Pesce, and Aho with 4th, 2nd, and 3rd round picks. Dallas drafted Hintz, Oettinger, Robertson, Harley, Johnston, Lindell, and Benn with picks #18 or later. Dallas also drafted many other prominent long-time NHLers that had more success in other organizations. Do you see my point? A strong draft can turn a franchise around or even boost an already successful one. The exhilarating feeling you get from draft day is why I created this site. Every NHL player has their own story and this is their first chapter. Did they peak early? Will they be a bust? Are they a star in the making? Will they get past adversity? The future is unwritten and time will tell!
Below are linked outside sources to a few pages I consider a strong helping hand in scouting