Just saw McKeen's top 30 for December posted over on HF and wanted to share here:
| RK PROSPECT POS H-W TEAM 1 Nail Yakupov RW 6.0-190 Sarnia (OHL) 2 Mikhail Grigorenko C 6.3-195 Quebec (QMJHL) 3 Filip Forsberg LW 6.1-175 Leksands (SWE) 4 Ryan Murray D 6.0-190 Everett (WHL) 5 Morgan Rielly D 5.11-190 Moose Jaw (WHL) 6 Alex Galchenyuk C/LW 6.0-185 Sarnia (OHL) 7 Zemgus Girgensons C 6.1-185 Dubuque (USHL) 8 Griffin Reinhart D 6.3-200 Edmonton (WHL) 9 Michael Matheson D 6.1-175 Dubuque (USHL) 10 Martin Frk RW 6.0-205 Halifax (QMJHL) 11 Olli Maatta D 6.1-195 London (OHL) 12 Matt Dumba D 5.11-170 Red Deer (WHL) 13 Jacob Trouba D 6.1-175 NTDP (USA) 14 Sebastian Collberg RW 5.11-175 Frolunda (SWE) 15 Brendan Gaunce C 6.2-205 Belleville (OHL) 16 Radek Faksa C 6.1-185 Kitchener (OHL) 17 Pontus Aberg LW 5.11-185 Djurgarden (SWE) 18 Derrick Pouliot D 6.0-190 Portland (WHL) 19 Cody Ceci D 6.1-205 Ottawa (OHL) 20 Ludwig Bystrom D 6.0-180 MoDo (SWE) 21 Malcolm Subban G 6.1-180 Belleville (OHL) 22 Jordan Schmaltz D 6.2-175 Green Bay (USHL) 23 Damon Severson D 6.1-190 Kelowna (WHL) 24 Oscar Dansk G 6.2-185 Brynas (SWE) 25 Phil DiGiuseppe LW 6.0-185 Michigan (CCHA) 26 Matt Finn D 6.0-195 Guelph (OHL) 27 Henrik Samuelsson C 6.2-195 MoDo (SWE) 28 Slater Koekkoek D 6.2-185 Peterborough (OHL) 29 Raphael Bussieres LW 6.1-185 Baie-Comeau (QMJHL) 30 Stefan Matteau LW 6.3-200 NTDP (USA) |
Unlike ISS, McKeeen's has Yakupov at the top of their charts.
If you go by both ISS and McKeens there seems to be a clear cut top 4 of Yakupov, Grigorenko, Forsberg and Murray.
Of note is defensemen Matt Dumba, whom ISS had at #5 on their list, is all the way down to 12 on this one.
It will be interesting to see where all of these players stack up come the January rankings post World Junior Championships.
Just a reminder that the WJCs start the day after Christmas. Blue Jackets fans will want to pay extra close attention to this tourney this year for two reasons:
1. We are all but guaranteed a shot at one of these top 5 prospects so keep a close eye on Yakupov (Russia), Grigorenko (Russia), Forsberg (Sweden) and Murray (Canada).
2. Jackets' prospects Bonne Jenner (Canada), TJ Tynan (USA) and Anton Forsberg (Sweden) will all be playing in this tourney. Lukas Sedliak and Petr Straka are on the Czech Republic's preliminary roster but haven't been officially confirmed.
Something else of note -- Jenner, Tynan, Sedliak and Forsberg were all CBJ picks from this past draft in 2011. This tournament will be a great development opporunity for them. Heck, it's a great sign that all these guys even made their respective country's teams!
Full NHL Network WJC sched found here.
If you don't have the NHL Network and/or are just lookin for an excuse to get away, the R Bar will be televising all WJC games they get access to.
-LTL
