The Elite Prospects March ranking of the top 64 prospects in the 2022 NHL Draft
Wed, 16 Mar 22 18:11:34 +0000
With the amount of draft capital set to change hands in the next few days in the build-up to the March 21st trade deadline, it seemed like as good a time as any to update the Elite Prospects board for the 2022 NHL Entry Draft.
So, here we are, with an updated ranking that's 64 players long with a series of honourable mentions to help you better understand what's at stake with the deluge of picks set to line every trade tracker's page in the coming days.
You're going to see substantial movement in this ranking relative to the last one we published in December. We usually try to avoid that sort of board-to-board upheaval, but the considerable delay between the two works made it unavoidable this go around. A lot can and has changed in the last four months, and we weren't going to pretend otherwise for continuity's sake.
You can expect the nearly three-hour meeting to drop on our YouTube page in the coming days, and our Dir. of North American Scouting, Mitch Brown, will write a piece in this space to explain some of the biggest risers and fallers.
The one constant? Shane Wright's position atop our board as the No. 1-ranked prospect for the 2022 NHL Draft. It's hardly a shut case, though. David Jiříček and Šimon Nemec have each closed the gap, and Frank Nazar isn't far behind.
Joakim Kemell and Danila Yurov, meanwhile, have seen their stock plummet, from nearly a sure thing in the top-five to the top half of the first round.
Even with all this movement, some things are becoming abundantly clear. There's a distinct stratification in this year's draft. There's the first tier, a group of about 10 players -- depending on one's mileage -- with legitimate top-of-the-lineup aspirations to one degree or another. Then there's everyone else. Mostly, you're looking at a talent pool that's better suited to supporting roles than starring ones in the NHL. It's a lot like last year's draft that way. Adjust your expectations accordingly.
Before we get into the ranking itself, a due of credit to everyone on the Elite Prospects team who contributed: Mitch Brown (Dir. of NA Scouting), Lassi Alanen (Dir. of Euro Scouting), Cam Robinson (Dir. of Film Scouting), David St-Louis (lead scout), Daniel Gee (crossover), Lauren Kelly (OHL), Dylan Griffing (Russia), Marek Novotny (Czechia and Slovakia), Jimmy Hamrin (Sweden), Joey Padmanabhan (USA), Russ Cohen (crossover)
Now, without further ado:
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