NHL DRAFT BOARD 2015 DRAFT BOOK Contains Draft Rankings, Team Outlooks, Mock Draft, and more. Written and designed by Brandon Holmes nhldraftboard.sportsblog.com 2 NHL Draft Board’s 2015 Draft Book TOP 100 DRAFT RANKINGS: 1-9 name: Connor McDavid name: Jack Eichel name: Noah Hanifin position: Center position: Center position: Defense 1team: Erie Otters (OHL) 2team: Boston University (H-EAST) 3team: Boston College (H-EAST) height: 6’1” height: 6’2” height: 6’2” weight: 187 lbs weight: 196 lbs weight: 205 lbs handedness: Left handedness: Right handedness: Left statline: 47GP, 44-76-120, +60, 40PM statline: 40GP, 26-45-71, +51, 28PM statline: 37GP, 5-18-23, +12, 16PM scouting report: Generational talent scouting report: Dominant goal- scouting report: Incredibly versatile in multiple facets of the game, skates scoring threat that pushes and controls two-way defenseman, great skater and and thinks at an exceptionally high the play each time he’s on the ice. Plays is very mobile with the puck. Very ef- speed and possesses a remarkably slick with a dynamic and powerful skill set, ficient puck-mover and has offensive in- and soft set of hands. Routinely beats possesses a phenomenal set of hands stincts not unlike that of Duncan Keith, defenders in one-on-one situations and and also excels at setting up his team- projects to be a top pairing defense- is always an offensive threat. mates for offensive chances. man that can play in all situations. projected: 1st Overall projected: 2nd Overall projected: Top 5 name: Mitch Marner name: Dylan Strome name: Lawson Crouse position: Center / Right Wing position: Center position: Left Wing 4team: London Knights (OHL) 5team: Erie Otters (OHL) 6team: Kingston Frontenacs (OHL) height: 5’11” height: 6’3” height: 6’3” weight: 164 lbs weight: 187 lbs weight: 212 lbs handedness: Right handedness: Left handedness: Left statline: 63GP, 44-82-126, +36, 53PM statline: 68GP, 45-84-129, +47, 32PM statline: 56GP, 29-22-51, +10, 70PM scouting report: Speedy, slick, and scouting report: Strome is incredibly scouting report: Power winger that skilled, that sums up Marner’s skill set smart in all areas of the ice and blends can be a daunting physical force, is to keep it short. In length, Marner has that with elite skill to make him a truly near impossible to knock off of the a remarkable set of hands and both the dangerous force on the ice. Strome’s puck and possesses good speed and vision and offensive acumen that is very skill set is not unlike that of Boston’s hands for a player his size. Crouse is reminiscent of another former London David Krejci, but likely has a much incredibly physical, but also provided Knight, Patrick Kane. higher offensive ceiling than Krejci. roughly 27% of his team’s total offense. projected: Top 5 projected: Top 5 projected: Top 10 name: Mathew Barzal name: Ivan Provorov name: Pavel Zacha position: Center position: Defense position: Center / Left Wing 7team: Seattle Thunderbirds (WHL) 8team: Brandon Wheat Kings (WHL) 9team: Sarnia Sting (OHL) height: 6’0” height: 6’0” height: 6’3” weight: 177 lbs weight: 200 lbs weight: 210 lbs handedness: Right handedness: Left handedness: Left statline: 44GP, 12-45-57, +13, 20PM statline: 60GP, 15-46-61, +36, 42PM statline: 37GP, 16-18-34, +5, 56PM scouting report: Injury shortened scouting report: Provorov is an scouting report: Big Czech forward Barzal’s WHL season, but when he offensive minded defenseman that can that plays an all-around strong game, was in the lineup he was truly Seattle’s make a difference every time he’s on but particularly excels as a goal scorer. offensive catalyst. Barzal possesses a the ice. He’s able to dictate the pace of Zacha possesses a rifle of a shot that is dynamic skill set with good speed and the game and has remarkable vision on both hard and accurate, and is also a phenomenal hands. Pure playmaker, the offensive side of the puck. Can tran- threat on the powerplay with a bomb and fits the Matt Duchene mold. sition and move the puck very quickly. of a one-timer. projected: Top 10 projected: Top 10 projected: Top 10 www.nhldraftboard.sportsblog.com NHL Draft Board’s 2015 Draft Book 3 TOP 100 DRAFT RANKINGS: 10-18 name: Mikko Rantanen name: Zachary Werenski name: Travis Konecny position: Right Wing position: Defense position: Center 10 team: TPS (FIN) 11 team: Michigan (BIG10) 12 team: Ottawa 67’s (OHL) height: 6’4” height: 6’2” height: 5’10” weight: 209 lbs weight: 214 lbs weight: 171 lbs handedness: Left handedness: Left handedness: Right statline: 56GP, 9-19-28, -1, 22PM statline: 35GP, 9-16-25, +9, 8PM statline: 60GP, 29-39-68, -1, 34PM scouting report: Big, speedy, and scouting report: Versatile two-way scouting report: Skilled and tena- skilled, Rantanen is the perfect blend defenseman that particularly excels on cious, Konecny is an offensively gifted of size and talent that all teams covet. the offensive side of the puck, Werenski center that plays with a degree of Rantanen has surprising speed, great is a very efficient puck mover with good scrapiness to his game. Has a nose hands, is both a very capable play- mobility, vision, and poise. Excels at for the net and can jam in rebounds maker and goal scorer, and he really transitioning from defense to offense in front, but can also score from the showed his stuff at the 2015 WJC’s. and can be used in all situations. outside with a very capable shot. projected: Top 10 projected: Top 10 projected: 1st Round name: Kyle Connor name: Timo Meier name: Nick Merkley position: Center position: Left / Right Wing position: Center / Right Wing 13 team: Youngstown (USHL) 14 team: Halifax (QMJHL) 15 team: Kelowna Rockets (WHL) height: 6’1” height: 6’0” height: 5’10” weight: 182 lbs weight: 209 lbs weight: 187 lbs handedness: Left handedness: Left handedness: Right statline: 56GP, 34-46-80, +3, 6PM statline: 61GP, 44-46-90, +20, 59PM statline: 72GP, 20-70-90, +29, 79PM scouting report: Incredibly smart scouting report: Progressively shot scouting report: Pure playmaker and incredibly skilled, Connor’s skill set up the draft as the year went on, scouts that uses his great hands, vision, and is something truly special and fell in love with Meier’s versatility and hockey IQ to his advantage, Merkley arguably has the best chance of anyone his natural goal scoring ability. Meier sees the ice remarkably well and has to unseat any of the Top 11, Connor can play in almost any role and excel, the hands and finesse to make plays is speedy, smart, and is an all-around and can bury offensive chances in the happen when he sees holes in the offensive force. other team’s net with ease. opposition’s defense. projected: 1st Round projected: 1st Round projected: 1st Round name: Yevgeni Svechnikov name: Jakub Zboril name: Oliver Kylington position: Left Wing position: Defense position: Defense 16 team: Cape Breton (QMJHL) 17 team: Saint John (QMJHL) 18 team: AIK (SWE) height: 6’3” height: 6’2” height: 6’0” weight: 205 lbs weight: 185 lbs weight: 174 lbs handedness: Left handedness: Left handedness: Left statline: 55GP, 32-46-78, +10, 70PM statline: 44GP, 13-20-33, +2, 73PM statline: 17GP, 4-3-7, -2, 6PM scouting report: Russian winger that scouting report: Intelligent and scouting report: Stock fell a bit from has a dynamic skill set, Svechnikov is efficient, Zboril isn’t overly flashy but preseason rankings, but Kylington will blessed with phenomenal hands that he routinely makes smart, high-percentage still be a sought after commodity come uses to set up plays and beat defenders plays in both zones. At times has a June 26th. Swedish defenseman is a one-on-one with. Excels as a play- physical edge to his game, is a capable smooth, mobile two-way defender that maker, but can also score with a very one-on-one defender, and has a great plays with intelligence and is a capable and accurate shot. shot from the point. phenomenal possession player. projected: 1st Round projected: 1st Round projected: 1st Round 4 NHL Draft Board’s 2015 Draft Book TOP 100 DRAFT RANKINGS: 19-27 name: Jeremy Bracco name: Jeremy Roy name: Brock Boeser position: Center / Right Wing position: Defense position: Right Wing 19 team: USA U-18 (USHL) 20 team: Sherbrooke (QMJHL) 21 team: Waterloo (USHL) height: 5’9” height: 6’0” height: 6’1” weight: 172 lbs weight: 182 lbs weight: 192 lbs handedness: Right handedness: Right handedness: Right statline: 65GP, 30-64-94, +20, 10PM statline: 46GP, 5-38-43, -2, 37PM statline: 57GP, 35-33-68, -1, 30PM scouting report: Highly skilled and scouting report: Two-way defen- scouting report: Boeser is an of- plays with a grittiness that makes him seman that has a great feel for the fensively dynamic forward with the seem bigger than he really is. Bracco’s offensive side of the game, has incred- full goal scorer’s arsenal of weapons. offensive skill set is very reminiscent of ible smarts and poise with the puck and Boeser has remarkable puck skills, vi- Mike Cammalleri, he has very quick makes smart, efficient plays in all zones. sion, and an elite shot that is both hard hands in traffic and a very quick, ac- Mature beyond his years, Roy could and accurate. Very hard working and curate release on his shot. project to be a future Powerplay QB. responsible two-way as well. projected: 1st Round projected: 1st Round projected: 1st Round name: Colin White name: Jansen Harkins name: Brandon Carlo position: Center / Right Wing position: Center position: Defense 22 team: USA U-18 (USHL) 23 team: Prince George (WHL) 24 team: Tri-City (WHL) height: 6’0” height: 6’1” height: 6’5” weight: 183 lbs weight: 180 lbs weight: 185 lbs handedness: Right handedness: Left handedness: Right statline: 54GP, 23-31-54, +17, 28PM statline: 70GP, 20-59-79, +5, 45PM statline: 63GP, 4-21-25, -15, 90PM scouting report: Smart 3-zone scouting report: Blue collar two-way scouting report: Towering American forward that can also be a dynamic forward that will do whatever is needed defenseman that can be dominant and force when he gets his offensive engine of him to win, Harkins is an incredibly daunting force in the defensive zone.