2012 Cumulative Draft Rankings (March)

  Well, I wanted to get these up a while ago, but some technical difficulties in publishing posts forced temporary delay. I wanted to target the brief lull between the trade deadline and the dramatic push for the playoffs to release the Hart of Hockey's new "cumulative" draft rankings.
  At various times throughout the season, the International Scouting Services (ISS), Central Scouting (CS), as well as TSN's Bob McKenzie and Craig Button have been releasing where they believe the players eligible for the 2012 NHL Entry Draft stand. The experts' lists all differ in certain areas. So instead of creating our own rankings that would most likely look different from theirs, too, we decided to combine all of their rankings into one. We'll take the overall ranks for every player from McKenzie's, Button's, and the ISS's lists, and average those scores to form a cumulative rankings list (CS will be used as a tiebreaker, since its rankings are divided into skaters/goalies and North American/European.)

Let's see how this goes:

RANK	Player	Pos.	Team	McKenzie	Button	ISS	AvgScore	CS*
1	Nail Yakupov	RW^	Sarnia Sting	1	1	1	1	1
2	Filip Forsberg	C	Leksand	4	3	4	3.6	1
3	Mikhail Grigorenko	C	Quebec Remparts	2	7	2	3.6	2
4	Mathew Dumba	D	Red Deer Rebels	5	2	6	4.3	7
5	Ryan Murray	D	Everett Silvertips	3	10	3	5.3	3
6	Morgan Rielly	D	Moose Jaw Warriors	8	4	8	6.6	5
7	Jacob Trouba	D	USNTDP	6	11	5	7.3	9
8	Griffin Reinhart	D	Edmonton Oil Kings	9	6	10	8.3	8
9	Alex Galchenyuk	C	Sarnia Sting	7	5	16	9.3	30
10	Cody Ceci	D	Ottawa 67's	12	9	9	10	16
11	Sebastian Collberg	RW	Frölunda	16	16	11	14.3	2
12	Radek Faksa	C	Kitchener Rangers	10	16	17	14.3	4
13	Brendan Gaunce	C	Belleville Bulls	13	25	7	15	11
14	Zemgus Girgensons	C	Dubuque Fighting Saints	11	14	20	15	12
15	Matt Finn	D	Guelph Storm	29	8	13	16.6	15
16	Derrick Pouliot	D	Portland Winterhawks	17	15	19	17	10
17	Pontus Åberg	LW	Djurgårdens	19	19	15	17.6	4
18	Andrei Vasilevski	G	Ufa Tolpar	18	20	n/a	19	1
19	Malcolm Subban	G	Belleville Bulls	22	17	n/a	19.5	1
20	Tomas Hertl	C	Slavia Praha	23	22	23	22.6	3
21	Teuvo Teräväinen	RW	Jokerit	28	13	29	23.3	7
22	Olli Määttä	D	London Knights	14	46	12	24	6
23	Slater Koekkoek	D	Peterborough Petes	15	40	18	24.3	17
24	Brady Skjei	D	USNTDP	21	38	14	24.3	18
25	Ludvig Byström	D	MODO	>40	19	22	27.3	8
26	Michael Matheson	D	Dubuque Fighting Saints	37	27	25	29.6	29
27	Thomas Wilson	RW	Plymouth Whalers	20	34	36	30	33
28	Oscar Dansk	G	Brynäs	33	28	n/a	30.5	2
29	Hampus Lindholm	D	Rögle	>40	12	41	31.3	6
30	Jarrod Maidens	LW	Owen Sound Attack	35	32	30	32.3	21
31	Phillip DiGiuseppe	LW	University of Michigan	27	26	45	32.6	28
32	Martin Frk	RW	Halifax Mooseheads	24	31	44	33	25
33	Stefan Matteau	LW	USNTDP	25	51	24	33.3	13
34	Tanner Pearson	LW	Barrie Colts	26	43	33	34	22
35	Andreas Athanasiou	C	London Knights	39	33	31	34.3	24
36	Mike Winther	C	Prince Albert Raiders	>45	30	32	36	26
37	Dalton Thrower	D	Saskatoon Blades	>40	50	21	37.3	30
38	Colton Sissons	RW	Kelowna Rockets	30	57	24	37	14
39	Ville Pokka	D	Kärpät	31	47	38	38.6	5
40	Nicolas Kerdiles	LW	USNTDP	38	52	27	39	27
41	Damon Severson	D	Kelowna Rockets	32	36	49	39	46
42	Gemel Smith	LW	Owen Sound Attack	>45	24	>50	40.3	20
43	Patrick Sieloff	D	USNTDP	36	35	>50	40.6	34
44	Tomas Hyka	RW	Gatineau Olumpiques	>45	42	34	40.6	65
45	Daniil Zharkov	RW	Belleville Bulls	40	57	42	46.3	19

Note: McKenzie's rankings go no lower than 40, and then an extra five "Honorable Mention".
The ISS rankings go no lower than 50
* = CS rank used for tie-breaking when average score is tied between two or more prospects
^ = Yakupov is a left-handed shot who has played both the strong and off wing. He is currently listed as RW.

What we learned:

• Craig Button hates Olli Maata, although he did jump in his most recent rankings
• The race between Grigorenko and Forsberg for the elite center in the draft may be bit closer than we may have originally percieved
• Though personally, I'd definitely take Grigorenko over Forsberg

What we already knew:

• The draft is very blue line-heavy
• Nail Yakupov will be drafted #1 overall
• The draft is not particularly deep at wing

 As these scouting services update their rankings, The Hart of Hockey will be sure to update the cumulative rankings accordingly in a new post. The Hart of Hockey would also like to take this time to announce the site will be LIVE BLOGGING from the CONSOL Energy Center in Pittsburgh on draft day, and closely covering the draft during that week.
 Until next time, enjoy the OHL, QMJHL, and WHL playoffs!