Central Scouting has finalized their rankings for 2012.

Perhaps the biggest surprise is that Mikhail Grigorenko is no longer in the top 2 for North American skaters. Ryan Murray slots in at #2. Also possibly surprising is that Alex Galchenyuk is hanging in at #4 for North American skaters. This is a kid that I really, really like. I’ve seen some of his work, and he is an incredible player that could possibly disappear off radars because he missed nearly the whole year due to injury. The thing I like about him is he has a hell of a shot, but also is a physical player. He also plays center too. So really, this is the power forward up the middle that we might have been looking for.

I think many Oilers fans will be licking their chops at the idea of drafting Ryan Murray. Myself, I just don’t know. It sounds like he’s pretty good, but I also think it will take time before he’s really good enough to make a difference here. I could be way off base with my thoughts though.

Anyways, here are the rankings:

Rankings provided by NHL.com…

Top-30 North American Skaters

Final Rank	Midterm Rank	Player	Position	Last Amateur Club	League
1	1	Yakupov, Nail	Right Wing	Sarnia	OHL
2	3	Murray, Ryan	Defenseman	Everett	WHL
3	2	Grigorenko, Mikhail	Center	Quebec	QMJHL
4		Galchenyuk, Alex	Center	Sarnia	OHL
5	5	Rielly, Morgan	Defenseman	Moose Jaw	WHL
6	16	Ceci, Cody	Defenseman	Ottawa	OHL
7	4	Faksa, Radek	Center	Kitchener	OHL
8	6	Maatta, Olli	Defenseman	London	OHL
9	9	Trouba, Jacob	Defenseman	USA U-18	USHL
10	8	Reinhart, Griffin	Defenseman	Edmonton	WHL
11	7	Dumba, Mathew	Defenseman	Red Deer	WHL
12	10	Pouliot, Derrick	Defenseman	Portland	WHL
13	11	Gaunce, Brendan	Center	Belleville	OHL
14	14	Sissons, Colton	Center	Kelowna	WHL
15	33	Wilson, Thomas	Right Wing	Plymouth	OHL
16	15	Finn, Matthew	Defenseman	Guelph	OHL
17	13	Matteau, Stefan	Center	USA U-18	USHL
18	12	Girgensons, Zemgus	Center	Dubuque	USHL
19	18	Skjei, Brady	Defenseman	USA U-18	USHL
20	25	Frk, Martin	Right Wing	Halifax	QMJHL
21	26	Winther, Mike	Center	Prince Albert	WHL
22	28	Giuseppe, Phillip	Left Wing	U. of Michigan	CCHA
23	17	Koekkoek, Slater	Defenseman	Peterborough	OHL
24	23	Kosmachuk, Scott	Right Wing	Guelph	OHL
25	22	Pearson, Tanner	Left Wing	Barrie	OHL
26	30	Thrower, Dalton	Defenseman	Saskatoon	WHL
27	31	Nieves, Cristoval	Center	Kent School	HIGH-CT
28	40	Laughton, Scott	Center	Oshawa	OHL
29	27	Kerdiles, Nicolas	Left Wing	USA U-18	USHL
30	29	Matheson, Michael	Defenseman	Dubuque	USHL

Top-30 European Skaters

Final Rank	Midterm Rank	Player	Position	Last Amateur Club	League
1	1	Forsberg, Filip	Center	Leksand	SWEDEN-2
2	7	Teravainen, Teuvo	Left Wing	Jokerit Jr.	FINLAND-JR.
3	2	Collberg, Sebastian	Right Wing	Frolunda Jr.	SWE-JR.
4	6	Lindholm, Hampus	Defenseman	Rogle Jr.	SWE-JR.
5	3	Hertl, Tomas	Center	Slavia	CZREP
6	4	Aberg, Pontus	Left Wing	Djurgarden	SWEDEN
7	5	Pokka, Ville	Defenseman	Karpat	FINLAND
8	8	Bystrom, Ludvik	Defenseman	Modo Jr.	SWE-JR.
9	9	Prokhorkin, Nikolai	Left Wing	CSKA 2	RUSSIA-JR.
10	13	Slepyshev, Anton	Left Wing	Novokuznetsk	RUSSIA
11	10	Vainonen, Mikko	Defenseman	HIFK JR.	FINLAND-JR.
12	11	Lindell, Esa	Defenseman	Jokerit Jr.	FINLAND-JR.
13	14	Osnovin, Vyacheslav	Center	Chelyabinsk 2	RUSSIA-JR.
14	51	Karlsson, Erik	Center	Frolunda Jr.	SWE-JR.
15	16	Andersson, Calle	Defenseman	Farjestad jr.	SWE-JR.
16	15	Vasiliev, Valeri	Defenseman	Spartak 2	RUSSIA-JR.
17	24	Tikkinen, Niklas	Defenseman	Blues Jr.	FINLAND-JR.
18	12	Djoos, Christian	Defenseman	Brynas Jr.	SWE-JR.
19	17	Thorell, Erik	Center	Farjestad	SWEDEN
20	18	Gusev, Nikita	Left Wing	CSKA 2	RUSSIA-JR.
21	41	Krutikov, Evgeni	Left Wing	Spartak 2	RUSSIA-JR.
22	19	Ikonen, Henri	Left Wing	Kalpa Jr.	FINLAND-JR.
23	34	Wikstrand, Mikael	Defenseman	Mora	SWEDEN-2
24	27	Rotevall, Jeremy	Left Wing	Timra	SWEDEN
25	21	Walker, Nathan	Left Wing	Vitkovice Jr.	CZREP-JR.
26	22	Nemec, Erik	Center	Vitkovice Jr.	CZREP-JR.
27	38	Kulmala, Rasmus	Center	TPS Jr.	FINLAND-JR.
28	31	Tornkvist, Tobias	Right Wing	Rogle Jr.	SWE-JR.
29	53	Rantakari, Otso	Defenseman	Jokerit Jr.	FINLAND-JR.
30	25	Lehtonen, Mikko	Defenseman	TPS Jr.	FINLAND-JR.

Top-10 North American Goalies

Final Rank	Midterm Rank	Player	Position	Last Amateur Club	League
1	1	Subban, Malcolm	Goalie	Belleville	OHL
2	3	Whitney, Brandon	Goalie	Victoriaville	QMJHL
3	5	Paterson, Jake	Goalie	Saginaw	OHL
4	20	Stolarz, Anthony	Goalie	Corpus Christi	NAHL
5	6	Tremblay, Francois	Goalie	Val d’Or	QMJHL
6	4	Gillies, Jon	Goalie	Indiana	USHL
7	8	Makarov, Andrey	Goalie	Saskatoon	WHL
8	10	Bartosak, Patrik	Goalie	Red Deer	WHL
9	11	Palazzese, Frank	Goalie	Kitchener	OHL
10	15	Tomkins, Matt	Goalie	Sherwood Park	AJHL

Top-10 European Goalies

Final Rank	Midterm Rank	Player	Position	Last Amateur Club	League
1	1	Vasilevski, Andrei	Goalie	Ufa 2	RUSSIA-JR.
2	2	Dansk, Oscar	Goalie	Brynas Jr.	SWE-JR.
3	3	Korpisalo, Joonas	Goalie	Jokerit Jr.	FINLAND-JR.
5	4	Langhamer, Marek	Goalie	Pardubice Jr.	CZREP-JR.
4	5	Auren, Jean	Goalie	Sport Jr.	FINLAND-JR.
6	6	Israelsson, Mathias	Goalie	Frolunda Jr.	SWE-JR.
10	7	Ullberg, Richard	Goalie	Saipa	FINLAND
	8	Sabol, Richard	Goalie	Banska Bystrica Jr.	SLOVAKIA-JR.
9	9	Demchenko, Vasili	Goalie	Chelyabinsk 2	RUSSIA-JR.
	10	Cupper, Marvin	Goalie	Eisbaren Berlin Jr.	GERMANY-JR.

7 Responses to “2012 CSS Final Draft Rankings”

1. zackman35 says:

   April 9, 2012 at 10:40 am  zackman35(Quote)

   It sucks finishing were we did in the standings, especially since we haven’t seen a winning team in so long but seeing the draft rankings makes me excited when we finish this low. We’ll add another valuable piece to the building block.

   Having a d-man that high always makes fans hesitant but Murray is a cerebral talent defensively, and an phenomenal skater. He has the potential to calm the waters on the blue and has strong leadership qualities as well. Out of this draft class he’s probably one of the most ready prospects but it will probably be some time before he becomes a highly effective and reliable d-man night in and night out in the NHL. He’s not flashy by any means but he gets the job done, an underrated offensive game as well (wicked slapper).

   And then there’s the two young centers. How can you pass up a 6’3 ~190lb center (Grigorenko) with slick skills, killer snapshot and high hockey IQ and defensive awareness? Galchenyuk may not be as big as Grigorenko but I believe he has much higher stick handling abilities and a little more offensive prowess. Plus from everything I’ve heard Galchenyuk has a really strong work ethic but then again so does Murray.

   It should be interesting to see how things go, either way adding any of these three would be quite an addition to an already exciting and dynamic core.
2. Racki says:

   April 9, 2012 at 11:00 am  Racki(Quote)

   Yah, the more I read about Murray, the more he sounds like he would be a good addition. I wish I had caught the WJHC’s this year to see him there (although maybe that’s for the best, as I heard he was the goat??). Sounds like he plays a really smart game. Although I like my d-men to play a physical brand of hockey, and it sounds like that isn’t so much his thing… but on the positive, he IS a defense first guy, which is very important to me.

   There are plenty of interesting choices out there too. Matt Dumba, Jacob Trouba… even some forwards too. Hell, if we draft 1st, I know I wasn’t a big fan of it before, but I’d be very happy getting Nail Yakupov. We’d have two big scoring lines in the works with a combination of Nuge, Eberle, Hall, Paajarvi, Yakupov and Gagner. Then we could have an all vet line of Smyth Horcoff Hemsky. I was mainly opposed to the fail for Nail because I just wanted to see this team start winning. But now that we’re in this position again, I’m definitely good with a lotto win. It is unlikely that happens though.

   But yah, I wasn’t excited for this draft because I wanted to see us succeed. We didn’t though. So now, I’m in full on “what potential star are we adding now?” mode. I just wonder if we are going to trade down, as speculation has been.
3. chucker says:

   April 9, 2012 at 2:19 pm  chucker(Quote)

   Steve-O will be jizzing his pants. There is a player named Pouliot in the top 15…..

   Also, where does Forsberg enter into the equation? Top five?
4. Racki says:

   April 9, 2012 at 10:29 pm  Racki(Quote)

   Wow, there’s another Erik Karlsson coming too! No, there is literally another Erik Karlsson… center though At #14, I’m sure he’s probably not as good at his position as his name counterpart.

   As for Forsberg, CSS never crosses the streams. They separate everything by goalie/skater, and euro/na. However, McKenzie had him at #4 for all players in his survey of scouts back in February.
5. Steve-O says:

   April 10, 2012 at 7:07 am  Steve-O(Quote)

   I’m all aboard the Reinhart or Murray train…no more room in my heart for another Pouliot Chucker.

   Leaning towards Reinhart just based on size. Won’t be joining the team next year (or shouldn’t but who really knows with the Oilers), but he’s a good one.
6. hemmerlady says:

   April 10, 2012 at 6:19 pm  hemmerlady(Quote)

   HELL YEAH #1!!!!!!!

   edit: didn’t see there was a lottery thread…
   I seem unreasonably excited.
7. chucker says:

   April 10, 2012 at 10:18 pm  chucker(Quote)

   Racki: Wow, there’s another Erik Karlsson coming too! No, there is literally another Erik Karlsson… center though At #14, I’m sure he’s probably not as good at his position as his name counterpart. As for Forsberg, CSS never crosses the streams. They separate everything by goalie/skater, and euro/na. However, McKenzie had him at #4 for all players in his survey of scouts back in February.