Saturday, March 21, 2009

Operation: Eagle Eye Scouting - 2009 Entry Draft

With a little over 3 months before the NHL 2009 Entry Draft, The Hockey Spy is filtering through loads of information on the draft-eligible candidates and will incorporate his own instincts and
intuition to bring you valuable draft previews, prospect profiles, and mock drafts. Operation: Eagle Eye Scouting will be your quintessential guide to this year's draft.

Until The Hockey Spy reveals information from the infiltration of the amateur hockey world for draft-eligible player rankings and projections, let's take a look at some preliminary rankings from some important resources:

1. Central Scouting Bureau's (CSB) 2009 Mid-Season Rankings: Of course, CSB's rankings are not segregated, rather than comprehensive. They are divided into North Amercian and Europe, and further sub-divided into skaters and goalies.

As Gare Joyce sates in his book 'Future Greats and Heartbreaks', CSB's preliminaryand mid-season ranking are of more use to professional NHL scouts. A quote from Blue Jackets' (at the time) head scout Don Boyd sums up the value of CSB rankings quite nicely:

"It's like a road map for us. That is, a list to cherry-pick from - names to chase down and see. The final list is useful for the media and the fans, but by the time it's issued NHL teams are more concerned about the lists offered up by their own scouts in the field."
2. International Scouting Services (ISS): released their latest Top 30 2009 rankings March 16.They also feature a list of 'Rising' and 'Falling' prospects.

3. TSN's Mid-Season Top 30 Prospects for the 2009 Entry Draft: actually features 31 players as Bob MacKenzie experienced a brain freeze and omitted Stefan Eliott from his initial list.

4. USA Today's Red Line Report: 2009 draft should be deep than 2008. Kyle Woodlief is a former NHL scout with the Nashville Predators. I admittedly often disagree with plenty of his ratings. Here he simply provides some insight on the 2009 draft and a Top 10 list.

5. DC Pro Sports Report: This site contains a mock draft database from various sources. Expect a preliminary version from The Hockey Spy to appear soon!

If you would like information on a particular prospect or have some insight into any prospects for the upcoming draft, feel free to comment here or email The Hockey Spy.



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