RealGM

I know we have the preseason ranking thread, but I thought i'd start an offical thread for the draft to bring some life to this board.

Right now the top 30 prospects look like this:

1. RYAN NUGENT-HOPKINS C 6'0 170 L Apr. 12/93 Red Deer WHL
2. ADAM LARSSON D 6'3 200 R Nov. 12/92 Skelleftea SweE
3. GABRIEL LANDESKOG LW 6'0 207 L Nov. 23/92 Kitchener OHL
4. SEAN COUTURIER C 6'4 195 L Dec. 12/92 Drummondville QMJHL
5. RYAN MURPHY D 5'10 176 R Mar. 31/93 Kitchener OHL
6. TYLER BIGGS RW 6'2 210 R Apr. 30/93 USA Under-18 USHL
7. RYAN STROME C 6'0 183 R Jul. 11/93 Niagara OHL
8. DUNCAN SIEMENS D 6'3 197 L Sept. 7/93 Saskatoon WHL
9. DOUGLAS HAMILTON D 6'4 193 R Jun. 17/93 Niagara OHL
10. NICKLAS JENSEN F 6'2 188 L Mar. 6/93 Oshawa OHL
11. BRANDON SAAD LW 6'1 208 L Oct 27/92 Saginaw OHL
12. JOEL ARMIA RW 6'3 191 R May 31/93 Assat FinE
13. JONATHAN HUBERDEAU C 6'1 168 L June 4/93 Saint John QMJHL
14. ALEXANDR KHOKHLACHEV F 5'10 188 L Sept. 9/93 Windsor OHL
15. DAVID MUSIL D 6'3 200 L Apr. 9/93 Vancouver WHL
16. ROCCO GRIMALDI C 5'6 163 R Feb 8/93 USA Under 18 USHL
17. DANIEL CATENACCI C 5'9 180 L Sep 3/93 Sault Ste. Marie OHL
18. MYLES BELL D 6'0 209 R Aug 19/93 Regina WHL
19. DMITRI JASKIN RW 6'2 196 L Mar. 23/93 Slavia CzeJr
20. MARK MCNEILL C 6'1 204 R Feb. 22/93 Prince Albert WHL
21. TY RATTIE LW 5'11 170 R Feb 5/93 Portland WHL
22. COLIN JACOBS F 6'1 205 R Jan 20/93 Seattle WHL
23. SCOTT MAYFIELD D 6'4 197 R Oct 14/92 Youngstown USHL
24. VICTOR RASK C 6'1 194 L Mar. 1/93 Leksands SweAI
25. JAMIE OLEKSIAK D 6'7 244 L Dec 21/92 Northeastern H.E,
26. SVEN BARTSCHI LW 5'11 175 L Oct 5/92 Portland WHL
27. MIKA ZIBANEJAD C 6'0 183 R Apr 18/93 Djurgarden SJ18A
28. MATTHEW PEUMPEL LW 6'0 198 L Jan 24/93 Peterborough OHL
29. NICK SHORE RW 6'0 191 R Sep 26/92 U18 USHL
30. TOMAS JURCO RW 6'2 193 L Dec 28/92 Saint John QMJH

Which prospects do you like? Who do you want your team to pick?

As it stands right now my Oilers should be picking #1 for the second season in a row. We already have a great group of young talented players so I see us passing Nugent-Hopkins and picking Adam Larsson. Larsson looks like he could be a great 2 way defenseman and thats exactly what we need right now.

I'll sticky this for you

Oilers should definitely grab a d-man with so many good young forwards.

For my wings, a big physical stay at home defenseman would be nice

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Really hope we keep losing so we can pickup Larsson. All we need to do before we can call this rebuild complete is beef up the back end.

If the draft was today, I'm pretty sure the Oilers would take Larsson. I think they're forward depth is much greater than their defensive depth, and a PMD like Larsson is just what they need.

I find it interesting that Couturier was in the top group all of last year. At the beginning of this year, he seemed to be on an island at #4, looking up at the top 3 guys (of Nugent-Hopkins, Larsson and Landeskog) and down at the next tier (6-7 guys or so). Now, it looks like most have him firmly in that second tier.

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Couturier's a great talent but a lot of guys have made some huge jumps this season. There's also a few concerns about his game, some scouts think he doesn't play physically enough and people are questioning his somewhat lack of progression this past season.

Lottery just happened. Here's what the top 5 looks like:

1. Edmonton Oilers
2. Colorado Avalanche
3. Florida Panthers
4. New Jersey Devils
5. New York Islander

Nugent-Hopkins is really starting to look like the clear cut #1 and i'm really starting to warm up about the idea of us picking him. I really like Larrson and he fills a huge need. But Nugent-Hopkins is just so damn talented and we could also use a great play making center. Him and Hall playing on the same line could be just amazing.