NHL Central Scouting Final Rankings for 2015

NHL Central Scouting has released their final ranking for the 2015 NHL Entry Draft.

Here is a breakdown for OHL players.

Skaters

1. Connor McDavid (1)
2. Dylan Strome (4)
3. Lawson Crouse (5)
4. Mitch Marner (6)
5. Pavel Zacha (8)
6. Travis Konecny (14)
7. Vince Dunn (32)
8. Mitchell Vande Sompel (34)
9. Zach Senyshyn (38)
10. Kyle Capobianco (44)
11. Travis Dermott (46)
12. Blake Speers (49)
13. Nikita Korostelev (50)
14. Graham Knott (57)
15. Anthony Cirelli (67)
16. Matt Spencer (68)
17. Pius Suter (74)
18. Gustav Bouramman (75)
19. Chris Martenet (81)
20. Andrew Mangiapane (85)
21. Thomas Schemitsch (91)
22. Rasmus Andersson (93)
23. Matt Luff (96)
24. Cameron Lizotte (99)
25. Brandon Crawley (102)
26. Roy Radke (104)
27. Dante Salituro (109)
28. Mitchell Stephens (112)
29. Brett McKenzie (120)
30. Colton White (128)
31. Jeremiah Addison (129)
32. Justin Lemcke (137)
33. Trent Fox (139)
34. Brandon Lindberg (140)
35. Stephen Desrochers (145)
36. Hayden McCool (147)
37. Artem Artemov (150)
38. Matt Schmalz (167)
39. Adam Laishram (168)
40. Tyler MacArthur (175)
41. Gustaf Franzen (178)
42. Mike Davies (185)
43. Ethan Syzpula (194)
44. Jarett Meyer (201)
45. Marcus Crawford (207)
46. Riley Bruce (210)
LV. Connor Schlichting

Goalies

1. Mackenzie Blackwood (1)
2. Liam Herbst (11)
3. Connor Hicks (20)
4. Michael McNiven (21)
5. Jack Flinn (25)
6. Lucas Peressini (26)

If you want to see the full list, you can check it out here.

If you want to compare the final rankings to the midseason rankings, you can do so here.

Some Notes:

Biggest Risers

1. Cameron Lizotte +72
2. Brandon Crawley +71
3. Andrew Mangiapane +62
4. Matt Schmalz +43 (not listed on midseason)
5. Pius Suter +42
6. Dante Salituro +36
7. Stephen Desrochers +36
8. Colton White +26
9. Mike Davies +25 (not listed on midseason)
10. Kyle Capobianco +23
Others: Vince Dunn (+21), Anthony Cirelli (+21), Zach Senyshyn (+18), Adam Laishram (+18), Brandon Lindberg (+13), Travis Konecny (+12)

Biggest Fallers

1. Ethan Syzpula -98
2. Nick Betz -81 (not listed on final)
3. David Miller -52 (not listed on final)
4. Tyler MacArthur - 40
5. Hayden McCool -30
6. Petrus Palmu -30 (not listed on final)
7. Gustaf Franzen -27
8. Justin Lemcke -18
9. Matt Spencer -17
10. Garrett McFadden -17 (not listed on final)
Others: Michael McNiven (-15), Jeremy Helvig (-13), Marcus Crawford (-12), Connor Hicks (-10), Nikita Korostelev (-9), Rasmus Andersson (-9)

- My first inclination was, "NHL CSS seems much higher on the OHL crop than they were earlier this season." But upon further review, that isn't really the case. Only a few more OHL'ers inside the top 100. But many of the OHL's top prospects did make some significant gains on the list (as you can see), and all of them are pretty justified IMO.

- In terms of surprises, I'd say Jesse Barwell not squeaking on to the list somewhere is pretty surprising considering how well he finished the season in Saginaw. Sam Harding is another name that continues to be missing in comparison to my own personal list.

- Great to see some of the OHL's top re-entry guys rising on the list as Suter, Mangiapane, Schmalz, and Liam Herbst all rose on the list pretty significantly. Much deserved.

- The big one that's generating a lot of buzz is the ranking of Lawson Crouse over Mitch Marner. I love Crouse, but I'm with people in disagreeing about that one. Marner is second on my list right now.

- Central Scouting continues to love Anthony Cirelli. I think he's a solid young player who has been a pleasant surprise for Oshawa this year. But I don't get his ranking in comparison to some of the other guys lower than him.

- Tough fall for two of the OHL's second tier of draft eligible net minders. McNiven and Hicks took a big tumble. McNiven was a different player after his bad showing at the Top Prospect's Game. I still believe in his long term potential though. And Hicks has size and could also be a quality net minder. Both are still late round NHL picks IMO.