Who do the Draft Prognosticators think are the best player at the 20th overall spot?

So, now that the expansion draft content has been done, we now have to get to the actual draft content and it is...

yeah.

It’s a weird one.

Conventional wisdom states that this year’s crop was already earmarked into being a thinner-than-average draft than normal, and the Pandemic only strengthened that as numerous draft-eligible players disappeared into the aether searching for playing time, either as surprising stars for 2nd and 3rd tier european clubs, or heading south to the USHL to try and capitalize on an unevenly ran CHL season.

So the first thing we have to be aware of is this: There is a good chance the B’s first round pick is going to be a project. Because of the realities of the season, there’s simply too much development time that’s ultimately been wasted by international travel restrictions, COVID tests, the shaky reality of Worlds and the World Juniors, and finally the simple fact that some players got the usual unlucky injury or unluckily short season thanks to league shenanigans. Outside of maybe the top 5, assume everything we know about the draft (it’s a crapshoot and nobody knows what they’re doing) is thirtyfold.

With that said, I felt it was a good time to get people at least familiar with the names listed.

NHL Central Scouting - North America:

Shai Buium (LHD)

NHL Central Scouting - Europe:

Ville Koivunen (RW/LW)

EliteProspects.com Top 32:

Aatu Räty (C)

FCProspects Top 32:

Logan Stankoven (C/RW)

McKeen’s Hockey Top 32:

Ryder Korczak (C)

TSN (Bob McKenzie) Top 32:

Aatu Räty (C)

Neutral Zone Scouting Top 32:

Samu Tuomaala (RW)

Sportsnet Top 32:

Nikita Chibrikov (LW/RW)

Recruit Scouting Top 32:

Simon Robertsson (RW)

Smaht Scouting Top 32:

Carson Lambos (LHD)

EliteProspects Consolidated Rankings (created by averaging partnered scouting organizations rankings):

Isak Rosén (LW/RW)

We will be going through all of these players individually, but until then, here’s some highlights to hold you over.

Next time, we will either look at Rosen to see how he emerged as a late round favorite, or chronicle the story of how Aatu Raty went from possible 1st overall to almost falling out of the first round altogether.