I'll be in Erie, PA tonight to watch Connor McDavid, Dylan Strome, Nick Baptiste, and Brendan Lemieux as the Otters host the Barrie Colts.

Its's the first Wednesay of teh month which signifies that ISS Hockey has released its monthly rankings of the top prospects eligible for the 2015 NHL Draft.

This month’s rankings include the top 200 skaters, along with the top 15 goaltenders, as evaluated and ranked by ISS Hockey’s worldwide network of scouts.

ISS profiles the top 30 prospects each month. Today, I am only interested in the top 20. Buffalo Sabres GM Tim Murray says that the the first round of the 2015 draft is much like the 2003 NHL Entry draft in that the first round is rock solid. In 2003, the following players were selected in the first round:

Marc Andre Fleury, Eric Staal, Nathan Horton, Thomas Vanek, Milan Michalek, Ryan Suter, Braydon Coburn, Dion Phaneuf, Jeff Carter, Dustin Brown, Brent Seabrook, Zach Parise, Ryan Getzlaf, Ryan Kesler, Mike Richards, and Corey Perry.

The 2015 promises to be chock full o'difference makers.

Teams selecting 1 through 20 will be guaranteed a difference making player. He says that there is a drop-off in talent from pick #21 on down the line.

Below is the ISS Top 20, highlighting the rankings for the top 20 prospects.



March 2015 ISS Hockey Top 20 Ranked Prospects For 2015 NHL Draft


1 McDavid, Connor
2 Eichel, Jack
3 Crouse, Lawson
4 Hanifin, Noah
5 Marner, Mitchell
6 Strome, Dylan
7 Barzal, Mathew
8 Rantanen, Mikko
9 Provorov, Ivan
10 Werenski, Zach
11 Zacha, Pavel
12 Meier, Timo
13 Connor, Kyle
14 Konecny, Travis
15 Merkley, Nick
16 Bittner, Paul
17 White, Colin
18 Chabot, Thomas
19 Zboril, Jakub
20 Carlo, Brandon

Crouse leapfrogs Hanifin from 4th place to third place in the ISS standings.

Marner jumps up three positions to #5 to join McDavid (#1), Eichel (#2), Crouse (#3), and Hanifin (#4) in the Top 5 of ISS Hockey’s release of its March ISS Top 30.

“Marner is an elite skater that can change speeds and shift laterally to create space”, says ISS Hockey Director of Scouting Dennis MacInnis. “Marner has a chance to develop into a top six NHL player, and any NHL team will be very happy with his development.”


For teh full list of top 30 prospects, go to isshockey.com




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