NHL teams want mobile, puckmoving defensemen these days and it seems like this draft is bountiful at the top end with rushing blueliners.

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With the Ivan Hlinka Memorial tournament finished and the World Junior Summer Showcase in the books, this seems like a good time to kick off the 2018 draft with my first rankings of the year. Canada won the Ivan Hlinka, beating the host Czechs in the final. The WJSS isn’t so much about the wins and losses, but it did provide a nice spotlight for our top pick and a couple other gems.

Since the regular season hasn’t even started yet for these players, consider this initial ranking as a baseline. My hope here is to give you a sense of what this draft could look like and introduce you to the big names.

If there is one early theme I am detecting, it’s that we are living in the age of Erik Karlsson. NHL teams want mobile, puckmoving defensemen these days and it seems like this draft is bountiful at the top end with rushing blueliners. And as we saw in 2017 with Cale Makar and Miro Heiskanen, you don’t have to be huge to go high anymore.

So let’s get to it, shall we?