Another year of scouting is in the books and the 2018 NHL Draft is fast approaching. Entering the 2017/2018 season we knew there was a dynamic defenseman at the top of the draft and a skilled Russian forward who had a leg up on the number two spot. Once we started hitting the highways things began to evolve. Players like Noah Dobson, Martin Kaut, Dominik Bokk and Jay O’Brien, just to name a few, began to make their names more well known.

It wasn’t a difficult decision at the top of our list. Rasmus Dahlin wowed scouts all season long and showed up at the NHL Combine bigger and stronger than ever. He attacked the combine with the attitude of a player who might be fighting just to get drafted, not one who has the top spot all but locked up. It was enjoyable to watch.

We viewed Andrei Svechnikov as being a slight notch up on the players behind him. He did nothing by years end to give us a reason to drop him from the second overall spot on our ranking.

It was a different story once we hit the 3rd spot on our list. Brady Tkachuk, Noah Dobson and Filip Zadina were amongst several players we considered for that spot. We are big fans of Oliver Wahlstrom’s offensive-game, and excited about the potential of players such as Jesperi Kotkaniemi and Vitali Kravtsov. In the end, Brady Tkachuk edged out the other players after discussions in several ranking conference calls.

Overall, there were several areas throughout our ranking that warranted lengthy debate. It was very difficult to be forced to drop several players we really liked out of the top 31 ranking.

As always, our top 31 is available for free and our full top 2017 is included in our 2018 NHL Draft Black Book and our 2018 NHL Draft guide . Applicable members can login for their special pricing.

HockeyProspect.com Final Rankings for the 2018 NHL Draft