In the February 15th release of the ISS Top 30, Seth Jones remains the top ranked prospect, with Russian Valery Nichushkin rising up the rankings to the #2 spot. Nathan MacKinnon and Jonathan Drouin pushed down to numbers 3 and 4, and Darnell Nurse cracks the top 5.

February 15, 2013 [Boca Raton, FL] ISS Hockey has released its new monthly rankings of the top prospects eligible for the 2013 NHL Draft. This month’s rankings include the top 150 skaters, along with the top 10 goaltenders, as evaluated and ranked by ISS Hockey’s worldwide network of scouts.

Below is the ISS Top 30, highlighting the rankings for the top 30 prospects. A full, sortable version can be viewed at: http://ISShockey.com/iss-top-30

ISS Hockey Top 30 Ranked Prospects For 2013 NHL Draft Rank Player Position Birth Shot Height Weight Team League 1 Jones, Seth RD 10/3/1994 R 6.03.5 208 Portland WHL 2 Nichushkin, Valery LW 3/4/1995 L 6.04 196 Chelyabinsk Chelmet RusS 3 MacKinnon, Nathan C 9/1/1995 R 6.00 182 Halifax QMJHL 4 Drouin, Jonathan LW 3/27/1995 L 5.10.75 185 Halifax QMJHL 5 Nurse, Darnell LD 2/4/1995 L 6.03.5 189 S.S. Marie OHL 6 Zadorov, Nikita LD 4/15/1995 L 6.05.25 230 London OHL 7 Barkov, Sasha C 9/2/1995 L 6.03 209 Tappara FinE 8 Monahan, Sean C 10/12/1994 L 6.02 186 Ottawa OHL 9 Lindholm, Elias C 12/2/1994 R 5.11.75 192 Brynas SweE 10 Ristolainen, Rasmus RD 10/27/1994 R 6.04 207 TPS Turku FinE 11 Lazar, Curtis C 2/2/1995 R 5.11.75 193 Edmonton WHL 12 Pulock, Ryan RD 10/6/1994 R 6.00.5 211 Brandon WHL 13 Shinkaruk, Hunter C 10/13/1994 L 5.11 175 Medicine Hat WHL 14 Dickinson, Jason LW 7/4/1995 L 6.01.25 179 Guelph OHL 15 Zykov, Valentin RW 5/15/1995 R 6.00 210 Baie-Comeau QMJHL 16 Burakowsky, Andre LW 2/9/1995 L 6.01.5 176 Malmo SweAl 17 Morrissey, Joshua LD 3/28/1995 L 5.11.75 182 Prince Albert WHL 18 Wennberg, Alexander C 9/22/1994 L 6.01.5 174 Djurgarden SweJE 19 Rychel, Kerby LW 10/7/1994 L 6.01 200 Windsor OHL 20 Santini, Steve RD 3/7/1995 R 6.01.5 207 USA Under-18 NTDP 21 Gauthier, Frederik C 4/26/1995 L 6.05 210 Rimouski QMJHL 22 Hagg, Robert RD 2/8/1995 L 6.02.25 204 Modo SweJE 23 Horvat, Bo C 4/5/1995 L 6.00.25 200 London OHL 24 Bowey, Madison RD 4/22/1995 R 6.00.75 200 Kelowna WHL 25 Compher, JT C 4/8/1995 R 5.10.5 184 USA Under-18 NTDP 26 Erne, Adam F 4/20/1995 L 6.01 195 Québec QMJHL 27 Lehkonen, Artturi LW 7/4/1995 L 5.11 159 Kuopio FinE 28 Domi, Max C 3/2/1995 L 5.09.25 193 London OHL 29 Petan, Nic C 3/22/1995 L 5.08.5 163 Portland WHL 30 Thompson, Keaton LD 9/14/1995 L 6.00.25 187 USA Under-18 NTDP Published February 15, 2013

While Seth Jones remains in the top ranked spot, there has been some change in the rest of the top 5. Nichushkin earns himself the #2 ranking with some dominant tournament performances, pushing MacKinnon and Drouin to the numbers 3 and 4 rankings. Nurse cracks the top 5 for the first time, continuing to impress ISS scouts.

“Still riding the momentum from his World Juniors performance, Valery Nichushkin took advantage of some added exposure at this month’s U18 5 Nations event and was simply dominant in an event with several high end prospects in attendance”, says ISS Hockey Director of Scouting Dennis MacInnis. “The captain of the Russian squad, Nichushkin was also named Russia’s best player in 3 out of 4 games during the tournament.”

Adds MacInnis about Nic Petan, the newest addition to the ISS Top 30 at #29, “Petan continues to answer the question about his lack of size with dominating offensive numbers, currently leading the CHL in points … and he’s still just 17, making him a prime target for a late first round steal.”

The monthly ISS Hockey rankings are included in the company’s Monthly Scouting Report, which is tailored for the general manager, scout, coach, agent or superfan that wants in-depth information on prospects for the upcoming NHL and CHL drafts. Rankings, player profiles, spotlights, tournament reports and news and notes from the world of hockey are published on the 15th of each month from October through June. For more info, visit: http://ISShockey.com/shop/nhl-scouting-report-subscription

About ISS Hockey

ISS Hockey (International Scouting Services Inc.) is the leading independent scouting and information provider on hockey player prospects aged 14 to 19. Founded in 2002, ISS scouts, evaluates, analyzes and ranks players internationally on behalf of its many clients, which include (among others): NHL Teams, Hockey Canada, Major Junior Leagues & Teams (CHL, QMJHL, OHL, WHL, USHL), NCAA Teams, TSN, THN: The Hockey News and Sports Agencies. The ISS annual NHL Draft Guide has become the de facto draft reference guide for NHL scouts, fans and sports media. All ISS products are widely utilized in the hockey world, building an industry leading reputation for the best and most comprehensive scouting information. This incredible status leads every young hockey player desiring to advance in the sport to aspire to be scouted and ranked by ISS. The key to the success of ISS is the incredible worldwide network of ISS Hockey scouts. ISS scouts are within reach of every young hockey player in the world, and attend every major hockey tournament, in addition to thousands of league games. Game and player reports are input into ISS’s state-of-the-art systems and evaluated assure reliability and consistency. All players that we rank will have been seen and evaluated many times by several of ISS scouts.

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