Our blogger roundtable participants were unanimous in believing that it will take a miracle for the Oilers to finish outside of the NHL Draft Lottery. Many Oiler fans are already in the mindset of a full rebuild, believing it best to finish at the bottom of the league one more time in order to get another top pick and use "The Pittsburgh Model" to redirect the fortunes of the franchise.

If everyone is in agreement, it's never too early to start checking on the possibilities. The early 2011 draft lists are out, the first mock draft is also out (Oilers finish 27th!) and after the jump I've compiled the combined top 15 from three different sources, Bob McKenzie's top 15, International Scouting Services' top 30 and The Scouring Report's preliminary top 15.

Combining the lists of the three sites gives us twenty-one names, and but for a few exceptions, the three sources are in general agreement as to the rankings.

*This table is sortable, simply click on the column header to sort.

Player ISS TSN TSR Position Team League Sean Couturier 1 1 3 Centre Drummondville Voltigeurs QMJHL Adam Larsson 2 1 1 Defence Skellefteå AIK Elitserien Ryan Nugent-Hopkins 6 3 2 Centre Red Deer Rebels WHL Victor Rask 3 6 10 Centre Leksands IF J20 SuperElit Brandon Saad 7 4 5 Left Wing Saginaw Spirit OHL Gabriel Landeskog 11 4 6 Left Wing Kitchener Rangers OHL David Musil 4

4 Defence Vancouver Giants WHL Seth Ambroz 5 10 9 Right Wing Omaha Lancers USHL Matt Puempel 12 7 7 Left Wing Peterborough Petes OHL Ryan Murphy 8 15 8 Defence Kitchener Rangers OHL Vladislav Namestnikov 9 11 12 Centre Khimik Voskresensk KHL Duncan Siemens 10 12 11 Defence Saskatoon Blades WHL Boone Jenner 16 15 15 Centre Oshawa Generals OHL Adam Clendening 21 9

Defence US National USHL Shane McColgan 15

14 Right Wing Kelowna Rockets WHL Dougie Hamilton

8

Defence Niagara Ice Dogs OHL Brett Ritchie

12

Right Wing Sarnia Sting OHL Lucas Lessio



13 Left Wing Oshawa Generals OHL Nick Shore 13



Right Wing US National USHL Tomas Jurco 14



Right Wing Saint John Sea Dogs QMJHL Scott Harrington

14

Defence London Knights OHL

The top talent is heavily weighted from the OHL, with nine of the twenty-one players coming from "The O". More bad news for the QMJHL, as the USHL now has more top-ranked talent with three players on the combined list, compared to just two from "The Q".

OHL 9 WHL 4 USHL 3 QMJHL 2 Sweden 2 KHL 1

Some quick thoughts on the initial list:

Couturier and Larsson are the consensus top two and it's likely to stay that way unless an out-of-nowhere talent like Tyler Seguin charges up behind them.

That out-of-nowhere talent just might be Brandon Saad. Saad's rise from AAA to the NAHL to the OHL has been dramatic, and should he put up an enormous year for Saginaw, he must be this year's Seguin.

McKenzie overlooks Musil completely while the other two sites have him pegged as a lottery pick.



On the other hand, McKenzie is the only one with Dougie Hamilton on his list, and he's number eight.

Copper & Blue favorite Gabriel Landeskog is a top pick on two lists, but ISS has him outside of the top ten. It may be because he was held off of Sweden's WJC team last year, ISS has no explanation of their rankings.

One really interesting name on the list is Ryan Murphy. Early reports compare him to another small defenseman full of offensive wizardry, Windsor's Ryan Ellis.

With so few defensemen at the top of the list, a team looking for a top-pairing defenseman (hint hint) in this draft is going to have to finish at the very bottom of the league to guarantee themselves a chance. By all accounts, the Oilers might just do that.