As the NHL season kicks off tonight, ISS Hockey releases its initial rankings for the 2016 NHL Draft. Zurich ZSC Right Winger Auston Matthews starts the season at the #1 rank, with Sarnia Stings Left Defensemen Jakob Chychrun at #2.

October 07, 2015 [Waterloo, ON] ISS Hockey has released its monthly rankings of the top prospects eligible for the 2016 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.

Below is the ISS Top 30, highlighting the rankings for the top 30 prospects, which are released on the first Wednesday of every month during the hockey season:

ISS Hockey Top 30 Ranked Prospects for 2016 NHL Draft

Rank Player Position Birth Shot Height Weight Team League 1 Matthews, Auston RW 9/17/1997 L 6.01.5 194 Zurich ZSC SuiA 2 Chychrun, Jakob LD 3/31/1998 L 6.02 215 Sarnia OHL 3 Jones, Max LW 2/17/1998 L 6.03 205 London OHL 4 Tkachuk, Matthew LW 12/11/1997 L 6.01.25 195 London OHL 5 Puljujarvi, Jesse RW 5/7/1998 R 6.03 198 Karpat FinE 6 Laine, Patrik LW 4/19/1998 R 6.04 209 Tappara FinE 7 Gauthier, Julien RW 10/15/1997 R 6.03.5 225 Val-d'Or QMJHL 8 Fabbro, Dante RD 6/20/1998 R 6.00.25 189 Penticton BCHL 9 McLeod, Michael C 2/3/1998 R 6.02.25 188 Mississauga OHL 10 Brown, Logan C 3/5/1998 L 6.06 222 Windsor OHL 11 Nylander, Alexander RW 3/2/1998 R 6.00.5 179 Mississauga OHL 12 Sergachev, Mikhail RD 6/25/1998 L 6.02.5 206 Windsor OHL 13 Dubois, Pierre-Luc LW 6/24/1998 L 6.02.5 202 Cape Breton QMJHL 14 Sokolov, Dmitry LW 4/14/1998 L 5.11.25 220 Sudbury OHL 15 Juolevi, Olli LD 5/5/1998 L 6.02.5 179 London OHL 16 Clague, Kale LD 6/5/1998 L 5.11.75 177 Brandon WHL 17 Benson, Tyler LW 3/15/1998 L 5.11.75 201 Vancouver WHL 18 Jost, Tyson RW 3/14/1998 L 5.11 191 Penticton BCHL 19 Bellows, Kieffer C 6/10/1998 L 6.00 196 NTDP USA Under-18 USHL 20 Steel, Sam C 2/3/1998 L 5.11 177 Regina WHL 21 Keller, Clayton C 7/29/1998 L 5.09.5 168 NTDP USA Under-18 USHL 22 Knierim, William RW 1/22/1998 R 6.02.5 207 Dubuque USHL 23 Abramov, Vitalii LW 5/8/1998 L 5.08.75 172 Gatineau QMJHL 24 Makinen, Otto C 5/21/1998 L 6.00.5 178 Tappara FinJrA 25 Krys, Chad LD 4/10/1998 L 5.11 185 NTDP USA Under-18 USHL 26 Howden, Brett LW 3/29/1998 L 6.02.25 193 Moose Jaw WHL 27 Kunin, Luke RW 12/4/1997 R 5.10.75 188 Wisconsin BigTen 28 Asplund, Rasmus C 12/3/1997 L 5.10.5 176 Farjestad SweJE 29 Hajek, Libor LD 2/4/1998 L 6.02 185 Saskatoon WHL 30 Malenstyn, Beck C 2/4/1998 L 6.01.75 191 Calgary WHL

Published October 07 2015

Complete, an all-around package…that is just one key element that our elite ISS Scouting staff has labeled on #1 rank Auston Matthews. Matthews has very good puck skills, frame, offensive tools with good edge to edge control and mobility. ISS ranked Jakob Chychrun at #2 is a confident power house defensemen with impressive size and strength for his age. Rounding out the ISS Top 3 is London Knights Left Winger Max Jones, who is a highly skilled power forward with pro frame and shot.

“Matthews never slows down”, says ISS Hockey Director of Scouting Dennis MacInnis. “This kid is magic. His hockey sense and the way he can react on developing game situations is advanced. He has exceptional overall skills.”

The complete ISS Hockey rankings, evaluations, game reports, player reports, player profiles and more are exclusively available to hockey professionals through RinkNet, ISS parent company HockeyTech’s Scouting and Player Information System. To find out more about RinkNet, please visit HockeyTech.com/RinkNet

About ISS Hockey

ISS Hockey (International Scouting Services) is the world’s leading independent scouting and information provider on hockey prospects. Founded in 2002, ISS is a division of HockeyTech, a worldwide leader in hockey technology, analytics and information services. ISS scouts, evaluates, analyzes and ranks players internationally on behalf of its many clients. ISS data is widely utilized in the hockey world, building an industry leading reputation for the best and most comprehensive scouting information. 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. All players that we rank will have been seen and evaluated many times by several ISS scouts.

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