GetRealHockey's Mid-Season NHL Draft Rankings

After Team Orr defeated Team Cherry 2-1 on January 31st, it marked the halfway point to this Junes NHL entry draft. Back in September Nail Yakupov and Mikhail Grigorenko were the early candidates to go 1st overall. 5 Months later not much has changed.

GetReal Hockey's rankings have Nail Yakupov at the top even though he is nursing a left knee injury he suffered during the overtime period of the gold medal game at the World Juniors. The injury does not appear to be serious and Yakupov's 9 point performance at the tournament was slightly better than Grigorenko's 6 points in 6 game's. As a result we have Grigorenko second on the list.

Mathew Dumba from the Red Deer Rebels had a very impressive prospects game as he delivered several big hits and even got involved in a fight. The 5'11 defenceman may be a little on the small side but he proved he plays bigger than he is.

Rounding out the top 5 is Filip Forsberg, a right winger with Leksand in the Swedish Junior League and Everett's defenceman and captain Ryan Murray. Murray was as high as 3rd on most lists at the start of the season but a high ankle sprain and a rough WJC see him slide to the 5th spot.

Some other notables on the list are Alex Galchenyuk at #11. Galchenyuk could turn out to be the steal of the draft as he has not played a game this season due to a torn ACL suffered in the preseason. #17 Andrei Vasilevski from Russia is the first goaltender on the list. Vasilevski had a very impressive World Junior,s going until the 3rd period against Canada. First North American goaltender is Malcolm Subban, younger brother of Montreal's P.K. Subban. The Belleville Bull has an impressive 1.93 GAA and .938 save percentage in 19 games. Rounding out the first round is Tanner Pearson from the Barrie Colts. Pearson was passed over in last years draft, but a fast start to the year and a World Junior appearance for Canada put him on the radar.

Here is GetReal Hockey's top 30 draft prospects.

Rank Player Pos Team Size 1 Nail Yakupov LW Sarnia, OHL 5'10, 189 2 Mikhail Grigorenko RW Quebec, QMJHL 6'3, 200 3 Mathew Dumba D Red Deer, WHL 5'11, 175 4 Filip Forsberg RW Leksand, Swe-Jr  6'2, 181 5 Ryan Murray D Everett, WHL 6'0, 201 6 Jacob Trouba D USNTDP 6'2, 196 7 Morgan Rielly D Moose Jaw, WHL 5'11, 190 8 Brendan Gaunce C Belleville, OHL 6'2, 215 9 Olli Maatta D London, OHL 6'1, 202 10 Griffin Reinhart D Edmonton, WHL 6'3, 202 11 Alex Galchenyuk C Sarnia, OHL 6'1, 197 12 Sebastien Collberg RW Frolunda, Swe-Jr 5'11, 176 13 Pontus Aberg LW Djurgarden, Swe 5'11, 194 14 Matt Finn D Guelph, OHL 6'0, 195 15 Radek Faksa C Kitchener, OHL 6'3, 202 16 Derrick Pouliot D Portland, WHL 5'11, 181 17 Andrei Vasilevski G Ufa, Russia-Jr 6'3, 200 18 Cody Ceci D Ottawa, OHL 6'2, 208 19 Tomas Hertl C Slavia, Czech 6'2, 198 20 Zemgus Girgensons C Dubuque, USHL 6'1, 197 21 Malcolm Subban G Bellevill, OHL 6'1, 189 22 Jarrod Maidens LW Owen Sound, OHL 6'1, 175 23 Andreas Athanasiou C London, OHL 6'0, 179 24 Slater Koekkoek D Peterborough, OHL 6'2, 183 25 Stefan Matteau C USNTDP 6'1, 210 26 Oscar Dansk G Brynas, Swe-Jr 6'2, 186 27 Hampus Lindholm D Rogle, Swe-Jr 6'2, 196 28 Phillip Di Giuseppe LW Michigan, CCHA 5'11, 176 29 Martin Frk RW Halifax, QMJHL 6'0, 204 30 Tanner Pearson LW Barrie, OHL 6'0, 198
- Mike Lord