In early February I first presented to you my rankings for the 2023 NHL Draft. It was meant to mimic how I would come to build a list when employed by an NHL team, growing and changing over time.
Today, I'm expanding that list to 50 players...plus one! After showing off the top five Wednesday with our “First Five Deep Dive”, now we get to the rest of them.
There has been some movement up and down. Some players have been trending significantly in recent months and deserve recognition for their efforts.
Gavin Brindley, from the University of Michigan, is one of those players. His hard work is paying off and the undersized forward is uber-competitive. He’s being deployed in all situations and getting between 19 and 25 minutes of ice time in his past 10 games.
Most scouts agree that games get harder down the stretch and into the playoffs. Since the beginning of February, Brindley has skated in 14 games and has scored nine goals and 12 assists over that span.
He’s a big reason for Michigan’s team success as they head to the NCAA Frozen Four in Tampa Bay from April 6-8.
Plus One
There was a point in my process where I debated expanding this list to 60 players, but I decided I needed more time to keep building out my list and so will circle back again in a couple weeks.
One player I needed to include this time, though, became my “plus one”. In the back half of the second round I believe there’s a legitimate chance the first goalie will go off the board. Michael Hrabal is the first goalie on my list, and on the cusp of being in my top 50 overall.
It has been my experience over the years that when the first goalie goes off the board other teams follow suit. There could be a small run of goalies in the back half of the second round in this draft, and certainly by the early third round.
The List
Here’s a look at my rankings as of March 30, 2023:
(Reminder: All heights and weights will be verified before the draft in June, following the NHL Draft Combine)
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