The NHL Central Scouting Service released its midterm rankings for the 2015 NHL draft Wednesday morning, and three Everett players were among those ranked.
Defenseman Noah Juulsen, who’s en route to Thursday’s CHL Top Prospects Game in Toronto, was ranked 38th among North American Skaters and was the 11th WHLer ranked. That ranking suggests Juulsen is a candidate to be picked somewhere around the second or third round.
Also for Everett, defenseman Kevin Davis was ranked 137th among North American Skaters (31st among WHLers) and defenseman Tristen Pfeifer was ranked 179th (39th among WHLers). Those rankings put Davis and Pfeifer on the bubble of whether they’ll be drafted.
If there was a snub for the Tips, I guess it would be goaltender Austin Lotz, who wasn’t ranked among North America goalies. However, Lotz was ranked each of the past two years, but didn’t get drafted either year, so it’s not really surprising that he’s not on this list. Central Scouting always ranks a few players who aren’t in their first year of draft eligibility (Pfeifer is one), but not many.
If there’s another Everett player who’s been passed over in the draft before, but maybe deserves some consideration, it’s Dawson Leedahl. Leedahl does all the things that don’t show up on the scoresheet, and ever since moving onto the Saskatoon Platoon line he’s been putting up numbers, too (10 points in his past 10 games). He also was invited to an NHL rookie training camp last September, so he’s on the NHL radar. He profiles more as the type of player who could earn a pro contract during his overage season, but he could be a sneaky sleeper draft candidate.
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