October NHL Draft Rankings

With the hockey season in full swing for just about every league except the really big one, a lot of places are starting to come out with their monthly draft rankings. Here's a look at a couple of them.

Here is International Scouting Services Top 30 for this year's NHL Draft. NCAA-bound players on the list include: 15. Steve Santini(Boston College) 19. JT Compher(Michigan) 25. Hudson Fasching(Minnesota) and 29. Michael Downing(Michigan)

Uncommitted Minnesota HS defenseman Tommy Vannelli is listed as 'Rising' while Denver commit Will Butcher is in the 'Falling' category.

Former NHL GM Craig Button released his October draft rankings for TSN. I tend to find Button's rankings more interesting than some other lists because he's more willing to go against conventional wisdom, as a real NHL team would, as opposed to repackaging Central Scouting's rankings with a a 4 or 5 spot variation like most places. Button has Compher at 16, North Dakota recruit Keaton Thompson at 24, Boston College commit Ryan Fitzgerald at 27, and uncommitted uber-recruit Ian McCoshen at 28. There's a bunch of other future college players in his next 40, which are listed in alphabetical, including Grand Rapids HS F Avery Peterson, who is the uncommitted player among the also-mentioneds.

Other notes:

-Here's a good piece on the NTDP U18s, with a specific eye on Steve Santini and Keaton Thompson.

-It's been a slow start to the season for Luke Johnson and Ross Olsson in Lincoln. Each only has one assist through three games. They're playing on a very good, very experienced team where veterans Eric Scheid, Will Suter, and Dominik Shine have combined for 11 out of Lincoln's 16 goals this year, but they're both likely to drop quite a bit if their scoring totals stay that low.

-Connor Hurley has been held scoreless through four games with the NTDP. They were playing great competition in Wisconsin, Notre Dame, North Dakota, and Bemidji State, so I don't think that necessarily hurts him a ton, but it's not going to help move him up either. By playing high school hockey this year, he missed out on the All-American Prospects Game, and won't go to the World Junior A Challenge, so this was one of his biggest chances to showcase himself against top quality competition.