2014 USHL Phase I (Futures) Draft List

The USHL will hold their Phase I Futures Draft next week on Thursday May 5th. Any player born in 1998 is eligible to be selected in this year's Futures Draft. Players selected will be placed on the team's affiliate list, and will attend the team's tryout camp with an opportunity to make the team for next year, or stay protected by that team for future seasons.

For the past year, I've been keeping a list of all the '98-born prospects I've seen play, and it seems most relevant to post it now, with so many of those players likely to be drafted

A few caveats about this list:

-I kept this list to players that I've personally seen play, and I never really traveled more than 30 minutes from my house in Minnesota. As a result, most of the Minnesota kids have more viewings than the out-of-state kids, and the group of Minnesotans on this list are a little more thorough than other areas. I'm including a list at the bottom of kids that have a good chance of being drafted, but I just didn't see play this year, or didn't get a good enough look at to give a fair rating.

-This list is my personal opinion, and not necessarily what I think will happen at the Draft. For example, a player like Dominic Mersch will go higher in the draft than I have him listed here. I also didn't move anybody up or down based on things like college commitments, NTDP commitments, signing tenders, etc. It's a subjective thing, and the margins here are a lot closer than most people think.

-With any draft like this, there are a ton of mitigating factors that teams have to take into consideration before drafting a player. I've listed some of the ones that are officially known--NTDP commitments, signed with a CHL team, tendered with a USHL team, Import status--but there are some other factors--leaning towards the CHL, likelihood of reporting to the USHL, etc.--that I didn't take into consideration at all. For example, Cal Foote is pretty high on the list, but concerns about him signing with Kelowna in the WHL may cause some teams to back away from him.

-This list ends up being a lot lengthier than likely necessary. Once you get to the bottom 25% or so, you're looking at real long shots to get drafted next week.

All that said...here's the list of the best I saw this year:

Tyler Benson-F-Vancouver Giants(Canadian)(WHL signed)

Clayton Keller-F-Shattuck(NTDP)(Boston University)

Joey Anderson-F-Hill-Murray(NTDP)(Minnesota-Duluth)

Max Jones-F-Honeybaked U18(NTDP)

Ryan Lindgren-D-Shattuck(NTDP)(Minnesota)

Trent Frederic-F-St. Louis U16(NTDP)(Wisconsin)

Graham McPhee-F-Shattuck U16(NTDP)(Boston College)

Patrick Khodorenko-F- Honeybaked U16(NTDP)

Callan Foote-D-Colorado Thunderbirds

Ty Farmer-D-St. Louis U16(Tendered by Youngstown)(Michigan State)

Jake Toporowski-D-Chicago Mission U16(WHL signed)

Mitch Eliot-D-Honeybaked U16(Tendered by Muskegon)(Michigan State)

Nick Pastujov-F-Honeybaked U16(NTDP)

Hank Crone-F-Dallas U16(Tendered by Omaha)(Boston University)

Derek Daschke-D-Oakland Grizzlies U16(Tendered by Cedar Rapids)

Mitch Lewandowski-F-Honeybaked U16(Michigan State)

Kieffer Bellows-F- Edina

Sam Huff-F-Maple Grove

Garrett Wait-F-Edina

JD Greenway-D-Shattuck-St. Mary's(NTDP)

Jake Oettinger-G-Lakeville North(NTDP)

Luke Martin-D-St. Louis(NTDP)(Michigan)

Zach Walker-F-Colorado Thunderbirds U16(NTDP)

Sam Rossini-D-Burnsville(Tendered with Waterloo)

Nick McKeeby-D-Honeybaked U16(Western Michigan)

Joseph Woll-G-St. Louis Blues U16(NTDP)(Harvard)

Ryan Edquist-G-Shattuck U16(Minnesota)

Matt Hellickson-D-Rogers(NTDP)

Cole Weaver-G- Omaha U16

Matt Kiersted-D- Elk River(North Dakota)

Alec Semandel-D-Mission U16

Liam Schioler-D-Shattuck U16(Canadian)

Anea Ferrario-D-Colorado Thunderbirds U16

Dave Melaragni-D-Team Comcast U16(Northeastern)

Kailer Yamamoto-F-LA Jr. Kings U16

Noah LaLonde-F-Honeybaked U16(Michigan State)

Garrett Nieto-G-LA Jr. Kings U16

Brett Crossley-F-Shattuck St. Mary's(Canadian)

Kevin Fellows-F-Prior Lake

Davis Bunz-D-Team Wisconsin

Tim Gettinger-F-Cleveland Barons U16

Austen Long-F-Spring Lake Park HS

Hank Sorenson-D-Wayzata

Mitch Mattson-F-Grand Rapids(North Dakota)

James Sanchez-F-CYA U16(NTDP)(Michigan)

Zach Solow-F-St. Louis U16

Phillip Knies-F-Arizona Bobcats

Ralph Jarratt-D-POE U18(WHL signed)

Chris Conway-D-Pittsburgh Penguins

Dylan Dix-D-Arizona Bobcats

Ryan Carlson-D-Mission U16

Willie Knierim-F-Mission U16(Tendered by Dubuque)(Miami)

Mark Senden-F-Wayzata

Dominick Mersch-F- Mission U16(Wisconsin)

Max Johnson-F-Lakeville North

Jack Kopacka-F-Compuware

Casey Staum-D-Hill-Murray

Riley Tufte-F-Blaine(Minnesota-Duluth)

William Lockwood-F-Oakland Grizzlies U16(NTDP)(Michigan)

Hugh McGing-F-Chicago Mission(Tendered by Cedar Rapids)(Western Michigan)

Brad Belisle-F-Thunder Bay Kings(Canadian)

Luke Paterson-F-Wayzata

Christopher Berger-F-Buffalo Jr. Sabresf

Dayton Rasmussen-G-Holy Family(MN) HS

Robbie Johnson-F-POE U18(Canadian)

Ash Altmann-F-Duluth East

Ethan Roswell-D-Arizona Bobcats

Max Gerlach-F-Colorado Thunderbirds U16

Dalton Weigel-D-Breck

Ethen Frank-F-Omaha U16

Benjamin Lown-F-Shattuck U16

Blake Bargar-F-Arizona Bobcats

Trenton Bliss-D-Team Wisconsin

Grant Cruikshank-F-Milwaukee U16

Josh Dunne-F-St. Louis U16

Keegan Mantaro-D-Colorado Thunderbirds

Jack Kelly-D-Maple Grove

Parker Smyth-F-POE U18(Canadian)(WHL signed)

Carver Watson-D-Team Wisconsin U16

Keegan Howdeshell-F-Compuware U16

Kenny Johnson-D-Shattuck-St. Mary's

Calvin Pugh-D-Edina HS

Ryan Bederka-D-Honeybaked U16(Michigan State)

Brian Hurley-D-St. Thomas Academy

Niko Karamanis-F-Shattuck U16(Canadian)

Bryan Yoon-D-Colorado Thunderbirds U18

Griffin Neault-D-Team Illinois

Jeff Stack-D-KC Mavs U16

Evan Pace-F-San Jose U16

Nikolay Knyzhov-D-Phoenix Firebirds(Russian)

Brian Hawkinson-F-Colorado Thunderbirds U16

Joseph Abate-F-Chicago Fury U16

Matt Denman-D-Prior Lake

Brendan Gillis-F-Thunder Bay Kings(Canadian)

Egan Wolford-D-San Jose U16

Brendan Walkom-F-Pittsburgh U16

Adam Goodsir-F-Lansing Caps U16

Jacob Gaydos-D-Cleveland Barons U16

Carter Wade-F-Arizona Bobcats U16

Jake Theis-F-Chanhassen

Justin Jallen-F-St. Paul Academy

Ben Dallke-F-Pembina Valley(Canadian)

Zac Risteau-F-Benilde-St. Margaret's

Brandon Bushy-D-Thief River Falls HS

Bryceton Butkiewicz-F-Moose Lake HS

Nick Leitner-D-Bemidji

Eric Gotz-D-Hermantown HS

Jensen Zerban-F-Elk River Bantam AA

Ben Meyers-F-Delano HS

John Stampohar-D-Grand Rapids Bantam AA

Brendan Skarda-F-Minnetonka

Connor Nobach-D-LA Jr. Kings U16

Aaron Maguyon-F-Team Comcast U16

Aiden Beck-F-Pittsburgh Penguins U16

Jake Walker-F-TPH Thunder U16

Alec Bosnic-F-Esmark Stars U16

Brandon Schuldhaus-D-Shattuck U16

Carson Bergstrom-D-Arizona Bobcats U

Myles Cunningham-D-Blake

Justin Dixson-D-San Jose U15

Jerry Calengor-D-Benilde-St. Margaret's

Will Rooney-F-Cooper HS

Brandon Morgan-F-Compuware U16

Dalton Gally-D-Omaha U16

Justin Wells-D-Cleveland U16

Marco Bohatiuk-F-Team Comcast U16

Crey Bankes-D-Blake(Michigan lacrosse)

Daniel Marod-D-Little Falls

Noah Turaski-D-POE U16(Canadian)

Grady Hauswirth-F-Farmington(MN) HS

Charlie Monn-F-Rosemount(MN) HS

Alex Heinritz-F-Arizona Bobcats

Trey Bagwell-F-LA Jr. Kings U16

Tristan Moss-D-Wayzata

Zach West-F-Thunder Bay Kings U16

Jason Koehn-F-Grand Rapids(MN) HS

Lukas Dow-F-Duluth Marshall HS

Nick Althaus-G-St. Cloud Apollo

David Cohen-F-TPH Thunder U16

Thomas Hanson-G-Minnetonka

Mark Willson-D-Orono

Cody McLean-F-Centennial HS

Nick Schnelle-F-St. Louis Jr. Blues U16

Mitch Bourgerie-F-St. Michael-Albertville

Michael Underwood-D-Oakland Grizzlies U16

Mason Palmer-D-Shattuck U16

Reed Robinson-F-Texas Tornado U16

Thomas Steven-F-POE U16(Australian)

Haven’t seen:

Cam Dineen, Brett Callahan,Konstantin Cherynuk(Russian)(Maine), AJ Drobot(Maine), Simon Butala(Maine), Victor Mete(Canadian), Tyler Nother(Canadian)(Miami) Michael Latorella, Jamie Armstrong, Alex Green, Andrew Peeke, Sam Sternschein(Cornell), Justin Cmunt, Cole Gallant, Drake Rymsha, Kyle Moore, Andrew Jackson, Igor Larionov, Evan Wisocky