NHL Central Scouting has released their final ranking for the 2021 NHL Draft and as expected, University of Michigan defenseman Owen Power leads the way among North American skaters. The 6’6″ defenseman is currently in Latvia playing at the IIHF World Championship with Team Canada and is the odds-on favorite to be selected first-overall this summer.
While two of Power’s Michigan teammates, Kent Johnson and Matthew Beniers are also highly ranked, the number two spot is somewhat of a surprise. Mason McTavish, who had usually been ranked a little further down the chart by other publications, slides in directly behind Power after his outstanding U18 tournament and experience overseas. When the OHL failed to return this season, McTavish went to play in Switzerland, where he was actually born while his dad Dale McTavish played pro hockey in 2003. In 17 games for EHC Olten, the 18-year-old center recorded 11 goals and 18 points.
The full rankings can be found here, but the top five on each list are:
North American Skaters:
D Owen Power
F Mason McTavish
F Kent Johnston
D Luke Hughes
F Dylan Guenther
North American Goalies:
G Sebastian Cossa
G Benjamin Gaudreau
G Tristan Lennox
G Olivier Adam
G Emerik Despatie
International Skaters:
F William Eklund
D Simon Edvinsson
F Aatu Raty
F Nikita Chibrikov
D Daniil Chayka
International Goalies:
G Jesper Wallstedt
G Aleksei Kolosov
G Patrik Hamrla
G Aku Koskenvuo
G Carl Lindbom
No way Matthew Beniers shouldn’t be in the top 5. The kid is a beast!
Would I ever love it if Poile somehow moved up in the draft to get Beniers.
Beniers was a joy to watch at the WJC. Would love to have him.
I’m hoping Guenther is around whenever Ottawa’s picking, assuming they don’t win the lottery.
Owen Power and Rasmus Dahlin would be a match made in heaven imo. They would def feed off each other in a positive way. Plus with the small sample size but good showings from borgen and Bryson, the Sabres would be set at d for a LONG TIME. Now to fix the conundrum of scoring don’t blow it up. Bring in a coach with ACTUAL sustained winning (ex. Boudreau) and let him be front in center with adams and fix the forwards. Eichel needs to stay as does Reinhart as 1C 2C and build the wingers around them. Plus Cozens at 3c and Mittlestadt at 4c they’re quite well off at center than most teams. Move Risto, Miller, and sign a couple FA’s and they’re good. Goalie though is an issue idk what they can do lol! (IS ROBERT AYERS AVAILABLE???)
Do you mean David Ayres?