Article: 2023 Draft Rankings – Top 32
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The Hockey Writers’ Final Combined 2023 Draft Rankings – Top 32
Welcome to The Hockey Writers’ Final 2023 Draft Rankings, a combination of the rankings from our top prospects writers. This is the culmination of a year-plus of scouting and writing, hundreds of hours of work and hockey are combined here. This list is a compilation of Peter Baracchini’s Final Rankings (Top 128), Devin Little’s Final Rankings (Top-64), Andrew Forbes’ Final Rankings (Top 128) and my own (Logan Horn’s) Final Rankings (Top-160). I combined each of our final rankings of the top prospects in the class and found the average ranking spot, then organized the top-32 prospects based on their average draft position.
We don’t all agree on every prospect (though admittedly I’m the biggest contrarian of the group), with Russians Daniil But and Dmitri Simashev standing out as major points of disagreement. But’s rankings varied from 14th to 38th, and Simashev from 16th to 40th, highlighting how varied opinions are on even some of the top prospects. Colby Barlow was another prospect with rankings ranging from as early as ninth overall and as low as 19th. Another guy we were split on was Otto Stenberg, with rankings spread from 14th to 35th overall.
1. Connor Bedard, C, Regina Pats (WHL)
Expectations were unfairly high for Connor Bedard coming into his draft year, with the “generational talent” label floating around in many draft conversations. To say he has met those expectations would be a profound understatement. Bedard has crushed all expectations this year and has firmly planted himself in the first overall position.
I can’t think of a first overall pick so far above the rest of the competition since Connor McDavid back in 2015, of course some tried to argue for Jack Eichel (as they do now for Adam Fantilli), but that argument doesn’t hold up well under scrutiny. Auston Matthews had Patrik Laine, Jack Hughes had Kaapo Kakko, and Alexis Lafreniere had Quinton Byfiled, it’s hard for top prospects to separate themselves from the pack but Bedard has done just that.
2. Adam Fantilli, C, University of Michigan (NCAA)
Adam Fantilli is an absolute monster with the puck, with the skill, skating, and strength to beat defenders no matter how they approach him. Good luck taking the puck away from him because he can easily move around you with his excellent skating or truck through you with his solid 6-foot-2, 185-pound frame.
Fantilli authored one of the most impressive draft eligible NCAA seasons in recent memory with the only competition being Jack Eichel’s dominant 2014-15 season (71 points in 40 games or 1.78 points per game). Fantilli’s final stat line was 27 goals and 61 points in 33 NCAA games (1.85 points per game) on a University of Michigan team filled to the brim with talent. Eichel followed up his draft year with 56 points in the NHL, how many will Fantilli have next year?
3. Leo Carlsson, C/W, Örebro HK (SHL)
With an excellent year in the Swedish Hockey League (SHL) as a 17-year-old Leo Carlsson has shot up draft boards and made the top tier of the draft one player larger. The SHL demands a lot of players when it comes to physicality and defensive effort, both of which Carlsson has excelled at. He didn’t look out of place against men and scored points at an excellent rate for a draft eligible player.
Carlsson’s ability to find and make space off the puck is also impressive for such a young player playing against grown men. He has the potential to make a real impact in the NHL as soon as next year considering his success on both ends of the ice in Sweden thus far.
4. Matvei Michkov, HK Sochi (KHL)
Matvei Michkov might just be the smartest player in this draft class, with an incredible ability to manipulate opposing defenses. He has a great shot, but more often than not he scores goals because he slipped his defender and managed to find the space and time necessary to score a goal. While Bedard scores by shooting a wrister as hard as possible, trying to punch a hole through the goalie, Michkov will outsmart the defense and score by finding holes in coverage.
In the lower leagues of Russian hockey Michkov was able to cheat for offense a lot which was making some people I’ve talked to a bit nervous about how his game would translate to the NHL. However, his play in the KHL put those questions to rest as he played a much more disciplined two-way game effort wise and still managed to score a ton of points.
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