The 2018-19 hockey season is over and the 2019 NHL Draft is almost upon us. The major rankings entities have all deliberated and compiled their final draft rankings.
Thus, it’s time for the final 2019 NHL Draft Consensus Rankings, averaging out the variation in the major rankings to produce a single definitive ordering of prospects.
Here’s the projected first round according to the major rankers.
Included Rankings
We’ve included seven major rankings.
- International Scouting Service’s May ranking
- Sam Cosentino’s (of Sportsnet) May ranking
- Bob McKenzie’s (of TSN) final ranking
- Craig Button’s (of TSN) final ranking
- HockeyProspect’s June ranking
- Future Considerations’ final ranking
- The Hockey News’ April (print) ranking
Feel free to compare the consensus first round to the final rankings compiled by The Hockey Writers NHL Draft team: Ryan Pike’s Top 125, Larry Fisher’s Top 350, and Brandon Share-Cohen’s Top 250.
Notes on the Top 31
The positional breakdown of the Top 31 is:
- 1 goaltender
- 9 defensemen
- 22 forwards (13 centers, 9 wingers)
The league breakdown of the Top 31 is:
- 9 United States Hockey League (all but two from the U.S. National Development Team)
- 6 Western Hockey League (all domestic)
- 6 Ontario Hockey League (5 domestic, 1 import)
- 3 Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (all domestic)
- 2 SM-Liiga (Finland)
- 1 Minor Hockey League (Russia)
- 1 HockeyAllsvenskan (Sweden)
- 1 British Columbia Hockey League (junior A)
- 1 Swedish Hockey League
- 1 Deutch Extraliga (Germany)
There’s a well-defined top three, followed by a fairly well-defined next seven prospects. After that, things get a bit muddled – many players not appearing on every first round projection – which should make for an eventful first evening of the draft in Vancouver.
The Consensus First Round
(“Mid.” refers to the player’s rank, if applicable, in January’s mid-season Consensus Rankings)
| Rank | Player | Pos. | Primary Team | Mid. | ISS | SN | McKenzie | Button | HP | FC | THN |
| 1 | Jack Hughes | C | U.S. National Dev. (USHL) | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 2 | Kaapo Kakko | RW | TPS Turku (SM-Liiga) | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| 3 | Bowen Byram | D | Vancouver (WHL) | 7 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 6 |
| 4 | Alex Turcotte | C | U.S. National Dev. (USHL) | 10 | 6 | 4 | 4 | 10 | 4 | 5 | 10 |
| 5 | Vasily Podkolzin | RW | St. Petersburg (MHL) | 3 | 4 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 7 | 4 | 5 |
| 6 | Trevor Zegras | C | U.S. National Dev. (USHL) | 8 | 12 | 5 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 8 | 7 |
| 7 | Kirby Dach | C | Saskatoon (WHL) | 5 | 4 | 6 | 4 | 8 | 8 | 4 | 4 |
| T8 | Matthew Boldy | LW | U.S. National Dev. (USHL) | 6 | 7 | 9 | 11 | 5 | 9 | 9 | 8 |
| T8 | Dylan Cozens | C | Lethbridge (WHL) | 4 | 5 | 6 | 6 | 14 | 14 | 10 | 3 |
| 10 | Peyton Krebs | LW | Kootenay (WHL) | 11 | 8 | 10 | 10 | 8 | 6 | 6 | 11 |
| 11 | Cole Caufield | C | U.S. National Dev. (USHL) | 18 | 9 | 12 | 9 | 4 | 11 | 12 | 9 |
| 12 | Cam York | D | U.S. National Dev. (USHL) | 13 | 10 | 15 | 18 | 16 | 12 | 15 | 16 |
| 13 | Alex Newhook | C | Victoria (BCHL) | 16 | 13 | 13 | 13 | 18 | 17 | 13 | 15 |
| 14 | Victor Soderstrom | D | Brynas IF (SHL) | 15 | 14 | 14 | 14 | 25 | 13 | 11 | 12 |
| 15 | Philip Broberg | D | AIK (Allsvenskan) | 9 | 17 | 11 | 15 | 7 | 21 | 17 | 21 |
| 16 | Thomas Harley | D | Mississauga (OHL) | 23 | 18 | 16 | 17 | 11 | 19 | 18 | 13 |
| 17 | Raphael Lavoie | C | Halifax (QMJHL) | 12 | 15 | 20 | 19 | 17 | 25 | 25 | 14 |
| 18 | Moritz Seider | D | Adler Mannheim (DEL) | 21 | 22 | 24 | 16 | 26 | 10 | 16 | 22 |
| 19 | Bobby Brink | RW | Sioux City (USHL) | 24 | 21 | — | 26 | 20 | 15 | — | 27 |
| 20 | Ryan Suzuki | C | Barrie (OHL) | 14 | 20 | 21 | 20 | 29 | 26 | 14 | 17 |
| 21 | Arthur Kaliyev | LW | Hamilton (OHL) | 17 | 23 | 17 | 21 | 13 | — | 30 | 18 |
| 22 | Spencer Knight | G | U.S. National Dev. (USHL) | 20 | — | 18 | 12 | 15 | — | — | 19 |
| 23 | Philip Tomasino | C | Niagara (OHL) | NR | 19 | 25 | 22 | 23 | 18 | 22 | — |
| 24 | Ville Heinola | D | Lukko (SM-Liiga) | 26 | — | 19 | 23 | — | 16 | 21 | 20 |
| 25 | Samuel Poulin | LW | Sherbrooke (QMJHL) | T29 | 24 | 29 | 24 | — | 24 | 23 | 23 |
| 26 | Matthew Robertson | D | Edmonton (WHL) | 19 | 16 | — | 25 | 31 | — | 19 | 31 |
| 27 | Connor McMichael | C | London (OHL) | T31 | — | 28 | 28 | 22 | — | 27 | 24 |
| 28 | Brett Leason | C | Prince Albert (WHL) | 28 | 25 | 23 | — | 30 | — | 28 | 26 |
| 29 | Egor Afanasyev | C | Muskegon (USHL) | NR | 26 | 22 | — | 21 | — | — | — |
| T30 | Vladislav Kolyachonok | D | Flint (OHL) | NR | 31 | — | — | 24 | 22 | — | 30 |
| T31 | Jakob Pelletier | LW | Moncton (QMJHL) | 22 | — | 31 | 31 | — | — | 20 | 25 |