An Early look to 2013

Every Summer NHL Central Scouting releases a list of the top prospects for the upcoming NHL Draft, graded by letter grade. Its always one of the more interesting lists to look at because most of the time, your basing a player off of his first year in the League. There are the late birth year exceptions, however most of the time your making assessments on players who are adjusting to the highest level of hockey they have played to date.

That said, it’s always a good way for fans to get a sneak peek at who NHL Central Scouting consider to be the early candidates to be drafted the next year.

Using TheProspectBlog as my outlet, I figured I would beat them to the release and do my own Early Watch List’. This list is basically the exact same structure as the initial NHL Central Scouting lists that are released at the end of the year in June.

Prospects are rated from A to C. Rated prospects are expected to be drafted in the top two rounds. B rated prospects are expected to be drafted in rounds 3-5, while C rated prospects are rated to be drafted in the last few rounds of the draft.  This

A qualifier. As there always is, players who are rated a top player now may not be a top player in a year. Players progress differently, and some who need a little longer to develop may push ahead of others who are rated as top players right now. Gemel Smith is a prime example of this theory.

With that said, here is a peek at the list. Players are listed by rating, alphabetically.

A Rated Players

Nicholas Baptiste / Right Wing / 6’2″ / 200  / Sudbury Wolves / Aug. 4, 1995 /

Jason Dickinson / Left Wing  / 6’1″ / 165 / Guelph Storm / Jul. 4, 1995

Max Domi / Centre / 5’10″ / 184   / London Knights / Mar. 2, 1995

Alex Fotinos / Goaltender / 6’0″ / 165  / Barrie Colts / Jan. 2, 1995

Stephan Harper / Left Wing / 6’1″ / 195  / Erie Otters / Mar. 25, 1995

Bo Horvat / Light Wing / 6’0″ / 198 / London Knights / Apr. 5, 1995

Ryan Kujawinski / Centre / 6’2″ / 195 / Kingston Frontenacs / Mar. 30, 1995

Jordan Maletta / Right Wing / 6’3″ / 201 / Windsor Spitfires / Apr. 30, 1995

Spencer Martin / Goaltender / 6’2″ / 186 / Mississauga St. Mikes Majors / Jun. 8, 1995

Sean Monahan / Centre / 6’2″ / 193 / Ottawa 67′s / Oct. 12, 1994

Darnell Nurse / Defence / 6’4″ / 180 / Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds / Feb. 4, 1995

Kerby Rychel / Left Wing / 6’1″ / 200  / Windsor Spitfires / Oct. 7, 1994

Jordan Subban / Defence / 5’9″ / 170 / Belleville Bulls / Mar. 3, 1995

B Rated Players

Chris Bigras / Defence / 6’0″ / 176 / Owen Sound Attack / Feb. 22, 1995

Jordan DeKort / Goaltender / 6’4″ / 185 / Windsor Spitfires / Aug. 8, 1995

Mitchell Dempsey / Rigt Wing / 6’1″ / 174 / Plymouth Whalers / Mar. 30, 1995

Bryson Cianfrone / Centre / 5’9″ / 170 / Toronto Jr Canadiens (OJHL) / Feb 14, 1995

Hunter Garlent / Centre / 5’8″ / 159 / Guelph Storm / Feb. 4, 1995

Sergey Kuptsov / Right Wing / 6’2″ / 214 / Mississauga St. Mikes Majors / Oct. 6, 1994

Trevor Murphy /  Defence / 5’10″ / 156 / Peterborough Petes / Jul. 17, 1995

Zach Natasiuk / Right Wing / 6’1″ / 174 / Owen Sound Attack / Mar. 30, 1995

Stephen Nosad / Right Wing / 5’11″ / 173 / Peterborough Petes / Jan. 25, 1995

Brent Pedersen / Left Wing / 6’1″ / 197 / Kitchener Rangers / Jul. 5, 1995

Carter Verhaege / Centre / 6’0″ / 165 / Niagara Ice Dogs / Aug. 14, 1995

Jake Evans / Centre / 6’0″ / 185 / Erie Otters / Feb. 18, 1995

C Rated Players

Adam Bateman / Defence / 5’10″ / 180 / Windsor Spitfires / Jan. 5, 1995

Davis Brown / Left Wing / 5’9″ / 180 / Sarnia Sting / Jul. 1, 1995

Cole Cassels / Centre / 6’0″ / 165 / Oshawa Generals / May. 4, 1995

Conor McGlynn / Centre / 6’2″ / 195 / Oakville Rangers (OJHL) Jun 19, 1995

Nick Moutrey / Right Wing / 6’2″ / 204 / Saginaw Spirit / Jun. 24, 1995

Daniel Nikandrov / Left Wing / 6’0″ / 170 / Sarnia Sting / Feb. 3, 1995

Josh Sterk /Centre / 5’10″ / 149 / Kitchener Rangers / Jan. 17, 1995

Scott Teskey / Right Wing / 6’0″ / 192 / Mississauga St. Mikes Majors / May. 4, 1995

Steven Varga / Defence / 6’2″ / 191 / Peterborough Petes / Jan. 18, 1995

Michael Vlajkov / Defence / 6’2″ / 185 / Ottawa 67s / Feb. 3, 1995