Auston Matthews – planetehockey.com

The Dobber Prospects and experts consensus fantasy ranking of the 2016 NHL entry draft top 30 list continues to gain momentum.

Digging a little deeper into the submissions sheds some further light on the rankings.

There were 16 submissions in total with the unanimous number on overall being Auston Matthews. The two fins, Patrick Laine and Jesse Puljujarvi were neck and neck each at second and third overall with a 2.6 and 2.8 average scores. Neither player received a rank outside the top five, with only Puljujarvi receiving one vote at the fifth overall.

After that there was some separation in the rankings as Matthew Tkachuk and Alex Nylander received 4.0 and 5.3 rankings. After the two top ranked OHL stars there is another gap with a varying degree of rankings among the next consensus group. Jacob Chychrun scored an 8.5 average with rankings ranging from 12 to 4. Pierre-Luc Dubois was close with a 9.0 score with rankings ranging from 14 to four rankings at four.

Mike McLeod (more on him below) and Clayton Keller were tied with a 10.2 score. Keller was not ranked in the top 30 in one list, and for unranked players I assigned a score of 31. Keller was also ranked as high as third overall and also received rankings of 15, 17, and 19. McLeod was ranked on all lists and as high as six, but also received three 16^th overall rankings as his lowest score.

Perhaps the most polarizing player is Russian prospect German Rubstov. He was unranked six times, but was also ranked as high as ninth overall. Rubstov is a player not seen by many scouts in North America, but is gaining plenty of recognition as his draft year develops.

Players who received 100% top 30 rankings also included Julein Gauthier (Val Dore), Olli Juolevi (London), Alex DeBrincat (Erie), Jake Bean (Calgary), and Logan Brown (Windsor).

There were over 40 players ranked, so several fell outside the top 30. Some of the more prominent and closer to the top 30 included Taylor Raddysh (Erie), Alex Mascherin (Kitchener), Simon Stransky (Prince Albert), Will Bitten(Flint) and Tage Thompson (univ of Connecticut)

Thanks again to our guest contributors who participated, who have their own rankings on their sites.

The Hockey Prophets has a ranking for the 2016 draft the ‘98’s that is goes 166 players deep. The site is a must view for fantasy prospect scouting.

Scott Wheeler from future considerations has their top 30 here

Steve Kournianos of the Draft Analyst has extensive coverage of prospects. Their 2016 draft coverage includes mock drafts, player profiles and a monthly update of the top 250 draft eligible prospects all found here.

ISS Hockey regional scout Dylan Franson is a WHL/BCHL scout. ISS provides their top 30 rankings

Draft Buzz Hockey founder Anthony Mauro has player profiles and rankings with extensive coverage found here

Note: The lists submitted to Dobber Prospects is different from the lists on their own sites, as the Dobber rankings was for fantasy hockey purposes.

Another site that has excellent prospect coverage is Last Word on Sports, and they have begun releasing their NHL entry draft rankings here

And another experts consensus rankings that yours truly contributed in is Brock Ottens OHL Prospects Midseason OHL 2016 Top Ten rankings along with former Dobber Prospects Brendan Ross, Corey Pronman of ESPN, Ryan Kennedy of THN, Scott Wheeler and Anthony Mauro.

2016 NHL draft prospect Michael McLeod of the Mississauga Steelheads will have surgery (meniscus) and will miss the remainder of the season

San Jose Sharks prospect Kevin Labanc of the Barrie Colts has been named the OHL player of the week after leading the league with 11 points in three games scoring four goals and seven assists with a plus-minus rating of plus-6. Lebanc is the first player in the OHL to reach 100 points, and is the second consecutive season he has achieved the century point marker.

LA Kings prospect Matt Mistele scored five goals today for Sarnia Sting in an 11-4 rout over the Saginaw Spirit

Kingston Frontenacs teammates and Florida Panthers prospects, Lawson Crouse and Juho Lammikko have been on a tear lately as mentioned in yesterday’s ramblings, and the pair were at it again today as the Fronts defeated Barrie to take first place in the East. Lammikko scored a hat-trick, and Crouse had a pair of assists

Cam Dineen of the North Bay Battalion. Photo by Aaron Bell/OHL Images

One player to watch leading up to the 2016 draft is North Bay Battalion defenceman Cam Dineen. He has regained the OHL defencemen scoring lead with 12 goals and 49 points in 53 games as an OHL rookie. He is out scoring fellow rookie Mikhail Sergachev by six points and the highly ranked Jakob Chychrun by 11 points who are also draft eligible and ranked as first round picks well ahead of Dineen.

Dineen is listed at 5’11” and 182 pounds, and perhaps that is partially why he is not ranked in the first round. More likely is that he is perceived as a one dimensional player, and lacks the defensive prowess of the higher ranked defenders. Being Coached by Stan Butler should ensure he has a sound grasp of the defensive game however. A recent post on Mckeens Hockey by Gus Katsaros , evaluating defencemen looks at how the big defensive defenceman is becoming less valuable as the smaller defencemen who can regain possession and transition to offence. HockeyProspect.com provides some ISO cam footage of Dineen in action in a game recently against Saginaw

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If Gus Katsaros is correct in his evaluation of the role of defencemen in the NHL (and I believe he is 100% bang on), then Dineen could be a riser in draft ranking and a potential steal if he is picked in the third round or later. His fantasy potential is significant!