NHL Draft prospect rankings: Final big board of top 62 players in 2019 class

The culminating event marking the unofficial beginning to the NHL‘s offseason is only a few days away when the hockey world descends on Vancouver for the 2019 NHL Entry Draft.

While the April lottery drawing covered the most important questions surrounding the typical pre-draft intrigue, we still don’t know how the top 10 will unfold — specifically after the first two picks. The prospects expected to go one and two are quite well known — Team USA center Jack Hughes and Finnish sniper Kaapo Kakko. Not only are they the two premier players in one of the deepest draft classes for forwards in several years, but it is reasonable to assume that all 31 teams were unanimously in agreement, since the very beginning of the season, that those two were in a class by themselves.

MORE: NHL Mock Draft 2019, final edition

As of today, Hughes remains the consensus No. 1 pick, although Kakko deserves to be in the conversation for his ridiculous resume that includes an elite league rookie scoring mark and two gold medals at prestigious international events. Who will go first is still being debated, as there remains a large camp that feels Hughes is going first overall six ways to Sunday, and that the New Jersey Devils would be incredibly ignorant if they pass up on a kid with the potential to be the superstar center the franchise has never had.

“I want to be the first overall pick, that would be a dream come true.” -Jack Hughes pic.twitter.com/U2VHlRRqsn

— Amanda Stein (@amandacstein) May 31, 2019

Still, as much fun as it to debate the first two picks of any draft, this specific class is deserving of our attention beyond the two names we’ve been hearing about the most. There is an elite second tier after Hughes-Kakko that is at least 11 to 12 prospects deep. This grouping, highlighted by the nucleus of one of the greatest junior teams in hockey history, consists of a tremendous group of potential top-line centers or scoring champions, a possible 50-goal scorer, a franchise defenseman and even a prospective future Vezina winner.

Yes, it’s one of those years where being bad in the NHL will one day pay off in spades for multiple franchises.

MORE: Can Kaapo Kakko take the No. 1 spot from Jack Hughes?

For starters, there’s NTDP center Trevor Zegras, a creative set-up man who can carry the top line and single-handedly eliminate obstructive measures in the neutral and offensive zones. There’s no draft-eligible center outside of Hughes who has the vision and playmaking ability similar to his aforementioned teammate. Zegras' point-producing potential at higher levels is incredibly high (take note fantasy owners), and he was one of the top scorers at last April’s under-18 world championship despite missing time with an injury.

Defenseman Bowen Byram comes in at No. 4, specifically for his heroic performance for the Vancouver Giants in their seven-game playoff series with favored Price Albert. Not only did Byram take the Giants to within an overtime goal of Game 7 of the WHL Finals for a ticket to the Memorial Cup, but he also became the first defenseman in league history to lead the entire postseason in scoring. This draft isn’t deep in outstanding all-around defensemen, but Byram clearly is the most superior of the group.

Bowen Byram (top 2019 eligible defender) has an impressive 26 goals in 65 games this season. Six of them are OT winners, a WHL record. Here's all six. pic.twitter.com/AfuYAIiXUk

— Mitch Brown (@MitchLBrown) March 10, 2019

Coming in at No. 5 is rugged Russian winger Vasily Podkolzin, who battled through a grueling multi-continent schedule that also included three promotion levels of hockey in Russia. Nonetheless, Podkolzin’s acute awareness and cerebral decision-making are just two of the several abilities that allow him to dominate shifts. His combined stats in league play are somewhat nondescript, although he did score eight goals in 15 games against his age group despite being on the younger side of the draft-eligibility age bracket in Russia’s top junior league.

Another winger, Team USA’s Matthew Boldy, may be the best 200-foot forward in the draft. Not only does Boldy have size, fluidity and a sharp hockey mind, but he can also shred zone coverage with inside play and highlight-reel set-ups. His teammate at No. 7, center Alex Turcotte, also has three-zone awareness and displays incredible cleanliness in his execution of designed plays and odd-man rushes. The last of this incredible collection of Team USA forwards is diminutive goalscorer Cole Caufield, who pumped home 72 tallies and set multiple team goal-scoring marks previously held by current NHL stars Phil Kessel and Auston Matthews.

Keep in mind that no team in the history of the NHL draft has had more than three prospects drafted in the top 10; this year’s NTDP could see as many as five, possibly six if you consider the value of goalie Spencer Knight. Knight is a serious candidate to join the top 10, not only for being considered one of the best goaltending prospects since Marc-Andre Fleury or Carey Price but also for his maturity, technical know-how and ideal NHL build. Price was, in fact, the last goalie to be picked in the top five when Montreal took him fifth overall in 2005.

NHL Draft 2019 guide: Date, time, pick order, prospects, TV schedule, mock draft

A big riser from my preseason list is KHL winger Pavel Dorofeyev, a dual threat with smarts who finished up at ninth overall. He split the season between the big league and the Russian under-20 circuit, which he dominated as a top-line player for Stalnye Lisy. The only legitimate concern surrounding Dorofeyev is whether or not he plans on staying in Russia for the foreseeable future.

At No. 10 is the best of three excellent WHL centers in Lethbridge Hurricanes’ leading scorer, Dylan Cozens. A power forward with a great shot and even better approach to the game, Cozens was the premier player on a team loaded with veterans. Not far behind him are Kootenay’s Peyton Krebs and Saskatoon’s Kirby Dach — two playmaking centers dealing with injury issues that might impact whether they go in the top 10 or drop further in the first round.

The rest of the field settles into subsequent groupings, with the next chunk being heavy on two-way defensemen. Sweden’s Victor Soderstrom, Tobias Bjornfot and Philip Broberg join Finland’s Ville Heinola, German bruiser Moritz Seider and Team USA’s Cameron York as part of an impressive talent pool of point-producing defenders. All are gifted with the puck and these six quality puck-movers of different sizes and speeds are promising defensemen headlining their position for the draft.

Need a sniping winger but picking outside the top 10? While Kakko and Caufield are expected to be off the board by the time the top 10 is complete, they certainly aren’t alone in the upper tier of draft-eligible wingers when it comes to elite goal-scoring acumen and shot accuracy from the flanks.

The top prospect from a thin OHL contingent is big-bodied Arthur Kaliyev, who scored 51 goals for the Hamilton Bulldogs. French-Canadian right wing Raphael Lavoie was one of the top scorers in the QMJHL playoffs and plays a similar game to Kakko’s that is predicated on power and puck control. Right wing Brett Leason may have been born two years before all first-year eligibles but this heart-and-soul forward from the WHL’s Prince Albert Raiders is not only incredibly skilled, he's also a smart 200-foot forward.

Oh my goodness Raphael Lavoie 😱

Top #NHLDraft prospect blows the roof off the place with a shorthanded masterpiece for @HFXMooseheads who lead Game 3 of #MemorialCup 🎥 pic.twitter.com/O373v2Ac4f

— CanadianHockeyLeague (@CHLHockey) May 20, 2019

Of course, there are always some surprises and last-minute entries into the first round, and one of the unheralded draft prospects who may end up going higher than originally anticipated in hard-charging winger Robert Mastrosimone from the USHL’s Chicago Steel. A Boston University recruit, Mastrosimone is a nightmare to defend against and owns one of the best shots of any draft-eligible winger. He led the USHL in playoff scoring and his 31 goals during the regular season tied for second among the league’s top draft prospects.

In comparison with recent drafts, one must consider the 2019 crop — with its glut of scoring centers — to be the strongest since the vaunted 2015 group that included the likes of Connor McDavid, Jack Eichel, Mitch Marner, Mikko Rantanen and Mathew Barzal. With the league trending towards shortening a draft prospect’s development timeline in order to thrust them into NHL duty sooner rather than later, it won’t be long for the top 2019 draft hopefuls to become impact players for their new teams.

NHL Draft big board: Top 62 players in 2019