Another day, another draft ranking list.
Now that the NHL Scouting Combine in Buffalo is complete, McKeen's Hockey has shared its first-round rankings:
Jack Hughes holds on to the No. 1 spot by a narrow margin over Kaapo Kakko, and they slot Swedish defenseman Victor Soderstrom into the 10th spot, where the Vancouver Canucks will pick.
Soderstrom's claim to fame this year was his jump to the Swedish men's league, where he had seven points in 44 games and played a top-four role with Brynas. That's a big deal for a draft-eligible player—and wasn't something he'd expected, going into the year.
NHL Central Scouting ranked Soderstrom as their top European defense prospect, ahead of Finland's Ville Heinola, big Swede Filip Broberg and even bigger German Moritz Seider.
Soderstrom and Seider are righties—which is where the Canucks have a more immediate need, although we wouldn't expect these players to be ready right away. Heinola and Broberg shoot left.
McKeen's has Broberg ranked one slot ahead of Soderstrom, at nine. Seider is at 15, and Heinola is off the list entirely.
One other thing Soderstrom and Seider have in common: recent concussions. Soderstrom claimed a gold medal at the recent U18 tournament in Sweden despite having been knocked out of action with a concussion after four games. Seider was concussed by Ladislav Nagy at the World Championship.
But both players were ready to go for interviews and fitness testing in Buffalo this week.
Click here for the results from the testing, with the Top 25 listed in each category.
Seider's name pops up a few times: second in aerobic fitness test duration, fourth in VO2Max, third in wingspan and 24th in the functional movement score.
Sam Cosentino of Sportsnet IDed Seider as the most gregarious player he spoke to. "Not only was he candid, and funny, but to the point. When asked why a team should take him he responded by saying, 'If you want a big right shot defenceman who can skate well, I’m your guy.'"
Soderstrom shows up just once: 20th in the squat jump event. His fellow Swedes Broberg and Bjornfot each popped up a few times.
In the end, Jack Hughes did follow in brother Quinn's footsteps and skip the fitness testing, likening it to taking a test he hadn't studied for after his busy month of hockey at U18s and the World Championship.
The buzz is getting louder that perhaps dry-land fitness testing isn't a very useful tool to assess a hockey player's future success. I'd suggest that it's just another metric that scouts can add to their collection of data, and perhaps the testing results might help them find separation when trying to choose between two players that they might like equally.
A couple of other things that jumped out at me as I scanned through the results:
• Spencer Knight's name appears often, and high. I can't recall having seen a goalie do so well in testing in the past.
Another stellar prospect from that U.S. NTDP group, Knight is ranked 32nd by McKeen's, but they concede he'll probably go in the first round.
Jake Oettinger was the last goalie to be taken Round 1, selected 26th overall by Dallas in 2017. The top goalie selected last year was Olof Lindbom, who went to the New York Rangers at No. 39.
• Cole Caufield was among a group of four that won the pull-up challenge, with 16 successful reps. That makes some sense: when working against gravity, less mass is an advantage.
The big news on the Caufield front came at the measurement station:
"A telling moment was when he was measured for height and checked-in at over 5-foot-7," reported Cosentino. "Upon learning this, he gave a mini fist pump. Always a smile on this young man’s face."
McKeen's has Caufield ranked at 13, but I think it's likely that he'll be gone by the time the Canucks pick at 10. His goal-scoring touch is well documented, and despite the heavy Stanley Cup Final we're currently seeing between Boston and St. Louis, I think teams are more willing than ever to give undersized players a chance to contribute offensively.
Now that the Combine is complete, it's full-steam ahead to the draft, less than three weeks away.
Because the draft is being held here in Vancouver, the Canucks will be holding their development camp earlier than usual this year. Since everyone will already be in town, they'll be putting the prospects through their paces at UBC from June 25-27.
They grow up so fast, don't they?
Vancouver Canucks Blogger • 
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