Aaron Ekblad noses into the lead, Perlini moves up
In my last update, I noted the stagnation at the top of the list being the hallmark of the cream of the crop through December. But the late January updated remade the top 10, and that was before Bob McKenzie broke his tie between Aaron Ekblad and Sam Reinhart in favor of Ekblad.
While Ekblad moving up a spot in front of the Reinhart is the big story, it's not the most significant of this update. That distinction belongs to Brendan Perlini, the 6'3" 205 lb left wing from Niagara. Perlini jumped 15 spots into 9th and has been compared to Stars' prospect Brett Ritchie by his coach. Perlini has the never-ending hunt for the vaunted power forward working for him - scouts love his size.
The sources for the consensus list are The Scouting Report, Future Considerations, ISS, Red Line Report, Craig Button of TSN, Corey Pronman of ESPN and Bob McKenzie from TSN. Their rankings are weight by their accuracy in ranking previous drafts: Bob McKenzie's rankings carry the most weight as he was the most accurate prognosticator in the group. I may tinker with the model as the draft approaches - McKenzie is the most accurate of the group, but he typically only ranks 75-90 players. Pronman is the most accurate predictor from rounds 4-7, but that isn't reflected in the overall weighting.
| Pick | Name | Pos | Ht, Wt | Team | Last | Move |
| 1 | Aaron Ekblad | D | 6'4, 216 | Barrie | 2 | 1 |
| 2 | Sam Reinhart | C | 6'1, 186 | Kootenay | 1 | -1 |
| 3 | Michael Dal Colle | F | 6'2, 184 | Oshawa | 4 | 1 |
| 4 | Sam Bennett | F | 6'0, 178 | Kingston | 6 | 2 |
| 5 | Leon Draisaitl | C | 6'1, 208 | Prince Albert | 5 | 0 |
| 6 | Willie Nylander | F | 5'11, 169 | Rogle | 3 | -3 |
| 7 | Haydn Fleury | D | 6'2, 207 | Red Deer | 7 | 0 |
| 8 | Nicholas Ritchie | F | 6'2, 218 | Peterborough | 8 | 0 |
| 9 | Brendan Perlini | F | 6'3, 205 | Niagara | 24 | 15 |
| 10 | Kaspari Kapanen | F | 5'11, 172 | Kuopio | 11 | 1 |
| 11 | Jared McCann | C | 6'0, 179 | S.S. Marie | 16 | 5 |
| 12 | Roland McKeown | D | 6'0, 186 | Kingston | 10 | -2 |
| 13 | Ivan Barbashev | F | 6'0, 185 | Moncton | 12 | -1 |
| 14 | Jake Virtanen | F | 6'0, 213 | Calgary | 13 | -1 |
| 15 | Anton Karlsson | F | 6'0, 187 | Frolunda | 9 | -6 |
| 16 | David Pastrnak | F | 6'0, 167 | Sodertalje | 20 | 4 |
| 17 | Conner Bleackley | C | 6'0, 197 | Red Deer | 18 | 1 |
| 18 | Nick Schmaltz | F | 6'0, 170 | Green Bay | 14 | -4 |
| 19 | Jakub Vrana | F | 6'0, 185 | Linkoping | 15 | -4 |
| 20 | Brycen Martin | D | 6'1, 178 | Swift Current | 19 | -1 |
| 21 | Sonny Milano | F | 5'11, 183 | USNT | 25 | 4 |
| 22 | Adrian Kempe | C | 6'2, 187 | Modo | 17 | -5 |
| 23 | Nikolai Goldobin | F | 5'11, 178 | Sarnia | 21 | -2 |
| 24 | Anthony DeAngelo | D | 5'11, 175 | Sarnia | 26 | 2 |
| 25 | Joshua Ho-Sang | F | 5'11, 166 | Windsor | 27 | 2 |
| 26 | Nikolaj Ehlers | F | 5'11, 162 | Halifax | 30 | 4 |
| 27 | Dylan Larkin | F | 6'0, 190 | USNT | 31 | 4 |
| 28 | Jack Glover | D | 6'3, 173 | USNT | 29 | 1 |
| 29 | Blake Clarke | F | 6'1, 190 | North Bay | 23 | -6 |
| 30 | Matthew Mistele | F | 6'2, 183 | Plymouth | 22 | -8 |
| 31 | Julius Honka | D | 5'11, 178 | Swift Current | 35 | 4 |
| 32 | Robby Fabbri | C | 5'10, 166 | Guelph | 32 | 0 |
| 33 | Oskar Lindblom | F | 6'2, 187 | Brynas | 28 | -5 |
| 34 | Jacob Middleton | D | 6'3, 208 | Ottawa | 34 | 0 |
| 35 | Alex Tuch | F | 6'4, 213 | USNT | 45 | 10 |
| 36 | Brayden Point | C | 5'9, 170 | Moose Jaw | 33 | -3 |
| 37 | Thatcher Demko | G | 6'4, 180 | Boston College | 44 | 7 |
| 38 | Spencer Watson | F | 6'0, 172 | Kingston | 36 | -2 |
| 39 | Jack Dougherty | D | 6'1, 194 | USNT | 38 | -1 |
| 40 | Kevin Fiala | C | 5'10, 180 | Frolunda | 61 | 21 |
| 41 | Adam Ollas Mattsson | D | 6'3, 194 | Djurgardens | 37 | -4 |
| 42 | Ryan MacInnis | F | 6'3, 175 | Kitchener | 48 | 6 |
| 43 | Eric Cornel | C | 6'1, 186 | Peterborough | 47 | 4 |
| 44 | Vladislav Kamenev | C | 6'2, 176 | Magnitigorsk | 39 | -5 |
| 45 | Alexis Pepin | F | 6'2, 230 | Charlottetown | 40 | -5 |
| 46 | Tyson Baillie | F | 5'10, 195 | Kelowna | 41 | -5 |
| 47 | Austin Poganski | F | 6'1, 198 | Tri-City | 42 | -5 |
| 48 | Brandon Robinson | F | 6'3, 200 | North Bay | 43 | -5 |
| 49 | Ryan Collins | D | 6'5, 202 | USNT | 56 | 7 |
| 50 | Nikita Scherbak | F | 6'0, 172 | Saskatoon | 60 | 10 |
| 51 | Josh Jacobs | D | 6'2, 193 | Indiana | 46 | -5 |
| 52 | Maxim Lazarev | F | 5'10, 147 | Kazan Ak Bars | 50 | -2 |
| 53 | Alex Nedeljkovic | G | 6'0, 184 | Plymouth | 62 | 9 |
| 54 | Vladimir Tkachyov | F | 5'9, 156 | Omsk | 49 | -5 |
| 55 | Julius Bergman | D | 6'1, 187 | Frolunda | 51 | -4 |
| 56 | Brendan Lemieux | F | 6'0, 206 | Barrie | 75 | 19 |
| 57 | Alex Peters | D | 6'3, 207 | Plymouth | 73 | 16 |
| 58 | Connor Chatham | F | 6'2, 224 | Plymouth | 131 | 73 |
| 59 | Alexis Vanier | D | 6'1, 225 | Baie-Comeau | 94 | 35 |
| 60 | Jonathan MacLeod | D | 6'1, 200 | USNT | 81 | 21 |
Another player who jumped into the spotlight was Sam Bennett from Kingston. Corey Pronman on Bennett:
Bennett is a highly entertaining player to watch for a variety of reasons. He's a fantastic skater with plus hands, great two-way instincts and a pretty good edge to his game. He fights for pucks well, and shows an unusual amount of strength as well as the ability to come out of corners with pucks for a player his size.
Notes on the fast risers: