2012 NHL Draft Consensus Top 100 - December Update

Cody Ceci is a workhorse defenseman. Some accounts have him playing 30+ minutes per night for the Ottawa 67s in the OHL. He's an excellent skater, he's got a low and powerful shot, he's got good vision and great offensive sense with the puck. But he's not an offense-only defender -- the 6'2", 203 Ceci plays the puck well in his own end and commands a physical presence. It's this excellent combination of two-way skills that have scouts taking notice. He's moved from the bottom of the first round to just outside of the top ten, driven by a 6 spot jump in the rankings from Future Considerations and a 10 spot jump from Craig Button. Bob McKenzie's initial list had him 13th and by win shares, he's 14th.

Corey Pronman of Hockey Prospectus thinks Ceci is beating the mental side of the game as well:

Very smart and advanced thinker who processes the game well beyond the average CHL'er. Pretty good two-way game as he plays against the opposition's best and shows the ability to be a shutdown defender with his smarts and physical play. Not a flashy offensive player but good puck-mover who skates at a fine level with decent hands and occasionally joins the rush. Despite his PPG this year (as a late birth date) I don't think he's a top-end offensive guy, although certainly above-average.

The sources for the consensus list are Bob McKenzie, Redline Report, Future Considerations, ISS, Craig Button, Hockey Prospectus, and The Scouting Report. McKeen's has been removed as a consensus list source because their rankings are behind a paywall and are not made public. Dan Sallows' rankings have also been removed from the list. Dan is now a scout with the USHL's Indiana Ice and will no longer publish updated draft rankings. Congratulations Dan!

In Dan's place, I've added a set of rankings from Nick, A.K.A. Mathletic on HFBoards. Why have I added the draft rankings of a random person from a message board? Math, you see. Nick has developed his own cross-league, cross-positional win shares formula and creates his rankings from it. Nick's win shares rankings will be a part of the consensus rankings moving forward. The swap from Sallows to Nick has created only 4 significant moves in the rankings.

#	Pos	Name	HT	WT	L/R	Team	Move
1	F	Nail Yakupov	5'11	180	L	Sarnia Sting	0
2	F	Mikhail Grigorenko	6'2	192	L	Quebec Remparts	1
3	D	Ryan Murray	6'0	182	L	Everett Silvertips	-1
4	F	Filip Forsberg	6'1	176	R	Leksand	0
5	D	Mathew Dumba	5'11	172	R	Red Deer Rebels	0
6	F	Alex Galchenyuk	6'0	185	L	Sarnia Sting	0
7	D	Morgan Rielly	6'0	190	L	Moose Jaw Warriors	-1
8	D	Jacob Trouba	6'1	183	R	USA NTDP U18	1
9	D	Griffin Reinhart	6'4	202	L	Edmonton Oil Kings	-1
10	F	Sebastian Collberg	6'0	180	R	Frölunda	15
11	D	Derrick Pouliot	5'11	192	L	Portland Winterhawks	1
12	D	Cody Ceci	6'2	203	R	Ottawa 67's	14
13	F	Martin Frk	5'11	190	R	Halifax Mooseheads	0
14	D	Slater Koekkoek	6'2	180	L	Peterborough Petes	0
15	D	Nick Ebert	6'0	195	R	Windsor Spitfires	-5
16	F	Brendan Gaunce	6'2	205	L	Belleville Bulls	1
17	F	Matia Marcantuoni	5'11	185	R	Kitchener Rangers	2
18	F	Zemgus Girgensons	6'1	182	L	Dubuque Fighting Saints	-7
19	D	Olli Määttä	6'2	198	L	London Knights	-3
20	F	Pontus Åberg	5'11	183	R	Djurgården	-5
21	D	Jordan Schmaltz	6'2	175	R	Green Bay Gamblers	-3
22	F	Nicolas Kerdiles	6'1	183	L	USA NTDP U18	2
23	D	Michael Matheson	6'1	175	L	Dubuque Fighting Saints	0
24	F	Henrik Samuelsson	6'2	192	R	Modo	-4
25	F	Andreas Athanasiou	6'0	165	L	London Knights	3
26	F	Jarrod Maidens	6'2	170	R	Owen Sound Attack	1
27	D	Gianluca Curcuruto	6'1	187	L	SSM Greyhounds	-5
28	D	Damon Severson	6'1	188	R	Kelowna Rockets	5
29	F	Radek Faksa	6'2	183	L	Kitchener Rangers	12
30	F	Scott Laughton	6'0	174	L	Oshawa Generals	-9
31	GK	Oscar Dansk	6'2	183	L	Brynäs	29
32	D	Matt Finn	6'0	197	L	Guelph Storm	18
33	F	Colton Sissons	6'0	173	R	Kelowna Rockets	-4
34	D	Ville Pokka	6'0	187	R	Kärpät	-4
35	F	Cristoval Nieves	6'2	175	L	Kent Prep School	-3
36	F	A.J. Michaelson	6'0	180	L	Waterloo Black Hawks	-5
37	F	Tom Wilson	6'4	195	R	Plymouth Whalers	5
38	F	Stefan Matteau	6'1	188	L	USA NTDP U18	-3
39	D	Brady Skeji	6'1	183	L	USA NTDP U18	-5
40	F	Raphaël Bussières	6'0	183	L	Baie-Comeau Drakkar	12
41	GK	Andrei Vasilevski	6'3	200	L	Ufa	5
42	L	Philip Di Giuseppe	5'11	176	L	Michigan	17
43	F	Teuvo Teräväinen	5'10	161	L	Jokerit	-5
44	F	Charles Hudon	5'8	165	L	Chicoutimi Sagueneens	-4
45	GK	Malcolm Subban	6'0	178	L	Belleville Bulls	19
46	F	Nikolai Prokhorkin	6'2	183	L	CSKA Moscow	16
47	L	Anton Slepyshev	6'2	187	R	Novokuznetsk	14
48	D	Dalton Thrower	6'0	195	R	Saskatoon Blades	-3
49	D	Jesse Graham	5'11	160	R	Niagara IceDogs	14
50	F	Tomas Hertl	6'2	196	L	Slavia Praha	18
51	L	Gemel Smith	5'11	165	L	Owen Sound Attack	27
52	D	Adam Pelech	6'2	200	L	Erie Otters	-1
53	D	Jaynen Rissling	6'3	215	L	Calgary Hitmen	3
54	F	Emil Lundberg	6'3	198	L	Södertälje	1
55	F	Mathew Campagna	5'11	170	L	Sudbury Wolves	-19
56	GK	Francois Tremblay	6'2	194	L	Val d'Or Foreurs	19
57	F	Ryan Olsen	6'1	172	R	Saskatoon Blades	1
58	F	Coda Gordon	6'2	174		Swift Current Broncos	NR
59	F	Eric Locke	5'10	171	L	Barrie Colts	-20
60	F	Luca Ciampini	5'11	189	L	Halifax Mooseheads	-23
61	F	Chandler Stephenson	5'9	170	L	Regina Pats	-17
62	D	Jake McCabe	6'0	195	L	USA NTDP U18	33
63	D	Ludvig Bystrom	6'0	176	L	Modo	14
64	F	Patrik Machac	5'9	165	L	Brampton Battalion	17
65	D	Brian Cooper	5'9	176	L	Fargo Force	2
66	R	Scott Komachuk	5'11	185	R	Guelph Storm	36
67	C	Ludvig Nilsson	6'1	173	L	Timra	16
68	F	Brady Vail	6'1	190	L	Windsor Spitfires	2
69	D	Dylan Blujus	6'3	184	R	Brampton Battalion	41
70	C	Michael Clark	6'1	184	L	Windsor Spitfires	10
71	GK	Marek Langhamer	6'2	172	L	Pardubice	-2
72	F	Andrew Ryan	6'2	193	L	Halifax Mooseheads	-25
73	D	Dominic Poulin	6'1	185	R	Chicoutimi Sagueneens	-25
74	F	Kalle Torniainen	5'10	172	R	Djurgården	-8
75	GK	Jon Gillies	6'5	202	L	Indiana Ice	24
76	D	Marcus McIvor	6'1	204	R	Brampton Battalion	-19
77	GK	Daniel Altshuller	6'3	195		Oshawa Generals	-28
78	F	Brendan Leipsic	5'9	155	L	Portland Winterhawks	-25
79	F	Daniil Zharkov	6'3	195	L	Tri-City Storm	-7
80	D	Patrick Sieloff	6'0	173	L	USA NTDP U18	32
81	F	Troy Bourke	5'10	150	L	Prince George Cougars	-38
82	D	Dillon Fournier	6'1	160	L	Lewiston MAINEiacs	-28
83	F	Dalton Sward	6'0	165	R	Vancouver Giants	-10
84	D	Alex Gudbranson	6'2	204	R	Kingston Frontenacs	-10
85	D	Hamphus Lindholm	6'2	180	L	Rogle	-9
86	D	Calle Andersson	6'1	194	R	Malmö	-4
87	F	Gustav Rydahl	6'2	194	L	Färjestad	-2
88	F	Logan McVeigh	6'0	179	R	Kamloops Blazers	-1
89	D	Zach Leslie	6'0	172	L	Guelph Storm	NR
90	D	Valeri Vasiliyev	6'1	183	L	Spartak Moscow	4
91	F	Fredric Anderberg	6'0	181	L	Djurgården	0
92	F	Austin Cangelosi	5'8	165	R	Youngstown Phantoms	NR
93	F	Austin Farley	5'6	150		Fargo Force	NR
94	C	Tanner Richard	5'11	182	L	Guelph Storm	NR
95	F	Kenny Gillespie	5'10	194	R	Omaha Lancers	1
96	D	Max Iafrate	6'1	198		Kitchener Rangers	NR
97	F	Riley Barber	5'11	180	R	Dubuque Fighting Saints	0
98	F	Adam Johnson	5'10	150	L	Hibbing/Chisholm Bluejackets	-6
99	F	Ben Johnson	5'10	155	L	Windsor Spitfires	-1
100	F	Mike Winther	5'11	170	R	Prince Albert Raiders	NR

• Nail Yakupov is still on top and far out in front of the pack.
  
• Mikhail Grigorenko leapfrogged Ryan Murray into second. Grigorenko is the only player to have a first place ranking (2) besides Yakupov.
• Murray, Filip Forsberg and Mathew Dumba are grouped together more closely than any other three players in the top 100. Unless one of them takes a dive through the rankings or Alex Galchenyuk moves up significantly from his 17th rank by ISS, that group is going to stay tightly bunched through June.
• Sebastian Collberg's rise was based on the addition of the Win Shares ranking. The math absolutely loves Collberg, placing him 8th in front of Forsberg.
• After starting with 11 points in 12 games, Phil Di Giuseppe's scoring tear has ended. He's got 3 points in his last 7 games.
• Nick Ebert has gone from the next Ryan Suter to 15th. He's dropped 5 spots in each updated list. Given the way he's plummeting, it's not likely Bob McKenzie will keep him in his top 10, and that will send Ebert even lower.