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Being a hockey fan accustomed to the lottery is a terrible thing. It means the franchise you root for stinks and it's likely that your team is out of the playoff picture by the end of September. Of course, it also means you're always in tune with the upcoming draft, no matter how far away. To that end, it's time to look at the lottery prospects for the 2012 NHL draft.
Much like we did for the Top 25 Under 25, I've cobbled together the rankings of Red Line Report, ISS, Future Considerations, The Scouting Report and Hockey Prospectus. The first three are published and freely available, and I was able to get a sneak peek at the Top 10s from both The Scouting Report and Hockey Prospectus. Many thanks to Scott Campbell and Corey Pronman.
| Rank | Player | Pos | Height | Weight | Team |
| 1 | Nail Yakupov | F | 5'11 | 180 | Sarnia Sting |
| 2 | Ryan Murray | D | 6 | 182 | Everett Silvertips |
| 3 | Mikhail Grigorenko | F | 6' 2 | 192 | CSKA Moscow |
| 4 | Nick Ebert | D | 6 | 195 | Windsor Spitfires |
| 5 | Alex Galchenyuk | F | 6 | 185 | Sarnia Sting |
| 6 | Jacob Trouba | D | 6' 1 | 183 | US U17 |
| 7 | Griffin Reinhart | D | 6' 4 | 202 | Edmonton Oil Kings |
| 8 | Filip Forsberg | F | 6' 1 | 176 | Leksand |
| 9 | Jordan Schmaltz | D | 6' 2 | 175 | Sioux City Musketeers |
| 10 | Olli Määttä | D | 6' 1 | 198 | London Knights |
- Though Grigorenko received three first-place rankings, he was ranked 5th and 11th.
- Ryan Murray was ranked no lower than 4th on any list.
- Nick Ebert was ranked no lower than 6th on any list.
- Defenseman make up 6 of the top 10 players and 9 of the top 14.
- It's an international early list - 5 different countries of origin are represented -- Russia, Canada, United States, Sweden and Finland -- with Zemgus Girgensons of Latvia and Martin Frk of the Czech Republic lurking in the early teens.
Follow Scott Campbell on Twitter @tsrhockey and Corey Pronman @coreypronman