Darryl's Dispatch: RotoWire's Top 100 NHL Prospects

Darryl's Dispatch
Darryl Houston Smith
RotoWire NHL Prospect Analyst

RotoWire's 2010-11 Top 100 NHL Prospects

The goal of this list is to place a raw ranking or value on a young player's ability to adapt and mature his game during those crucial first few seasons after he is drafted or signed by an NHL team. Each of these elite prospects is considered by industry consensus to be the best of the best. But realistically, almost all are several years away from being effective NHL regulars and only a few will ever reach true NHL stardom.
Prospect Criteria: Players under 26 years old, who have appeared in no more than 25 NHL games, are considered prospects. A player's current ranking combines two grades; the first is his current state of NHL preparedness and the second measures his long-term potential.

ALL POSITIONS - No more than 25 games NHL Experience

RANK PLAYER/DRAFT YEAR POS NHL TEAM 2009-10 CLUB/LEAGUE

1 Taylor Hall '10 LW Edmonton Windsor (OHL)
2 Jordan Eberle '08 C Edmonton Regina (WHL)
3 P.K. Subban '07 D Montreal Montreal (NHL)
4 Magnus Paajarvi '09 LW Edmonton Timra IK (SEL)
5 Tyler Seguin '10 C Boston Plymouth (OHL)
6 Oliver Ekman-Larsson '09 D Phoenix Leksands (SEL)
7 John Carlson '08 D Washington Washington (NHL)
8 Nazem Kadri '09 C Toronto London (OHL)
9 Gustav Nyquist '08 LW Detroit Maine (HE)
10 Cody Hodgson '08 C Vancouver Brampton (OHL)
11 Chris Kreider '09 C NY Rangers Boston College (HE)
12 Joe Colborne '08 LW Boston Providence (AHL)
13 Tyler Ennis '08 C Buffalo Buffalo (NHL)
14 Brayden Schenn '09 C Los Angeles Brandon (WHL)
15 Jacob Markstrom '08 G Florida Brynas (SEL)
16 Derek Stepan '08 C NY Rangers Wisconsin (WCHA)
17 Tomas Tatar '09 LW Detroit Grand Rapids (AHL)
18 Michal Neuvirth '06 G Washington Washington (NHL)
19 John Bernier '06 G Los Angeles Manchester (AHL)
20 Ryan Ellis '09 D Nashville Windsor (OHL)
21 Brendan Smith '07 D Detroit Wisconsin (WCHA)
22 Cam Fowler '10 D Anaheim Windsor (OHL)
23 Erik Gudbranson '10 D Florida Kingston (OHL)
24 Calvin de Haan '09 D NY Islanders Oshawa (OHL)
25 Jamie McBain '06 D Carolina Carolina (NHL)
26 Michael Grabner '06 RW Florida Manitoba (AHL)
27 Brett Connolly '10 LW Tampa Bay Prince George (WHL)
28 Nino Niederreiter '10 LW NY Islanders Portland (WHL)
29 Vladimir Tarasenko '10 RW St. Louis Sibir Novosibirsk (KHL)
30 Jacob Josefson '09 C New Jersey Djurgarden (SEL)
31 Louis Leblanc '09 C Montreal Harvard (ECAC)
32 Logan Couture '07 C San Jose San Jose (NHL)
33 Mikael Backlund '07 C Calgary Calgary (NHL)
34 Lars Eller '07 LW Montreal Peoria (AHL)
35 Chet Pickard '08 G Nashville Milwaukee (AHL)
36 Corey Schneider '04 G Vancouver Manitoba (AHL)
37 Mattias Tedenby '08 LW New Jersey HV71 (SEL)
38 Scott Glennie '09 RW Dallas Brandon (WHL)
39 Evgeny Grachev '08 C NY Rangers Hartford (AHL)
40 Drayson Bowman '08 C Carolina Carolina (NHL)
41 Alexander Burmistrov '10 C Atlanta Barrie (OHL)
42 Jeff Skinner '10 C Carolina Kitchener (OHL)
43 Ryan Johansen '10 C Columbus Portland (WHL)
44 Danny Kristo '08 RW Montreal North Dakota (WCHA)
45 Jordan Schroeder '09 C Vancouver Minnesota (WCHA)
46 Emerson Etem '10 C Anaheim Medicine Hat (WHL)
47 Mikael Granlund '10 C Minnesota HIFK Helsinki (SM-LIIGA)
48 Robin Lehner '08 G Ottawa S.S. Marie (OHL)
49 Zac Dalpe '08 C Carolina Ohio State (CCHA)
50 Brett MacLean '07 LW Phoenix San Antonio (AHL)
51 Eric Tangradi '07 C Pittsburgh Wilkes-Barre (AHL)
52 Mathieu Perreault '06 C Washington Hersey (AHL)
53 Ryan Stoa '05 LW Colorado Lake Erie (AHL)
54 Marcus Johansson '09 C Washington Farjestad (SEL)
55 Kirill Petrov '08 RW NY Islanders AK Bars (KHL)
56 Chris Terry '07 LW Carolina Albany (AHL)
57 Jeremy Morin '09 RW Chicago Kitchener (OHL)
58 Dmitri Kugryshev '08 RW Washington Quebec (QMJHL)
59 Maxim Goncharov '07 LW Phoenix CSKA (KHL)
60 Blake Geoffrion '06 LW Nashville Wisconsin (WCHA)
61 Kirill Kabanov '10 LW NY Islanders Moncton (QMJHL)
62 Dustin Jeffrey '07 LW Pittsburgh Wilkes-Barre (AHL)
63 Patrice Cormier '08 C Atlanta Rouyn-Noranda (QMJHL)
64 Jordan Caron '09 RW Boston Rouyn-Noranda (QMJHL)
65 Kyle Beach '08 LW Chicago Spokane (WHL)
66 Adam Henrique '08 C New Jersey Windsor (OHL)
67 Carl Klingberg '09 RW Atlanta Frolunda (SEL)
68 Ben Maxwell '06 C Montreal Hamilton (AHL)
69 Carter Ashton '09 LW Tampa Bay Lethbridge (WHL)
70 Evgeny Kuznetsov '10 C Washington Traktor Chelyabinsk (KHL)
71 Linus Omark '07 LW Edmonton Moscow Dynamo (KHL)
72 Francois Bouchard '06 LW Washington Hersey (AHL)
73 Greg Nemisz '08 C Calgary Windsor (OHL)
74 Peter Holland '09 C Anaheim Guelph (OHL)
75 Maxime Sauve '08 C Boston Val d'Or )QMJHL)
76 Casey Pierro-Zabotel '07 C Pittsburgh Wilkes-Barre (AHL)
77 Jan Mursak '06 RW Detroit Grand Rapids (AHL)
78 Sergei Shirokov '06 LW Vancouver Manitoba (AHL)
79 Austin Watson '10 RW Nashville Peterborough (OHL)
80 Kyle Palmieri '09 RW Anaheim Notre Dame (CCHA)
81 Riley Nash '07 C Edmonton Cornell (ECAC)
82 Ryan Howse '09 LW Calgary Chilliwack (WHL)
83 Brad Marchand '06 RW Boston Boston (NHL)
84 Mitch Wahl '08 C Calgary Spokane (WHL)
85 Mats Zuccarello (ND) RW NY Rangers Skelleftea (SEL)
86 John Moore '09 D Columbus Kitchener (OHL)
87 Kevin Shattenkirk '07 D Colorado Lake Erie (AHL)
88 Jonathan Blum '07 D Nashville Milwaukee (AHL)
89 Jared Cowen '09 D Ottawa Spokane (WHL)
90 Brandon Gormley '10 D Phoenix Moncton (QMJHL)
91 Patrick Wiercioch '08 D Ottawa Denver (WCHA)
92 Jake Allen '08 G St. Louis Drummondville (QMJHL)
93 Louie Caporusso '07 LW Ottawa Michigan (CCHA)
94 Zack Kassian '09 RW Buffalo Peterborough (OHL)
95 Nic Deschamps '08 LW Anaheim Moncton (QMJHL)
96 Nick Bjugstad '10 C Florida Blaine (USHS-MN)
97 Quinton Howden '10 LW Florida Moose Jaw (WHL)
98 Beau Bennett '10 RW Pittsburgh Penticton (BCHL)
99 Matt Clavert '08 LW Columbus Brandon (WHL)
100 Jack Campbell '10 G Dallas U.S. NDTP (USHL)