May 10, 2022
Flash poll: Race tightening for No. 1 in NHL Draft
While Shane Wright got nine of 10 No. 1 votes in our mid-season rankings in January, he got six of nine votes to remain atop the Draft Lottery Day quickie poll by Bob McKenzie and appears to be staring down two legitimate threats for No. 1 overall.
By Bob McKenzie
The race for No. 1 in the 2022 NHL Entry Draft has tightened up considerably.
In honour of today’s NHL Draft Lottery, we conducted a flash poll of eight NHL team head scouts to get a TSN Top 5 Ranking, Draft Lottery Edition.
And where Kingston Frontenac centre Shane Wright got nine of 10 No. 1 votes from the scouts in our mid-season rankings in January, he got six of nine votes to remain atop the quickie poll.
Wright would appear to be staring down two legitimate threats for first overall.
Big Slovak winger Juraj Slafkovsky received two No. 1 votes today and USA Hockey National Team Development Program Under-18 team centre Logan Cooley got one.
Slafkovsky was No. 5 at mid-season but vaulted up to No. 2 on this lottery day ranking. Cooley, who was No. 2 at mid-season, is No. 3 today, but very little separates the American and Slovak forwards.
The big mover, though, is heady Slovak defenseman Simon Nemec, who was No. 9 at mid-season. He moved up to No. 4 on the strength of four of our nine scouts ranking him in their top three overall, one of them at No. 2.
Finnish winger Joakim Kemell, No. 3 on the mid-season rankings, checks in at No. 5 today.
Winnipeg Ice forward Matt Savoie, who was No. 4 on the mid-season rankings, did get a pair of top-five votes in the lottery edition poll but not enough to get by Nemec or Kemell. Czechia defender David Jiricek, No. 7 at mid-season, picked up three Top 5 votes this time. Jiricek was the closest to challenging Kemell for the No. 5 spot.
The 2022 NHL Draft is set for July 7-8 in Montreal.
TSN’s Final 2022 NHL Draft list — likely ranking between 80 and 100 prospects — will be released in late June, the week prior to the draft.