2017 NHL Central Scouting Final Rankings

NHL Central Scouting has released their final rankings for the 2017 NHL Draft. Below is a breakdown of how OHL players were ranked. If you're curious for a comparison, you can find the midterm rankings here.

Skaters
1. Gabe Vilardi (4)
2. Owen Tippett (7)
3. Nick Suzuki (10)
4. Jason Robertson (14)
5. Isaac Ratcliffe (15)
6. Conor Timmins (18)
7. Nic Hague (20)
8. Robert Thomas (22)
9. Alex Formenton (29)
10. Morgan Forst (31)
11. Eemeli Rasanen (32)
12. Matthew Strome (33)
13. Ivan Lodnia (36)
14. Adam Ruzicka (37)
15. Jonah Gadjovich (39)
16. Sasha Chmelevski (43)
17. Mackenzie Entwistle (44)
18. Nate Schnarr (47)
19. Brady Lyle (48)
20. Markus Phillips (50)
21. Zach Gallant (64)
22. Kirill Maksimov (66)
23. Dmitri Samorukov (69)
24. Maksim Sushko (72)
25. Noel Hoefenmayer (75)
26. Kevin Hancock (91)
27. Greg Meireles (93)
28. Adam Thilander (96)
29. Linus Nyman (100)
30. Marian Studenic (101)
31. Fedor Gordeev (104)
32. Jacob Paquette (105)
33. Ryan McGregor (107)
34. Shaw Boomhower (112)
35. Zach Roberts (113)
36. Austen Keating (115)
37. Drake Rhymsha (118)
38. Jack Studnicka (120)
39. Dylan Seitz (123)
40. Sean Durzi (124)
41. German Poddubnyi (130)
42. Matt Brassard (137)
43. Liam Hawel (141)
44. Jacob Golden (144)
45. Nick McHugh (145)
46. Nick Isaacson (148)
47. Cole Coskey (150)
48. Matthew Philip (152)
49. Trenton Bourque (154)
50. Oliver Castleman (164)
51. Artur Tyanulin (166)
52. Ben Jones (170)
53. Cole Purboo (189)
54. Cole Fraser (197)
55. Brandon Crawley (199)
56. Luke Boka (201)
57. Sean Josling (203)
58. Justin Brazeau (206)
59. Kyle Maclean (209)
60. Otto Makinen (211)
61. Nick Deakin-Poot (213)
62. Ondrej Machala (215)

Goaltenders:
1. Michael Dipietro (4)
2. Kyle Keyser (11)
3. Matthew Villalta (16)
4. Kaden Fulcher (18)
5. Jake McGrath (19)
6. Stephen Dhillon (21)
7. Christian Propp (27)
8. Luke Richardson (30)

Comments:
While there are definitely some discrepancies between my list and NHL CSS's, I find myself agreeing with this ranking more than I usually do. I find that Central Scouting has put way too much emphasis on size in the past, but they really seem to be coming around on the concept of smaller players finding increasing amounts of success in the NHL today.

Here are the biggest risers/fallers compared to the midseason list:
Risers:
Kirill Maksimov +119
Drake Rymsha + 99
German Poddubnyi +87
Fedor Gordeev +84
Matt Brassard +80
Liam Hawel +76
Zach Roberts +67
Trenton Bourque +63
Kevin Hancock +57
Artur Tyanulin +51
Dmitri Samorukov +53
Nick McHugh +31
Eemeli Rasanen +25
Jonah Gadjovich +21
Jason Robertson +20

Fallers:
Nick Deakin Poot -78
Ben Jones -71
Ondrej Machala -68
Anthony Demeo -56
Albert Michnac -55
Greg Meireles -54
Cole Coskey -54
Matyas Svoboda -51
Jack Studnicka -40
Adam Thilander -37
Macauley Carson -34
Noel Hoefenmayer -34
Ryan McGregor -28
Joseph Gareffa -26
Austen Keating -23
Dylan Seitz -23
Nate Schnarr -15
Jacob Paquette -15
Matthew Strome -14

Some general ranking discussion:
- Macauley Carson most definitely deserves to be on this list. Heart and soul player who has size, plays a variety of roles and can put the puck in the net. Skating is an issue, but he deserves to be ranked and drafted. He's the glaring omission for me. In fact, he's probably the only player ranked inside my top 50 (which won't be completed or released until after the U18's and OHL playoffs) that wasn't ranked by NHL CSS.

- Goalie rankings are always a great conversation piece. I was harsh when Michael Dipietro was ranked 7th in NA at midseason, so I'm very happy to see him move up to 4th for this final list. Much closer to where he belongs. For my money, Stephen Dhillon (as a re-entry) is the 2nd best goalie available from the OHL this year though. Also curious to see how Jake McGrath does at the U18's.

- Love the aggressive rankings of some re-entries like Hancock, Rymsha, Brassard, etc. This is a really good year for re-entries from the OHL and I'd expect at least a half dozen to go. Matt Timms and Brandon Saigeon would be the two guys I think they missed the boat on there.

- No surprise seeing Maksimov jump so high up the list. In fact, Maksimov's jump of 119 spots is the most I've seen from the OHL in some time. Last year, Connor Hall went up 110 spots. Back to Maksimov, the trade to Niagara re-invigorated him. He was quite impressive the last few times I saw Niagara. With a strong U18's, he could actually move into the top 2 rounds IMO. 

- Great to see Jason Robertson and Jonah Gadjovich make aggressive moves into first round consideration, and Dmitri Samorukov make an aggressive move into 2nd/3rd round consideration. All well deserved based on their play in the 2nd half.

- It's interesting to see Nick Deakin Poot as the largest faller, considering that I thought he was considerably better in the 2nd half of the season, compared to the first. But maybe it's a case of NHL CSS souring on his NHL potential, as opposed to grading his performance.

If you want to get a peak at the entire rankings, you can check those out here.