I know the 2016 NHL season hasn’t even started yet, but I really do love watching, scouting, and analyzing prospects. It is fun to watch them grow and develop into quality NHLers because for some strange reason you feel a sense of pride when one of “your guys” make an impact in the NHL.

For the American readers, this 2016 draft will be teeming with American stars in what can possibly be the best draft for the USA in quite a while. In this post I will be highlighting some of the top prospects in the draft just to give you guys some background behind the names that you will start hearing more.

Auston Matthews- I am sure some of you have already heard of this guy. The Arizona born center is probably going to be the first overall pick in the draft this year, and honestly why not? The 6’2 194 lbs power center has dominated everywhere he has played, and has now taken his talents overseas to play against men in the Swiss pro league (a better league to develop than some junior leagues being that he will be playing against pros) and he is still dominating with six points in six games. This kid is the real deal and I will envy whoever picks him. I pray that it is not the Devils.

Jakob Chychrun- A dual citizen of Canada and USA who will probably be the first defenseman picked in the draft next June. Talented at both ends of the ice, with good size, mobility, and a mean streak. He is the kind of guy that you would love to build your defense core around and will be a force for years to come.

Jesse Pujujarvi- The only European in the top-five as of right now, but this right wing is some other kind of talent. A wonderful scorer and a good skater, Pujujarvi is an important member for Finnish pro team Karpat, and once he is drafted should be able to challenge for an NHL spot. His scoring ability will be highlighted a lot around December as we are getting closer to the World Juniors Tournament.

Matthew Tkachuk- Yes it is a Tkachuk. Son of Keith, cousin of Kevin Hayes (a bit of fun knowledge there), Matthew is exactly like his father. Big, strong, and dangerous anywhere in the offensive zone. He can be a power forward or a pure scorer with his release and has started his season in the OHL with ten points in four games. He should go in the top-five, especially with his legacy. The things I would do for Tkachuk as a Ranger.

Max Jones- Another American, which would give us four in the top-five. Max Jones is another big scorer that, along with Tkachuk and Matthews, make an insanely dangerous line in the World Juniors. Jones has gotten off to a slow start in his first four OHL games, but when you watch him play you can just see that he oozes talent.

I have noticed that there are a few things missing with current prospect sites. Firstly, it may be hard for fans to know which players are draft eligible, which players come from which teams, and where they are projected to go. Along with this we always have discussions about if a player is possibly rising or falling due to size.

I understand the concern, but there is one thing that always troubled me about that, none of these sites are keeping track of player growth; how much he grew over a few months or the year leading up to the draft, or how much weight (presumably muscle). In my spare time while I try to balance my school work I have been making a little database that I will continuously update both statistical information and the growth of a player over the course of the year. You can find the beta here.

Hopefully, this can help all types of fans get some info on prospects before the draft. I see so many people knowing every draft able player in football but not in the NHL for obvious reasons. On top of that some guys play in leagues that people have never heard of or have no way to watch it. I hope this can help provide everyone some more info for the big day next June.

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