The Hockey Writers

Welcome back to my 2022 NHL Draft Rankings here at The Hockey Writers. As of this writing, we are now just a few days away from the annual fun that is the NHL Entry Draft. For the first time since the 2019 iteration in Vancouver, friends and family will be able to attend the festivities and see their loved ones pull on the jersey of an NHL team live on stage. Due to the pandemic that ravaged the globe, the 2020 and 2021 classes had to do it virtually over Zoom or in some cases, not at all. So, it’s going to be exciting to finally get some normalcy when it comes to the draft floor. Now onto my expanded final rankings. Since I released the midseason top-96 back in April, there were a few events that gave scouts and experts more viewing opportunities, such as the IIHF U18 World Championship, junior and European playoffs, Memorial Cup and of course, the Scouting Combine in Buffalo which made its return for the first time since 2019. As a result of these respective events, I had to adjust my rankings accordingly, but not by much – at least not when it came to my top 10, anyway.