The TSN 2012 NHL Draft final rankings have a few surprises, disappointments

Some relative surprises in Bob McKenzie's 2012 NHL Draft final rankings.  His rankings deviate markedly from the NHL Central Scouting Services rankings, and other private scouting services rankings.  Mr. McKenzie's rankings are historically reliable, in that they are an average of many NHL scouts' lists.  This has the effect of eliminating outliers and giving a realistic picture of how these players are valued.

From a Montréal Canadiens fan's amateur perspective, one unexpected ranking is how Alex Galchenyuk is ranked 'only' #5, and Mikhail Grigorenko is ranked way down at #12.  Suddenly, Craig Button doesn't look like he's so far out in left field anymore.  We've been obsessing over whether we'll have a shot at Alex Galchenyuk, and have to 'settle' for Mikhail Grigorenko, since the conventional wisdom is that we need to draft a skilled player to fill a perennial need.  A small minority think that Filip Forsberg is the better choice at #3, especially if both Nail Yakupov (#1) and Alex Galchenyuk are taken 1-2.

We're faced with a good possibility that Alex Galchenyuk will be available at #3.  If he's there, it's probably an easy call to make.  If he's gone, do we grab Mr. Grigorenko at #3, or maybe trade down a few spots and stockpile some assets and still scoop him up later on in Round 1?  Heck, do we even want him?  Even Radek Faksa has jumped ahead of him in the rankings.

Another thing that deflates my balloon is that my personal favourites to snag with the #33 pick, based on very little objective evidence, all seem likely to be gone by the time we get to the podium.  Stefan Matteau is ranked #23, Mike Matheson at #26, even Martin Frk at #32.  I guess the players who seem to have a lot of tools and promise are bound to be highly prized, and not just by me.  I shouldn't have gotten carried away and started to dream about players for the second round.

Meanwhile, grinder Colton Sissons is slotted at #33.  I know this isn't a mock draft, but I don't want our team to grab a two-way player with limited scoring potential with this high a pick.

A final buzzkill is that aside from Mikhail Grigorenko and Martin Frk, two import players, there are no skaters from the LHJMQ in the Top 60 rankings.  I know Gilles Courteau and a whole bunch of poobahs are working on the problem and have been holding summits and are promising changes, but this is ridiculous.