NHL Central Scouting Bureau

The NHL Central Scouting Bureau or NHL Central Scouting Services (CSS) is a department within the National Hockey League that ranks prospects for the NHL Entry Draft at specific times during the hockey season. Players are ranked based on how well they will translate to the professional game in the National Hockey League. It was founded by hockey executive Jack Button in 1975 to establish a centralized database of NHL prospects. Button served as the director until 1979 and its most recent director was E.J. McGuire. The Department consists of staff at the NHL Offices in Toronto, along with eight full time scouts, and fifteen part-time scouts throughout North America. To report on prospects playing in Europe, the NHL employs the services of Goran Stub and his staff of six scouts at European Scouting Services based in Finland. All twenty-nine scouts reporting for Central Scouting will combine to see approximately 3000 games each year.

Rankings procedure

The full time staff of the Central Scouting Bureau follows a checklist to assess the prospects' skillset and how it would apply to the pro game. Prospects are rated by skill as Excellent (E), Very Good (VG), Good (G), Average (A), Poor (P), or Not Applicable (NA), with different skills being emphasized amongst the different positions: forward, defenceman, and goaltender. The Bureau released the contents of the checklists to the public from their website, so anyone can evaluate players at any level of play.^[1] The rankings are compiled by numerous reviews by the professional scouts' combined opinions of the players and released as a bimonthly list.

Eligible players for the upcoming draft are ranked as North American Skaters, North American Goalies, International Skaters, or International Goalies. The players fit under the North American or International player based on where they train. For example, the Czech forward, Jakub Voráček was ranked as a North American prospect, because he played with the Halifax Mooseheads in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League. A current example is Swiss forward Nino Niederreiter who is 12th on the North American ranks, as he plays for the Portland Winterhawks of the Western Hockey League.

There are multiple times that the rankings come out during a year. Notably, the midterm rankings come out after the IIHF World Junior Championships and performance in the tournament greatly elevates draft status. In early April, after all junior and European seasons are completed, the final rankings are released.

Directors

• Jack Button: 1975-1979
• Jim Gregory: 1979-1992
• Frank Bonello: 1992-2005
• E. J. McGuire: 2005-2011

Top Prospects

Source: NHL Central Scouting Bureau final ranking.^[2]

Ranking	North American skaters[3]	European skaters[4]
1	Ryan Nugent-Hopkins (C)	Adam Larsson (D)
2	Gabriel Landeskog (LW)	Mika Zibanejad (C)
3	Jonathan Huberdeau (C)	Jonas Brodin (D)
4	Dougie Hamilton (D)	Joel Armia (RW)
5	Nathan Beaulieu (D)	Dmitri Jaskin (W)
6	Sean Couturier (LW)	Max Friberg (LW)
7	Sven Baertschi (LW)	Miikka Salomaki (C)
8	Ryan Strome (C)	Oscar Klefbom (D)
9	Ryan Murphy (D)	Victor Rask (C)
10	Duncan Siemens (D)	Joachim Nermark (C)

Ranking	North American goalies[5]	European goalies[6]
1	John Gibson	Samu Perhonen
2	Christopher Gibson	Stefan Steen
3	Jordan Binnington	Jaroslav Pavelka

References

1. ^ "NHL Central Scouting Bureau". January 11, 2010. http://centralscouting.nhl.com/. 
2. ^ Landeskog leads group competing for top draft spot, National Hockey League, 10 January 2011, http://www.nhl.com/ice/page.htm?id=68892, retrieved 10 January 2011 .
3. ^ "North American Skaters Midterm Rankings". January 10, 2011. http://www.nhl.com/ice/page.htm?id=67005. 
4. ^ "European Skaters Midterm Rankings". January 10, 2011. http://www.nhl.com/ice/page.htm?id=67008. 
5. ^ "North American Goalies Midterm Rankings". January 10, 2011. http://www.nhl.com/ice/page.htm?id=67007. 
6. ^ "European Goalies Midterm Rankings". January 10, 2011. http://www.nhl.com/ice/page.htm?id=67006. 

External links

• Official Site