2021 NHL Draft Rankings: Top-10

2021 is going to be a class where there are more high-end defensemen available to teams early on with Luke Hughes, Brandt Clarke, Carson Lambos, Owen Power, and Aidan Hreschuk as well. Starting the class off is Aatu Raty, a very skilled center who plays in Karpat's system over in Finland at the moment, he owns a tremendous motor, puck-handling abilities, playmaking abilities, and he is reliable at both ends of the ice. He plays the center position naturally and he is extremely good at center, knowing his positioning and who to cover defensively while maintaining good positioning on the cycle offensively as well. Luke Hughes and Brandt Clarke are two defenders that favorably can be compared to Luke's brother Quinn, but especially Luke. They both play a very similar style with how they move the puck up the ice, how smart and talented they are offensively and on the PP, and how well they play in transition. Luke's edgework and crossovers are still very, very good, but Quinn has the edge in those two categories for skating right now. As time goes on, Luke's edges will easily be more refined, and Luke will be taking the same development route by heading to Michigan after his time with the NTDP is over, so we'll see if he can do the same thing Quinn did there. Clarke has been recently been hot in terms of production with Barrie of the OHL, and he's consistently been playing on their top pairing as a rookie in the league. Cole Sillinger currently ranks second in rookie PPG in the WHL and first in D-1 PPG, 2nd in D-1 scoring behind Dylan Guenther with 46 points (Guenther has 50). Speaking of Guenther, he is a guy that gives me Dylan Cozens vibes when I watch him skate, handle the puck through traffic, and their explosiveness at top speed. I know it's a recent comparison, but Cozens is another winger who has pretty, pretty good scoring potential at the NHL level along with Guenther, and in terms of style, I see it. Carson Lambos is only going to get better offensively in the WHL, and he plays a very solid two-way game already. He leads the WHL in rookie scoring by a defenseman, smooth skater, and a very good puck-mover. Haven't been able to see too much game footage of him yet, but just know he is VERY good. Chaz Lucius just got promoted to the NTDP U18 team yesterday along with Sean Behrens, Dylan Duke, and Justin Janicke, four players who are all projected to go in the first round right now, Lucius being the best of them and projected to go very high. Lucius might challenge Cole Caufield's goal total as a U17, and he overall plays a good multidimensional game with good goal-scoring and playmaking abilities, but his goal-scoring is something that people will notice instantly in his game. Owen Power plays just like Victor Hedman to me, and Craig Button actually thinks the same as well. A big defender who does not play very physical surprisingly, but the offensive instincts he has are very rare, his long reach that easily allows him to break up plays and force opposing to the outside, and oh yeah, good luck in the corners against him because he wins just about every 50/50 in his own end. He's been so poised with the puck this year and last year as a rookie, and he makes it look so easy when transitioning the puck and carrying it on zone entries. I've been watching him for the last year and a half now with the Steel. Kent Johnson will be off to Michigan next year and will be coming straight from the BCHL, the same route Alex Newhook took and it is becoming more popular for Canadian players to do that rather than playing in the USHL and living elsewhere. Those people who loved Newhook last year, and Dylan Holloway right now even, are absolutely going to love this guy in Michigan. He's tearing up, and I mean tearing up, the BCHL this season and could have a right to end up going top-5 next year. To wrap it all up, Sasha Pastujov is a very high IQ winger that loves to be flashy with the puck. He is the type of playmaker you would want to have with someone that can finish with his vision and how he finds narrow passing lanes. He is such a dynamic player and extremely fun to watch.