The National Hockey League Central Scouting Bureau released its final rankings for the 2012 NHL Entry Draft on Monday and Sarnia Sting forward Nail Yakupov is still the top-ranked skater, while Filip Forsberg of Leksand in the Swedish league was named the top draft-eligible skater playing in Europe.
The NHL Draft Lottery takes place on Tuesday with five teams having a chance to get the first-overall pick. The team that wins the lottery can’t move up more than four positions in the draft order, so only the bottom five teams have a shot at landing the top pick.
Columbus Blue Jackets — 25.0 per cent
Edmonton Oilers — 18.8 per cent
Montreal Canadiens — 14.2 per cent
New York Islanders — 10.7 per cent
Toronto Maple Leafs — 8.1 per cent
Anaheim Ducks — 6.2 per cent
Minnesota Wild — 4.7 per cent
Carolina Hurricanes — 3.6 per cent
Winnipeg Jets — 2.7 per cent
Tampa Bay Lightning — 2.1 per cent
Washington Capitals (from Colorado) — 1.5 per cent
Buffalo Sabres — 1.1 per cent
Dallas Stars — 0.8 per cent
Calgary Flames — 0.5 per cent
If any team outside the bottom five wins, Columbus will make the first selection.
Following the completion of the Stanley Cup playoffs, the draft will take place at the CONSOL Energy Center in Pittsburgh with the first round taking place on June 22.
Here are the final rankings by the NHL CSS.
