After going through the top 15 prospects in some level of detail, I’ve compiled a list of those previously covered as well as another 35 to make up a preliminary top 50 for next years draft. Remember, if you see someone high on the list below and you want some more details on them, you can find in-depth coverage of the first 15 players in the following articles:
2018 NHL Draft Preliminary Rankings: 1 to 5
2018 NHL Draft Preliminary Rankings: 6 to 10
2018 NHL Draft Preliminary Rankings: 11 to 15
I said this already in the 1 to 5 post, but I’ll note again that this list is my own, and not a consolidation of either other members of the network (as our Draft Profile series was) or industry rankings. Anything that you find utterly ridiculous about the arrangement of prospects can be blamed solely on me.

A Rundown of the Stats Used In These Articles

If you’ve already read this in the previous articles, you can go ahead and skip this section.
You can get draft lists from a myriad of sources, but since you came to Canucks Army, you can expect somewhat of a statistical lean. There will be video and some scouting reports as well, but much ink will be spilled on stats, as we have metrics here that you won’t find anywhere else. What follows is a brief description of each of the stats referenced in the tables below.
  • Age: Exact age to two decimal points, calculated as of September 15th, 2016. That date is used for draft purposes – anyone with an exact age greater than or equal to 16.00 and less than 17.00 as of that date will be eligible for the first time at the 2018 draft.
  • Box Cars: GP, G, A, P stand for the standard Games Played, Goals, Assists, and Points, during the 2016-17 regular season.
  • Sh/GP: Shots on goal per games played.
  • GF%: Percentage of 5-on-5 on-ice goals scored in favour of the player’s team.
  • GF%rel: The difference between the player’s on-ice GF% relative to the team’s GF% when the player is off the ice.
  • pGPS:
    • xSucc is Expected Success Rate for the player, based on how many similar players reached a 200 NHL game threshold, weighted by similarity.
    • xPro/82 is the Expected Production of the player per 82 games, based on how similar players produced in the NHL, weighted by similarity.
    • xVal is Expected Value, the product of xSucc and xPro/82. Check this article to see an Expected Value curve from last year’s draft to get an idea of what constitutes a “good” xVal. Last year the expected values in the first round ranged from about 35 to 15.
  • SEAL: The SEAL adjusted scoring value. SEAL stands for Situational, Era, Age, and League. Here’s a rundown of the current iteration of SEAL, which evolved from a technique that Garret Hohl pioneered for the 2015 draft.
Certain metrics are only available for certain leagues, depending on how easily available the data is to the public, and in some cases whether or not Dylan Kirkby (our resident programmer) and I have had the time to set up the necessary data scrapers. Here’s a run down on which metrics are available in which leagues.
  • pGPS: I can run pGPS data on about 20 leagues right now, so at the top of the draft, it’s easier just to say which leagues it doesn’t do. For the purposes of this list, the missing leagues are: the MHL (Russian Junior), SM-Liiga Nuorten (Finnish Junior).
  • SEAL: SEAL adjustments are currently available for all CHL leagues (WHL, OHL, QMJHL), USHL, NCAA, SHL, and Czech Extraliga. Dependent on availability of situational scoring data.
  • GF% and GF%rel: Currently available for all CHL leagues (WHL, OHL, QMJHL), USHL, SHL, and Czech Extraliga.
Without any further ado, here is the top 50 list.

The 2018 NHL Entry Draft Preliminary Top 50

Rank
Player
Pos
Age
Height
Nat.
League
GP
G
A
P
Sh/GP
GF%
GF%rel
pGPS xSucc
xPro/ 82
pGPS xVal
SEAL
1
Rasmus Dahlin
D
16.42
6.01
SWE
Superelit
24
9
13
22
4.58
100%
78
77.7
0.692
2
Andrei Svechnikov
RW
16.47
6.02
RUS
USHL
44
26
27
53
3.31
70.1%
+16.8%
100%
73
73.0
1.356
3
Joseph Veleno
C
16.67
6.00
CAN
QMJHL
45
13
27
40
2.38
57.7%
-3.6%
25%
55
13.8
0.942
4
Ryan Merkley
D
16.09
5.11
CAN
OHL
62
12
43
55
2.50
38.1%
-2.4%
91%
33
29.6
1.053
5
Filip Zadina
LW
16.80
6.00
CZE
Czech
25
1
1
2
0.72
 23.5%
25%
44
11.3
0.246
6
Brady Tkachuk
C
17.00
6.02
USA
USHL
22
11
10
21
3.50
57.6%
+14.5%
38%
44
16.8
0.870
7
Quinton Hughes
D
16.92
5.09
USA
USHL
24
4
20
24
1.65
52.1%
+8.8%
0%
0
0.0
1.165
8
Anderson MacDonald
LW
16.33
6.02
CAN
QMJHL
50
29
12
41
3.00
40.0%
-1.2%
48%
47
22.4
0.971
9
Adam Boqvist
D
16.09
5.10
SWE
Superelit
18
4
12
16
2.28
74%
78
57.6
10
Isac Lundestrom
C/LW
16.86
6.00
SWE
SHL
45
3
3
6
0.31
 38.1%
 -12.2%
73%
56
40.9
0.571
Rank
Player
Pos
Age
Height
Nat.
League
GP
G
A
P
Sh/GP
GF%
GF%rel
pGPS xSucc
xPro/ 82
pGPS xVal
SEAL
11
Jared McIsaac
D
16.47
6.02
CAN
QMJHL
59
4
28
32
1.83
60.0%
+12.7%
35%
26
9.0
0.484
12
Ryan McLeod
C
16.99
6.02
CAN
OHL
68
9
33
42
1.63
57.5%
+4.7%
21%
38
7.8
0.772
13
Akil Thomas
C
16.70
5.11
USA
OHL
61
21
27
48
2.39
40.5%
-7.4%
29%
50
14.8
0.981
14
Evan Bouchard
D
16.91
6.02
CAN
OHL
68
11
33
44
1.99
58.7%
-4.3%
41%
37
15.3
0.694
15
Joel Farabee
LW
16.56
5.11
USA
USHL
28
12
11
23
1.73
54.5%
+11.0%
0%
35
0.0
0.894
16
Allan McShane
C
16.59
5.11
CAN
OHL
62
17
27
44
1.87
58.5%
+3.3%
26%
46
12.0
0.896
17
Bode Wilde
D
16.64
6.02
CAN
USHL
29
3
3
6
1.59
31.1%
-16.5%
10%
23
2.2
0.217
18
Alexander Khovanov
C
16.43
5.11
RUS
MHL
29
8
14
22
19
Jakub Lauko
F
16.47
6.01
CZE
Czech
28
2
0
2
0.61
34%
44
14.8
0.240
20
David Levin
LW/RW
17.00
5.10
ISR
OHL
66
18
35
53
2.15
42.9%
-4.3%
22%
43
9.4
0.954
Rank
Player
Pos
Age
Height
Nat.
League
GP
G
A
P
Sh/GP
GF%
GF%rel
pGPS xSucc
xPro/ 82
pGPS xVal
SEAL
21
Jack McBain
C
16.69
6.03
CAN
OJHL
42
13
28
41
22
Jett Woo
D
16.14
6.00
CAN
WHL
65
5
17
22
54.9%
+1.3%
21%
25
5.2
0.396
23
Adam Ginning
D
16.67
6.03
SWE
Superelit
29
0
10
10
1.83
6%
29
1.7
0.613
24
Santeri Salmela
D
16.27
6.01
FIN
Liiga
9
0
3
3
0.89
0%
0
0.0
25
Ty Smith
D
16.48
5.11
CAN
WHL
66
5
27
32
47.6%
+0.9%
26%
28
7.3
0.542
26
Jesse Ylonen
RW
16.95
6.00
FIN
Jr. A Liiga
37
15
16
31
27
Oliver Wahlstrom
C
16.26
6.01
USA
USHL
27
7
4
11
2.38
37.5%
-8.6%
8%
66
5.1
0.535
28
Calen Addison
D
16.43
5.09
CAN
WHL
63
9
24
33
58.3%
+8.6%
30%
29
8.7
0.550
29
Alexander Alexeyev
D
16.84
6.03
RUS
WHL
41
4
17
21
57.1%
+7.1%
36%
24
8.7
0.560
30
Nathan Dunkley
C
16.37
5.11
CAN
OHL
58
6
25
31
1.40
42.4%
-5.2%
20%
37
7.4
0.722
Rank
Player
Pos
Age
Height
Nat.
League
GP
G
A
P
Sh/GP
GF%
GF%rel
pGPS xSucc
xPro/ 82
pGPS xVal
SEAL
31
Riley Sutter
RW
16.89
6.02
CAN
WHL
67
20
18
38
60.0%
+2.5%
19%
38
7.3
0.567
32
Gabriel Fortier
LW
16.61
5.09
CAN
QMJHL
25
11
6
17
2.20
50.0%
-0.7%
11%
48
5.4
0.740
33
Xavier Bouchard
D
16.55
6.02
CAN
QMJHL
63
4
30
34
1.00
51.6%
+1.6%
30%
27
7.9
0.495
34
Mattias Samuelsson
D
16.51
6.03
USA
USHL
26
4
4
8
1.33
51.2%
+7.5%
17%
22
3.8
0.413
35
Jesperi Kotkaniemi
C
16.20
6.02
FIN
Jr. A Liiga
17
9
6
15
36
Benoit-Olivier Groulx
C
16.61
6.01
CAN
QMJHL
62
17
14
31
1.76
41.0%
-12.5%
7%
39
2.7
0.510
37
Kirill Nizhnikov
RW
16.47
6.01
RUS
OHL
43
12
7
19
2.56
27.1%
-15.4%
26%
38
9.8
0.596
38
Jacob Olofsson
C
16.60
6.02
SWE
Superelit
29
4
12
16
1.79
16%
39
6.2
39
Grigori Denisenko
LW
16.28
5.11
RUS
MHL
28
9
13
22
40
Rasmus Kupari
C
16.50
6.01
FIN
Jr. A Liiga
22
4
10
14
Rank
Player
Pos
Age
Height
Nat.
League
GP
G
A
P
Sh/GP
GF%
GF%rel
pGPS xSucc
xPro/ 82
pGPS xVal
SEAL
41
Ty Dellandrea
C
16.15
6.01
CAN
OHL
57
13
11
24
1.81
44.8%
-6.0%
21%
35
7.4
0.557
42
Krystof Hrabik
F
16.98
6.03
CZE
Czech
13
0
1
1
0.77
30%
61
18.5
0.308
43
Oliver Castleman
LW/RW
17.00
5.10
CAN
OHL
66
18
22
40
0.815
44
Filip Hallander
C/W
16.21
5.12
SWE
Superelit
34
9
15
24
20%
41
8.5
45
Philipp Kurashev
LW/C
16.93
5.12
SUI
QMJHL
65
21
33
54
2.52
47.4%
+10.1%
15%
55
8.0
0.941
46
Serron Noel
RW
16.10
6.03
CAN
OHL
63
8
13
21
1.10
47.8%
-0.1%
20%
35
6.9
0.489
47
Luka Burzan
C
16.69
6.00
CAN
WHL
66
14
13
27
57.4%
+4.2%
13%
39
4.9
0.503
48
Nicolas Beaudin
D
16.94
5.10
CAN
QMJHL
64
5
36
41
1.91
44.4%
+3.0%
21%
30
6.5
0.553
49
Giovanni Vallati
D
16.57
6.01
CAN
OHL
59
5
16
21
1.12
56.2%
+11.9%
17%
26
4.4
0.394
50
Filip Kral
D
16.91
5.11
CZE
Czech2
12
1
1
2
0.48
13%
24
3.2
0.295