[sureLoss]

Redline report's latest rankings:
http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports...semen/5952761/




According to them the tiers are as follows:

The top tier consists of three — maybe four — players, depending on how we feel on a given day. Aaron Ekblad, Leon Draisaitl and Sam Reinhart are in for certain, though their final draft order is still up for grabs. Depending on what day you ask us, Sam Bennett might join the group as well. It's so close, sometimes it just comes down to our last impression at our most recent viewing.

The next tier includes perhaps Bennett, and then Michael Dal Colle, and William Nylander in a tightly bunched group of forwards.

There's a bit of a dropoff after the top six, and our third tier consists of a varied mix of skilled forwards and a big rearguard. In loose order, we have Jake Virtanen, Haydn Fleury, Nick Ritchie, Robby Fabbri, and Nikolay Goldobin.

Beginning with Goldobin at No. 11, it becomes a United Nations list, with three Russians (Goldobin, Nikita Scherbak and Ivan Barbashev), a Czech (David Pastrnak), a Swiss (Kevin Fiala), and a Dane (Nikolaj Ehlers).

After another dropoff to a group of about eight to 10 guys, things start to get pretty thin. We are particularly struck by comparing the players we had ranked in the 20s right on through the mid-40s in 2013 to the corresponding group this year. It's not a pretty comparison for this year's group. Once you get past the mid-20s in 2014, there are a lot of warts and no sure bets.