The NHL Central Scouting Services (CSS) is a department within the National Hockey League that ranks prospects for the

NHL Entry Draft The NHL Entry Draft (french: Repêchage d'entrée dans la LNH) is an annual meeting in which every franchise of the National Hockey League (NHL) systematically select the rights to available ice hockey players who meet draft eligibility requirem ...

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 The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranked professional ...

. It was founded by hockey executive

Jack Button John Carl 'Jack' Button (1940 – July 31, 1996) was a professional hockey executive with the Pittsburgh Penguins and Washington Capitals of the National Hockey League. The Jack Button Award, given to the top prospect for the Washington Capitals, ...

in 1975 to establish a centralized database of NHL prospects. Button served as the director until 1979. Its current director is Dan Marr. 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 Göran Stubb 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 Service 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 Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

defenceman Defence or defense (in American English) in ice hockey is a player position that is primarily responsible for preventing the opposing team from Goal (ice hockey), scoring. They are often referred to as defencemen, D, D-men or blueliners (the la ...

, and

goaltender In ice hockey, the goaltender (commonly referred to as the goalie) is the player responsible for preventing the hockey puck from entering their team's net, thus preventing the opposing team from scoring. The goaltender mostly plays in or near t ...

. The Service releases the contents of the checklists to the public from their website, so anyone can evaluate players at any level of play. 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, European Skaters, or European Goalies. The players fit under the North American or International player based on where they train. For example, the

Czech Czech may refer to: * Anything from or related to the Czech Republic, a country in Europe ** Czech language ** Czechs, the people of the area ** Czech culture ** Czech cuisine * One of three mythical brothers, Lech, Czech, and Rus' Places * Czech, ...

forward, Jakub Voracek was ranked as a North American prospect, because he played with the

Halifax Mooseheads The Halifax Mooseheads are a Canadian major junior ice hockey club in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (QMJHL) based in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. The team was founded in 1994 and began play in the Dilio Division of the QMJHL from the ...

in the

Quebec Major Junior Hockey League The Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (french: Ligue de hockey junior majeur du Québec; abbreviated ''QMJHL'' in English, ''LHJMQ'' in French) is one of the three major junior ice hockey leagues that constitute the Canadian Hockey League. The l ...

. A more recent example is

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

center Auston Matthews who was first on the European ranks, as he played for the

ZSC Lions The Zürcher Schlittschuh Club Lions (ZSC Lions) are a professional ice hockey team located in Zürich, Switzerland, playing in the National League (NL). Their home arena is the 12,000-seat Swiss Life Arena. The team was founded in 1930 and play ...

of the NLA. Updated ranking are released multiple times each year. Notably, the midterm rankings come out after the

IIHF World Junior Championships The IIHF World Junior Championship (WJC), or simply the "World Juniors" in ice hockey circles, is an annual event organized by the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) for national under-20 ice hockey teams from around the world. It is t ...

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

: 1975–1979 * Jim Gregory: 1979–1992 * Frank Bonello: 1992–2005 * E. J. McGuire: 2005–2011 * Dan Marr: 2011–present

References

{{Reflist

External links

Official Site
National Hockey League Entry Draft

Rankings procedure

Directors

See also

References

External links