Name: Anthony Beauvillier
Position: Center/Left Wing
Shoots: Left
Height/Weight: 5’10, 173 lbs
Born: June 8, 1997, Sorel-Tracy, QC
Central Scouting Rankings (Prelim/Mid/Final): ”B“/ 49th NA/ 33rd NA
Summary: Blessed with elite vision, Beauvillier is playmaker with finishing qualities who plays a big game and worked on his two-way play a ton the past season. Similar to Rangers’ pivot Derick Brassard in that he has a heavy, accurate shot in addition to threading the needle with his cross-ice passes. It’s odd how he is listed as a left wing when he was one of the QMJHL’s top faceoff winners (59%) and was pretty noticeable feeding fellow 2015 draftee and Shawinigan teammate Dennis Yan for scoring chances. He can play a feisty and emotional game, which in his case as an undersized pivot is most certainly a good thing. It’s hard to see where he slots within the organization, however, as the Isles’ forward depth may block him from becoming the top-6 scorer we think he can develop into.

Name: Mitchell Vandel Sompel
Position: Defenseman
Shoots: Left
Height/Weight: 5’10, 182 lbs
Born: February 11, 1997, London, ON
Central Scouting Rankings (Prelim/Mid/Final): ”B“/ 33rd NA / 34th NA
Summary: Regarded as one of the Ontario Hockey League’s best two-way defensemen, Vande Sompel was an integral piece during Oshawa’s march to its first Memorial Cup crown in a quarter of a century. And while he certainly benefitted from playing with a deep lineup dotted with NHL prospects, you can make a strong argument that neither party could have succeeded without the other. If the Generals were a football team, he’d be their quarterback, especially on the power play. It was during his three-week absence with an injury when Oshawa’s talent-rich forwards struggled mightily with the man advantage, slipping from first to third thanks to a 4-for-32 skid with Vande Sompel on the shelf. His cat-like reflexes, soft hands and decisiveness with the puck make him difficult to not only defend against, but almost impossible to replace. Vande Sompel is an excellent skater with a smooth stride, very good speed and mobility, and can turn quicker than most playing his position. His shot and passes are both made with authority and without hesitation. He is a very hard player to telegraph when he has the puck behind his net because of his unpredictability; if you try to box him in with a static forecheck, he’ll split them with a hard 100-foot pass. If defenders go into a zone, he’ll use the time and space to either burst through openings, or lure opponents towards him before saucering a pass towards the attack with them heading the wrong direction. When it comes to initiating attacks or counterattacks, you’ll be hard pressed to find a better rearguard among his peers. And though it can only help to have top-end finishers to create chances for, Vande Sompel is the kind of player who has the ability to make any kind of player around him better. Defensively, his shortcomings are common for a blueliner under six feet. Vande Sompel is not physical, and his lack of reach and leg drive makes him easy to dance around. He also struggles with battles in front and along the walls, but his stick is very active and he does not give up on plays. When you have a gifted puck distributor playing defense, its up to the coach and front office to build around him. There’s no reason to think he cannot get stronger and improve his play in his own end, but when you can collect and pass the puck out of the danger areas as well as Vande Sompel, you can afford to give him as much time as he needs to work on them.

Name: Parker Wotherspoon
Position: Defenseman
Shoots: Left
Height/Weight: 6’0, 171 lbs
Born: August 24, 1997, Surrey, BC
Central Scouting Rankings (Prelim/Mid/Final): ”B“/ 46th NA/ 43rd NA
Summary: Pretty impressive late-97 two-way blueliner who led an injury-ravaged Tri-City squad with 33 assists. His strengths lie in his ability to read plays, make accurate passes and step up with timely plays when the situation warrants it. Wotherspoon is a smart puck distributor and does not get rattled under pressure, specifically when pressed on the forecheck or going into corners during a cycle. Slot awareness is an area he is surprisingly effective, although his ability to identify gaps in coverage can be offset by the lack of strength he displays when dealing with bigger, stronger forwards. We view him as a two-way defender who can anchor a top pairing for either the power play or penalty kill, but it would benefit him immensely if his physical play was as strong as his puck-possession skills.

Name: Ryan Pilon
Position: Defenseman
Shoots: Left
Height/Weight: 6’2, 206 lbs
Born: October 10, 1996, Prince Albert, SK
Central Scouting Rankings (Prelim/Mid/Final): “B”/ 31st NA/ 24th NA
Summary: We didn’t quite understand the rise in the Central Scouting rankings for this two-way blueliner who in our mind was extremely shielded by a powerhouse team in Brandon and took advantage of being in his third year in the league. We pegged him as a third rounder because we expected him to drop, but all the way to the fifth was somewhat surprising. Pilon’s gaudy stats (52 points in 60 games) and puck-moving ability obviously weren’t enough to mask his marginal defensive-zone play and so-so postseason. Scouting reports on him seem to differ significantly, so count us in the camp who feels like he’s not reliable under pressure and avoids the physical aspect of the game. Once the book is out, opposing coaches will target him with regularity.

Name: AnDong Song
Position: Defenseman
Shoots: Left
Height/Weight: 6’0, 161 lbs
Born: January 31, 1997, Beijing, China
Central Scouting Rankings (Prelim/Mid/Final): NR/ NR/ NR
Summary: Hard to assess a kid who was on nobody’s radar for most of the season and played against significantly inferior competition. We view Song as a project two-way defenseman whose strengths lie in his ability to skate and create while playing a sound defensive game. Big concern in that he wilted against decent competition and showed an inability to handle faster, stronger forwards like the ones from Taft (CT) and Belmont Hill (MA) who terrorized him during a mid-season tournament. Playing for an unheralded school like Lawrenceville doesn’t provide us much of a gauge since the level of competition was generally below average (Wyoming Seminary?), so keep an eye on him next season when he suits up for Phillips-Andover in Massachusetts and possibly an NCAA team in 2017. To be fair, Song did play a significant leadership role on Lawrenceville’s underclassmen-heavy squad, but like everybody else, we feel this pick came from out of left field. And while we love the pick from a marketing/merchandising standpoint, we dislike it from a team-building standpoint, especially since it’s impossible to understand how the Islanders went through seven picks without drafting a single goaltender.

Name: Petter Hansson
Position: Defenseman
Shoots: Left
Height/Weight: 6’1, 187 lbs
Born: May 16, 1996, Gislaved, Sweden
Central Scouting Rankings (Prelim/Mid/Final): NR/ NR/ 46th Eur
Summary: Overage blueliner who began the season with Linkoping’s SHL club but was barely used (as in he never saw the ice) and eventually sent to the SuperElit, where he tied for tops among defensemen with 15 goals in 38 games. Hansson is a smooth-skating defenseman who makes a hard first pass and is always looking up ice to make a play. Unlike teammate (and 2015 first rounder) Gabriel Carlsson, however, his play in his own end is generally an adventure. He likes to take major risks with his breakout passes and doesn’t like to take a hit to move the puck safely. Decision-making is a big problem for Hansson, but he looks so good with the puck when he isn’t pressured that it’s worth a shot to teach him a thing or two about puck protection. The combination of size and skill was rampant among 2015 draft eligible defensemen, so keep that in mind when looking at  the gaudy stats and where he ended up getting picked. The Isles certainly like taking risks with their draft picks, so nabbing a shot in the dark like Hansson as a late seventh sounds about right.