Central Scouting Preliminary Ratings Are Out

Central Scouting has released its preliminary ratings, which you can see here. The USHL and NCAA guys are near the bottom (no surprise there), but a few notes:

• Three U-18’s and two Dubuque Fighting Saints make up the top five USHL guys. Jacob Trouba, a Michigan commit, is #1, which is no shock. Zemgus Girgensons, who is getting some plaudits as being perhaps the first guy from the USHL who will be taken next summer. Michael Matheson (Boston College), Stefan Matteau (North Dakota) and Brady Skjei (Minnesota) round out the top 5.
• Jordan Schmaltz and Nic Kerdiles, two guys I would have thought would be ranked higher at the start of this year (and in fairness could very well be when it matters) are the next two guys.
• Riley Barber (Miami) is the 25th guy in the USHL top 25, which, given all I had heard about him, surprises me a bit. Perhaps he is a better college prospect than he is a draft prospect, which I doubt Miami fans will have too much trouble with.
• As for the guys currently playing college hockey, two of them were given A ratings: Phil Di Giuseppe of Michigan and Jake McCabe of Wisconsin. Di Giuseppe looks to have turned himself into a first round pick so the A is no surprise there.
• Cornell’s Joakim Ryan, a Swedish import, has 3 goals and 2 assists in his first 5 collegiate games and has been given a B rating. Looks like he could end up being a bit of a Draft steal.