Colin Jacobs Ranked #10 in the WHL by NHL Central Scouting

It was announced this morning that the first edition of the NHL Central Scouting Rankings for the 2011 NHL Draft that will be taking place in Minnesota next summer, and as expected Colin Jacobs was expected to be among the top players, but I think he even surprised himself when he cracked the top 10 in the entire Western Hockey League as he is one of the fastest rising players in the WHL Right now.

Thanks to a very strong road trip out East that just wrapped up with him getting a 3 point night against the Prince Albert Raiders and a 2 goal game against the Regina Pats where he almost got his first WHL Hat trick.

In all he has become a point-a-game player as he scored 18 points in 19 games so far this season and at 6'1" 205 pounds, he's beginning to get more comfortable throwing his weight around and becoming more physical around the boards, also looking to time his shots as he is starting to get more chances to impress on the Power Play as he plays the point to get the puck to the net.

Earlier this week, Colin Jacobs was featured on the NHL Website as he is looking to be the first ever 1st Round Draft Pick from Texas. And be among the first group of players from the Southwest to play in the National Hockey League, as well as continue to prove that Texas can be a strong state to produce hockey talent like California has in recent years when Beau Bennett and Emerson Etem were selected in the first Round last year.

In addition to Jacobs being ranked #10 in the WHL, he has a chance to move up even more with his great play. Also if he can do well in the post-season plus be able to make events like the IIHF U18 World Championships, which is one of the biggest tournaments for NHL Draft Eligible players.

This will help him out even more when spring time comes out and when the Final Draft Rankings come out in April. Keep in mind that the Major Junior Playoffs start in Mid-March and will lead up to the Memorial Cup which will be in Late May in Mississauga, Ontario this season.

As for the U18 World Championship, this year's tournament will be from April 14-24 in Germany as the Americans will look to win Gold for the 3rd straight year at this age level.

This season is already a big improvement to last season as the Thunderbirds won just 19 games last season and finished 9th only ahead of the Prince George Cougars who was easily the worst team in the WHL and one of the was compared to teams like Halifax for worst overall in the entire Canadian Hockey Leagues.

Jacobs wasn't the only Thunderbird either to make the WHL Top 25 so far, two of his teammates in Wingers Luke Lockhart who's at #12 and Marcel Noebels at #13 in the Western Hockey League also made the first list of the season.

At this point, who knows where Jacobs will go. But if the Stars have a chance to grab him in the draft and they feel it's a good fit. They should go for it, not only because he's a high quality player, but a chance to add a 2nd strong Local Prospect along with Austin Smith that could play for his hometown Stars in the near future, and a chance for him to make a big name for himself here in the DFW Area.

The next big question for Jacobs is how will he handle the pressure of being looked by scouts from all over the National Hockey League for the rest of the season.

Can he get in a position to possibly play for Team USA at the U18's this spring, what about a big WHL Playoff Run or some great eye grabbing moments that can make highlight reels and make scouts pay attention, well see how he does the rest of the season.

So far one of the best moments of the season for Jacobs came on November 2 when he had his great backhand goal against the Red Deer Rebels to help the Thunderbirds help beat the Rebels 4-1 which includes the top WHL'er in this year's draft class is Ryan-Nugent Hopkins which has easily topped the WHL List as many experts are expecting him to battle with Sean Courtier of the Drummondville Voltigeurs (QMJHL) and Swedish Prospect Adam Larsson who plays for Skelleftea in the Swedish Elite League.

Click Here to see the Jacobs Backhand Goal against Red Deer on 11/2.

If your looking for the top players in the different leagues and European Rankings which are ranked by country. Here's the top's from the top 4 Junior Leagues in North America (OHL, WHL, QMJHL & USHL).

As for the top European Players, it is based from country, but I'm going to feature the top players from Sweden, Finland, Russia, Germany, Czech Republic, Slovakia and Switzerland. Theirs also a handful of players on here from places like Denmark and Norway as well.

Even these rankings will give us an idea of what to expect next summer in Minnesota. Theirs still a long way to go. Players can still get hurt, get traded or possibly come out of no where to rocket up their way to the charts.

A good example was Swiss Forward Nino Niederretier who had his coming out party at the World Juniors last season and rapidly climbed the charts to be a top 5 overall pick, and even got to play a handful of games with the New York Islanders before getting sent back to the Portland Winterhawks (WHL) to continue his development.

Because he plays in the WHL, he's not allowed to go to the AHL because of rules banning Junior Aged players not allowing them to play in the AHL until his Junior Years are up at age 20. If he were in the NCAA for instance, then he would be allowed to be at least in the AHL right now.

Want to read more on the NHL Central Scouting Rankings. Read the The Pipe Up Blog as the Pipeline Show's Guy Fleming discusses his Top 5 Suprises in the Rankings. Also don't forget to listen to the Pipeline Show tonight at 8-10 PM CST on The Pipeline Show as Guy Fleming and Dean Millard will talk more about the rankings.


Here's the top Players, click on the Players Name to see their Player Profiles

North American Leaders

Click here to see the full North American Rankings


Ontario Hockey League: http://www.ontariohockeyleague.com/

Top Skater: Gabriel Landeskog (Kitchener Rangers)

Top Goaltender: Jordan Binnington (Owen Sound Attack)


Western Hockey League:  http://www.whl.ca/

Top Skater: Ryan Nugent-Hopkins (Red Deer Rebels)

Top Goaltender: Liam Liston (Brandon Wheat Kings)

Colin Jacobs Ranked #10 in the WHL


Quebec Major Junior Hockey League: http://www.lhjmq.qc.ca/

Top Skater: Sean Couturier (Drummondville Voltigeurs)

Top Goaltender: Christopher Gibson (Chicoutimi Sagueneens)


United States Hockey League: http://www.ushl.com/

Top Skater: Tyler Biggs (USNTDP)

Top Goaltender: John Gibson (USNTDP)


Click Here to see the Full European Rankings

European Leaders


Czech Republic

Top Skater: Dmitri Jaskin (Slavia Prague JRS.)


Finland

Top Skater: Joel Armia (HC Assat Pori Oy)


Germany

Top Skater: Stephan Kronthaler  (Landshut JRS)


Russia

Top Skater: Maxim Shalunov (Chelyabinsk 2)


Slovakia

Top Skater: Peter Ceresnak  (Slovakia Nat U20 Team)


Sweden

Top Skater: Adam Larsson  (Skelleftea)


Switzerland

Top Skater: Dean Kukan (GCK Zurich)

Colin Jacobs Article on the NHL Website

With Colin Jacobs recently wrapping up a really successful road-trip through the East Division, Colin Jacobs is in a great position with a rapidly rising ranking and NHL Scouting really start to take him very seriously as he continues to go through the WHL Season with the Seattle Thunderbirds and getting ready for the 2011 NHL Draft that will take place next summer in the Twin Cities.

On the East Division Road Trip that just finished where they played 6 games in Saskatchewan and Manitoba. He was a big time producer where he had 2 goals and almost had a hat trick against the Regina Pats while he also had 3 point night against the Prince Albert Raiders.

For the season, he's already approaching his total from last season of 26 points (13G 13A), so far this season he is nearly a point a game player by scoring 18 points (8G 10A) in 19 games played so far this season.

One of his best moments took place back on November 2 when he scored an amazing backhanded goal against the Red Deer Rebels as the Thunderbirds beat a Red Deer Rebels Team which includes Ryan-Nugent Hopkins who's expected to be a major contender for the #1 overall pick at the NHL Draft next summer in Minnesota.

As the first NHL Central Scouting Rankings of the season are about to come out, he's expected to be one of the fastest risers from the Western Hockey League and right now many experts are expecting him to be an early-to-mid 2nd Round Pick with a strong chance to move up to the first round later in the season when the Mid-Season Rankings come out in January and the End-of-Season Rankings coming up in April.

Look for Jacobs to continue to get bigger-and-better as he goes through his Junior Career in Seattle with hopes of making his NHL Debut very very soon and looks to join the ranks of Austin Smith, Chris Brown and Matt Donovan of Southwest NHL Draft Picks.

When the 1st Draft Ranks come out, I will provide links and tell you how he's ranked both among the WHL and North American Skaters combined.

As for the Total Rankings, NHL Central Scouting divides into four parts. First it's the North American Skaters, then the North American Goaltenders, then the European Skaters for the players that are based in Europe. So somebody who is a European playing in North America like Nino Niederreiter from Switzerland
wouldn't be on that list. Finally the European Goaltenders which has the smallest of the four groups.

He would be the 4th Southwest Player to be taken in the NHL Draft joining Austin Smith, Chris Brown and Matt Donovan.

Of the three, Chris Brown was the highest of the draft picks he was selected in the 2nd Round (36th overall) from the USNTDP by the Phoenix Coyotes back in 2009. He's currently playing in his sophomore season at the University of Michigan and is a contender to possibly make Team USA for the 2011 World Junior Championships which starts on December 26 in Buffalo, New York.

Donovan was a 4th Round Selection (96th Overall) in the 2008 Draft from the Cedar Rapids Roughriders (USHL). Since then he helped the USA won Gold at last year's World Junior Championship in Saskatchewan and is now a sophomore at the University of Denver.

In addition to the World Junior Championship last season, he also produced 21 points in 36 games and was also named to the WCHA All Freshman Team

Austin Smith was a 5th Round Draft Pick (128th overall), now a junior at Colgate University (ECAC) he has been nearly a point a game player throughout his college career. Coming into this season, he had produced 72 points in 73 career games and is becoming more comfortable with his hitting ability while at Colgate and has always been a go to guy on the team.

Before he joined Colgate in 2008, he helped the Pentiction Vees win the 2008 BCHL Championship as he lead the team in goals that season with 32 and also had a playoffs that year when he scored 11 goals in the playoffs that year as the Vees were looking posied to have a shot at the 2008 RBC National Championship, but they hopes were dashed by the AJHL Champion Camrose Kodiaks that season in the Canadian Jr. A Pacific Region Championship.

In a Q&A I had when the season started, he told me that he felt close to making his professional debut (possibly with the Texas Stars [AHL]) and despite a dissappointing start by the team as the Raiders currently sit last in the ECAC, he's been off to another decent start by having 6 points in 8 games so far this season.

However, Colin Jacobs is looking to do something that no one from the Southwest has been able to do yet and that is crack the first Round of the Draft and that would make a bold statement about how far Southwest Hockey has come and would greatly improve his chances of making his NHL Debut in a much faster time frame, possibly before his Junior Eglibility were to run out in the next two seasons when were to reach his 20 year old season which would be in the 2012-2013 season.

If he were to be sent back to get more development past his NHL Draft Selection. It would half to be to the Seattle Thunderbirds and not the AHL Affliate of the team that drafted him because of a rule where Canadian Hockey League Players can't go into the AHL till they reach their 20th birthday. If he were in the NCAA like Smith, Brown and Donovan currently are, then the AHL Would be a possibility right now.

Seattle Thunderbirds Website

Western Hockey League Website

Colin Jacobs WHL Profile

Austin Smith Colgate Profile

Chris Brown Michigan Profile

Matt Donovan Denver Profile

Here's some parts of the Colin Jacobs Feature on the NHL Website.

"You can't teach that competitiveness and stuff and he had that instinctively. There's things he has to learn, but also those basic things that come with being a talented athlete, and a tough competitive kid. That's a good combination."

"He's a much stronger man this year so he wins every puck he goes after down low," Thunderbirds GM Russ Farewell told http://www.nhl.com/. That's what scouts like when they're watching. His vision is real good, he plays the point on the power play, he moves the puck around, he's got a real good shot. He's just learning when he can get it through. He's scoring with that consistently.

It's something he needed coming from the small pond of Dallas Midget Hockey to the Ocean Sized Western Hockey League (WHL).

"The Talent level isn't that big in Texas," Jacobs said. "It's getting there, but it's not like it is in the Canadian Towns. It was a big jump. Playing a few games as a 15 year old (in 2008-09) helped, I got my feet wet. It was a pretty big change going from playing 16 year olds to playing 20 year old men trying to make the National Hockey League."

A big part of that future was moving to Seattle. Jacobs said it wasn't an easy decision, but he picked the WHL over the NCAA and the US National Team Developmental Program for a pretty simple reason.

"I looked and saw there was quite a few more guys going to the NHL through the Canadian Hockey Leagues," he said. "At the time I thought the Western Hockey League was producing a bit. My goal is to make the National Hockey League and that's what I choose."

Here's the Full Colin Jacobs Article on the NHL Website 

Amazing Goal by Colin Jacobs on Tuesday Night

Earlier this week, Seattle Thunderbirds and Dallas Native Colin Jacobs showed why he's starting to gain NHL attention being a possible first round draft pick next summer in Minnesota.

He scored an amazing backhand goal in the 2nd period against the Red Deer Rebels which includes one of the top players in the class of 2011 in Ryan Nugent-Hopkins.

Here's the Goal which was featured on a NHL Draft Video Blog earlier this week.

Colin Jacobs Goal VS. the Red Deer Rebels