Aaron Ekblad, Sam Reinhart’s added time in the CHL a factor in Central Scouting shuffle

More viewing time increases the chance of growing accustomed to a player's pace.

The NHL draft gets covered like an election campaign, and politics is covered like a horse race. That is always going to colour public perceptions of how the best teenaged puck-chasers are handling the whole media maelstrom that is being packaged and paraded out as a top prospect. Just as in politics, the candidate know the most about is held to a stricter standard.

There are very good hockey reasons for Central Scouting's North American ranking, with the Kingston Frontenacs' Sam Bennett and Prince Albert Raiders' Leon Draisaitl leaping up to 1-2 ahead of the captains for Wednesday's CHL/NHL Top Prospects Game, Aaron Ekblad and Sam Reinhart. It reflects to certain extent that shapes up as a "middling draft," lacking a franchise player. There's a wider variance in opinion who's the top dog, with scouting services such as Hockey Prospect ranking Ekblad and Reinhart 1-2 with Bennett at a still very solid No. 5. It also reflects the effect of Ekblad and Reinhart each being third-year juniors.

"Everyone knows for two years that Sam Reinhart and Aaron Ekblad are two quality NHL prospects," NHL Central Scouting head Dan Marr says. "Over the year it's just evolved that there are four or five front-runners now. What went in [Sam Bennett's] favour is he does have that high skill game. He's a dynamic skater. He does have a competitive edge to where he can go out and where we feel he can be a game-changer. He can go out and be a warrior. That really impressed us.

"It’s a little unfair to Sam and Aaron, because they’ve been put on the pedestal since two years ago," Marr adds. "They’re both third-year players."

Reinhart played his first games with the Kootenay Ice in 2010-11, the same winter that word spread across the country about Ekblad applying to join the Ontario Hockey League as a 15-year-old. In '11-12, when Bennett was Connor McDavid's minor midget linemate, Reinhart had a sterling rookie year with the Ice while Ekblad was the top yearling in the OHL with gthe Colts. That cemented them as the frontrunners for this draft.

Bennett and the Oshawa Generals' Michael Dal Colle entered major junior a year later as 16-year-olds, at the same time Draisaitl joined P.A. as an import from Germany.

"It is what is it, you could rate me one, two or 10," Ekblad says. "The most important thing is winning games with your team in the CHL. If you have team success, individual success will follow after that."

In truth, nothing really changed on Monday. Reinhart is well-aware of the story arc of the 2013 draft and the months-long jockeying between Nathan MacKinnon and Seth Jones. They were posited as 1A and 1B. Jones helped Team USA win the world junior gold medal; MacKinnon was MVP when the Halifax Mooseheads beat Jones' Portland Winterhawks twice to win the Memorial Cup.

Ultimately, MacKinnon went No. 1 overall and Jones went No. 4 to the Nashville Predators. It's worked out well for each high-ceiling talent.

"The goal isn't to get drafted 1-2-3-4," the 18-year-old Reinhart says. "It’s to make the NHL next year and play first year eligible. I’m looking forward to that challenge.

"There’s a lot of hockey to be played and [the Top Prospects] is just one game. People are always going to point to what happened in that one game. It’s important to prove yourself and play well but at the end of the day what the scouts are looking for most is consistency. I’m hoping to keep that going."

It's important to know that while the world junior championship is a tentpole event on the hockey calendar, it's not a be-all, end-all for Central Scouting. Neither Ekblad nor Reinhart knocked the world junior championship off its axis while playing for fourth-place Team Canada. Ekblad did take on more minutes than Team Canada has given to any 17-year-old defenceman in recent memory. (Canada went with six D throughout much of the tournament; it carried eight in 2009 when it had a 17-year-old Ryan Ellis.)

Reinhart also drew penalty-killing chores even though he's an offensive player. Draistaitl had a rough time, struggling to lift a weak Team Germany while getting ejected from two games. Yet Draisaitl moved ahead.

"Leon for the good majority of the season everyone who's crossed over and scouted the west has said he's the best prospect in the Western Hockey League," Marr says of Draisaitl. "Scouts have learned from past deliberations that you don’t let one game or one event have too much sway over the big-picture evaluation of a player."

"There is such a fine line between all these players," Marr stresses. "I find it intriguing there's four or five front-runners."

It's part and parcel of needing to generate suspense. See Victor Hedman supposedly closing the gap on John Tavares in 2009. Or see Connor McDavid with Jack Eichel supposedly riding his bumper before the 2015 draft. Early exposure — and Canadian hockey politics, whose hype serves the CHL's interest — all ties into it.

The Top Prospects Game is good debate fodder. Ultimately, though, no one really loses this game. MacKinnon hardly seemed down about the outcome after the 2013 game in Halifax when he and Jonathan Drouin's team were shut out by Jones' side in front of their hometown crowd. MacKinnon was basking in the attention, if anything, offering a reminder just to be considered one of the world's top five junior hockey players is pretty grand.

"It’s meant to be a fun event," Ekblad says. "It’s meant to show what you can do out there and for you to prove that you deserve to be here"

In other words, the who's-No. 1 talk is a lot of ambient sound. It's about which NHL organization calls a player to the podium on the draft floor, not when it happens. That's the lesson of Seth Jones. It won't be lost on his fellow 6-foot-3 right-handed defenceman Ekblad or on Reinhart, a fellow Western League star with a late birthday.

"Draft day is one day – a special day, exciting for individuals and families," Reinhart says. "The most important thing is going to a team that wants you, and needs you."

Neate Sager is a writer for Yahoo! Canada Sports. Follow him on Twitter @neatebuzzthenet. Please address any questions, comments or concerns to btnblog@yahoo.ca.