Last year, 28 players from CHL clubs were taken in the NHL Entry Draft. This season, the list of top-ranked Europeans is dominated by CHL players. Most of them are Swedish and Finnish, but there are also several other players of interest.

by Derek O'Brien

It's once again time for the annual NHL Entry Draft, where the best young hockey players in the world get selected by the various NHL clubs. These players come from almost exclusively from North America or Europe, with the number of European players drafted always growing. As many of the top European clubs are members of the Champions Hockey League, many of the players drafted this year will come from one of those 48 clubs. In fact, of the top 120 draft-eligible players from European clubs, 49 are from CHL clubs, including all of the top six (see below). 

Last year, 28 players were chosen from clubs that participated in the 2014–15 edition of the CHL. Three were taken in the first round – Kevin Fiala of HV71 Jonkoping, Jakub Vrana of Linkoping HC and Kasperi Kapanen of KalPa Kuopio – with Fiala and Vrana both contributing in the CHL. Eight players were drafted from eventual runners up Frolunda Gothenburg, four of whom contributed to the club's CHL effort and one – right winger Anton Karlsson – who ended up playing for Skelleftea AIK last season in the CHL and SHL. Karlsson is now back with Frolunda for the upcoming season.

Perhaps the most successful of last year's draft picks was centre Lucas Wallmark of Lulea Hockey, who won the title with the northern Swedish club. Drafted 97th overall by the Carolina Hurricanes, Wallmark had 11 points in 13 games for Lulea, and has been invited to Carolina's training camp this  season.

A strong challenge to that claim, however, could come from IFK Helsinki goalie Ville Huuso, who was drafted three places ahead of Wallmark at 94th by the St. Louis Blues. Huuso played in all 10 of his club's CHL games, helping them reach the quarter-finals.

It's worth noting that 26 of the 28 players taken last year were from Swedish or Finnish clubs – the two exceptions being right winger Noah Rod of Geneve-Servette and goalie Vitek Vanecek of Bili Tygri Liberec, who dressed as a backup for the White Tigers but didn't enter a CHL game. 

This year, Swedes and Finns are again expected to lead the charge, but we'll probably also see some others as players from clubs in the Czech Republic, Switzerland, Slovakia and Germany are ranked highly entering the draft. 

The top-ranked European-based player is TPS Turku right winger Mikko Rantanen, who scored two goals in his club's CHL effort. Following him is Gabriel Carlsson of Linkoping HC. Called up from junior late in the season, Carlsson missed the CHL, but we'll likely see him in the upcoming year.  

After last year's eight-player winfall, Frolunda only has one player ranked for this year but it's a good one – defenceman Jacob Larsson. Last season Larson played five CHL games, but with several of the club's top teams trying out for the NHL this season, expect him to play a more prominent role in this season's campaign. 

Farjestad Karlstad has two of the top six-ranked European skaters – centre Joel Ek Eriksson and defenceman Oliver Kylington. Kylington's ranking was higher heading into last season but missed much of the season due to injury, including the World Junior Championship. 

They're sandwiched around the top-ranked Czech – centre Michael Spacek of Dynamo Pardubice, who suited up for 3 CHL games. Other decently-ranked Czechs are Ocelari Trinec right-winger Lukas Jasek and 20-year-old Vitkovice Ostrava defenceman Lukas Klok.

The top-ranked player from a Swiss club is defenceman Jonas Siegenthaler of ZSC Lions Zurich, who played in 4 CHL contests. Teammate Denis Malgin could also be picked. The centre split the season between ZSC and their B-team, GCK, but was with the A-team in the playoffs and played in 1 CHL game.

HC Kosice could have a couple of players selected – defenceman Erik Cernak and right-winger Radovan Bondra, a distant relative of former Kosice and NHL start Peter Bondra. 

As for German clubs, top-ranked is Adler Mannheim left-winger Julian Napravnik, 77th among European skaters, while an interesting player to watch in Dominik Kahun, who played last season for Red Bull Munich but the club wasn't in the CHL. This upcoming season, European fans will get a look at the 19-year-old for sure.

There's also one player from a Norwegian club ranked. Stavanger Oilers left-winger Rudolfs Balcers, a Latvian who played 4 CHL games last year, is ranked 80th. 

Of note, the two Sebastian Ahos, the 19-year-old Swedish defenceman and the 18-year-old Finnish centre, are both eligible. These two players seem to cross paths at many international competitions and both played last year's CHL semi-finals for Skelleftea and Karpat Oulu, respectively. 

As mentioned earlier, CHL champions Lulea had one player taken last year and have another that could be chosen this year – defenceman Christian Jaros. Jaros wasn't even on the radar at the start of last season but played himself from junior into a prominent role on Lulea's blueline and made his Slovak national team debut. 

Among goalies, Liberec could have one taken for the second year in a row – Ales Stezka is ranked highest among draft-eligible goaltenders based in Europe.

The draft takes place Saturday European time, starting at 1:00 AM CET. Listed below is all of the players from CHL clubs ranked by International Scouting Services for this year's draft. Rank numbers are out of players from European clubs only.

Remember, we're likely to see most of these players in the CHL next season, even if they get drafted.