No. 6 is 6-foot-3, 203-pound London Knight defenceman
Sam Dickinson. A marvelous skater and puck mover, Dickinson was ranked
as high as No. 5 and as low as No. 16,
but eight of 10 scouts had him in their Top 10.
No. 7 is Denver University’s
Zeev Buium. The highly skilled 6-foot, 186-pound Pioneer rearguard was ranked
as high as No. 6 and
no lower than No. 11, with nine of 10 scouts slotting him in their Top 10.
No. 8 is Parekh, the Spirit’s dynamic offensive defenceman who was ranked
as high as No. 3 and as low as No. 13,
with seven of 10 scouts placing him in their Top 10; two of them putting him in their Top 5.
By the time you distill all those numbers,
the differences between the trio of Dickinson, Buium and Parekh are minimal. Levshunov and Silayev appear to be in a consensus tier just above the other three, but there are varying degrees of crossover with that group of five blue-chippers.
There’s actually a sixth consideration, too. That would be TSN’s No. 13-ranked
Carter Yakemchuk, the big 6-foot-3, 30-goal man from the Calgary Hitmen. He warrants inclusion in the same universe as the others. He was ranked
as high as No. 4 on one list and as low as No. 20 on another, with four scouts having him in their Top 10.