CSS had Ekholm #113 among European skaters in 2009. They have 30 scouts total and work for the NHL itself. They're certainly not infallible and they can miss guys, but their coverage is generally pretty good. I can't find rankings for McKeen's, or McKenzie/TSN, Red Line Report, etc., as 2009 is too far back and most of what was published online is now gone.
As for the Rangers scouts, a number of them are pro scouts and most of the rest are North American scouts. For Europe we have Gajdosik, Hascak, Eloranta, Kjellberg and Lutchenko. It's pretty easy to guess what regions/countries those guys are primarily assigned to. Who do you think has the primary assignment of Sweden?
Whether or not you put any stock in the scouting services, it's unusual to draft a guy that was completely unranked by every service. I'm not saying it doesn't happen; it's just not common, even in the later rounds. You look at the guys drafted in the rest of the round after Kjellberg and they were all ranked, some pretty decently. Our guy wasn't. It's okay, though, maybe he works out. I don't know. Maybe Gajdosik flew into Sweden to catch some games and also liked Kjellberg and he really is just a prospect everyone missed (even though, again, CSS had him ranked then dropped him completely--so they knew him).
Could be. At the same time, if you have a staff member with an NHL pedigree, and his kid starts out on a pro career (and happens to have good size), you probably take a couple looks at him as a courtesy. The NHL is an Old Boys Club, after all. Now taking a look at the kid and drafting him just because of the relationship are two different things, which is why I'm not saying that's the reason the Rangers drafted him. The Rangers may have ended up scouting him when few else were because of the relationship, however. That wouldn't surprise me.
Also, I know a few people in response to any mention or implication of nepotism bring up Jack Drury. I can think of plenty of reasons why father, son, or both, would not want the team to draft the player. For instance if my dad was in Chris's shoes and I were in Jack's, I know for certain my dad wouldn't support drafting me--he'd want me to make it on my own and avoid any potential charges of "you're only doing XYZ because your dad works for the team"--and I wouldn't want to be drafted into the organization for the same reasons. I'd want to strike it out on my own. However, not everyone is like that. Some father/son tandems want to be associated like that. My point is that not drafting Jack Drury doesn't mean there wasn't an element of nepotism in the Kjellberg pick.
Anyway, I'm really done with the Kjellberg thing. I hope he works out, and is one of those "diamond in the rough" guys. I happen to believe the reason we scouted him was because his father is a scout assigned to the region/country in which he plays, and that also probably played a role in the draft selection when there were probably some other guys we also liked at that spot. But, whatever, it is what it is. C'est la vie.
