NHL Draft Watch: Marner making strong case to be No. 3 with playoff performance

NHL Draft Watch is your guide to eligible players worth keeping an eye on leading up to June's draft.

Rising/Falling

Rising: Mitch Marner, C/RW, London (OHL)

Finishing second to Dylan Strome in OHL scoring doesn't appear to be sitting well with Mitch Marner.

Marner and Strome are widely expected to be the next two forwards off the board at the draft after Connor McDavid and Jack Eichel, but scouts have been at odds over which player is the better prospect. 

Strome's 129 points trumped Marner's 126 during the regular season, but Marner is making a statement in the opening round of the playoffs, with seven goals and 12 points in three games. It will be very difficult for the team picking third to overlook Marner if his prolific scoring carries the London Knights deep into the postseason.

Rising: Travis Konecny, C/RW, Ottawa (OHL)

Sitting second behind Marner in the OHL's playoff scoring race is another draft-eligible forward. Travis Konecny is building on a strong second half of the regular season with nine points in four postseason games, including a league-high seven assists.

Konecny has been scoring around 1.5 points per game since the beginning of January, helping the Ottawa 67's secure home-ice advantage in the opening round of the playoffs.

Konecny is listed below 5-foot-10 and 176 pounds and will likely need a bit of a growth spurt to translate his game to the professional level, but he has shown a physical edge to his game that should trump any concerns about his size. Just ask Filip Chlapik:

Rising: Daniel Sprong, RW, Charlottetown (QMJHL)

Daniel Sprong was considered a first-round prospect, but concerns about his work ethic knocked him out of top-30 consideration on International Scouting Services' monthly list.

Sprong, who hails from the Netherlands, appears to be doing everything he can to dispel those concerns while he still has a chance. The Charlottetown Islanders import ended the regular season with 10 goals and 21 points in nine March contests and has four goals and two assists after four playoff games. 

Charlottetown isn't expected to go far in the QMJHL playoffs, but Sprong's recent play should help his draft stock regardless of where the Islanders finish.

Spotlight

NHL scouts adding analytics to their toolbox

As the analytics movement gains more of a foothold in hockey, scouts are beginning to implement advanced stats when evaluating draft prospects.

Game data from junior leagues doesn't allow for the same level of depth in analysis as the NHL, but websites like CHLstats.com offer scouts and curious fans an opportunity to look beyond goals and assists and get a better picture of a player's impact on his team.

Central Scouting's David Gregory sees analytics as one of many ingredients that go into evaluating a prospect, but believes the numbers are only valuable if they are supplemented by traditional scouting methods.

"The eyeball test still has to be there, you still have to apply what analytics do," Gregory told Mike G. Morreale of NHL.com. "It could help you decide between one guy or the other, and I believe it is good for the game."

Not all scouts are convinced analytics will be helpful for junior players due to the lack of detailed information available. 

"Many of the junior leagues don't have access to full advanced statistics, so you're not getting all that," Central Scouting's Chris Edwards said. "I think people get wrapped up in these stats. The fact is the good players always have the puck, all the time."

Gregory is hopeful that junior leagues will improve their data collection in areas like puck possession, which would allow scouts to quantify what Edwards believes separates the top prospects from the pack.