The 2016 NHL Draft is almost upon us.

The final push for draft eligible prospects ended when the London Knights won the Memorial Cup in Red Deer last week. And with that win, the scouting season was put to bed.

But not before some strong performances had scouts taking notice one last time.

The Knights, and the other three squads at the Memorial Cup, each had a handful of prospects that impressed, and none impressed more than London winger Matthew Tkachuk. Tkachuk turned his game up a notch even while playing on a badly sprained ankle. He was a key driving force behind London winning 17 games in a row unbeaten en route to both a J. Ross Robertson Cup and Memorial Cup titles.

He is firmly entrenched as our fifth best prospect in Future Considerations’ final ranking, but Tkachuk could easily be selected as high as fourth overall by the Edmonton Oilers. Chatter exists that he’s even in consideration to be selected third by the Columbus Blue Jackets, behind the consensus top picks of Auston Matthews and Patrik Laine.

The 2016 IIHF World Hockey Championship provided a head to head battle between those top two prospects, too.

Both more than acquitted themselves against the spattering of NHL stars present on each of the countries rosters and both no doubt will be high-end NHLers who are just chomping at the bit for the puck to drop next September when they will be in the NHL.

Another showdown, Laine and Jesse Puljujarvi, gave a great glimpse at what’s to come. Both battled in Liiga playoff action, and neither disappointed.

The final take is that the top end of this draft is seriously talented.

And, as it always does, draft day provides plenty of drama and intrigue.

2016 will be no different.

Enjoy the 2016 NHL Draft.

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