2014 NHL Draft Rankings and Your New York Islanders

Just a handful of games left in the NHL regular season, which means for the sorry outsiders it's ... draft talk time!

Some of our readers and commentariat have already started the discussion, comparing the merits of various prospects projected at the top of this year's draft class (Nikolaj Ehlers here, Leon Draisaitl and Sam Reinhart there, plus a dash of Sam Bennett as needed.

But NHL Central Scouting kicked off another round with the release of its final pre-draft rankings.

Historically, NHL CS isn't the most accurate of the major rankings in terms of projecting who will go in what slot -- but then that's not really their charge. They rank players as they see and hear about them, and make no projections based on which team will view which player with favor.

So, with that in mind, for your perusal now and your looking back later, below is the NHL final ranking of the top 2014 Draft prospects (separated by North American and European, skaters and forwards):

And a bit on two prospects that might interest New York Islanders fans, based on their ranking and/or connection to a certain other Isles prospect:

"I would compare Reinhart to Adam Oates; he's a very cerebral player who takes what's given to him," Central Scouting's B.J. MacDonald said. "He probably has the highest hockey IQ of any player in this draft and he knows where to go with the puck, even before he even gets it."

Draisaitl finished in a fourth-place tie with Reinhart for the Western Hockey League scoring crown with 105 points (38 goals, 67 assists) in 64 regular-season games.

"What sets Draisaitl apart from other prospects is his ability to protect the puck. He's very Jaromir Jagr-like in that sense," MacDonald said. "He's got that same style. He'll connect with guys coming in late and hold onto that puck until the right play is there. He's got a great wrist shot and snap shot and has surprised a lot of goalies."

Have at it: