The final NHL Central Scouting rankings have landed, and the top five include three players from the college hockey ranks and a pair from Canadian major junior hockey. 

Boston University star and newly minted Hobey Baker Award winner Macklin Celebrini is rated No. 1 by the scouting service, which should come as no surprise after posting 32 goals and 64 points as a 17-year-old and leading the Terriers to the Frozen Four. 

Michigan State defenseman Arytom Levshunov and Denver defender Zeev Buium round out the college hockey trio. Levshunov totaled 35 points in 38 games for the Spartans last season, and Buium racked up 39 assists and 50 points for the national champion pioneers. 

The Canadian major junior products in the top five include Cayden Lindstrom of the Western Hockey League's Medicine Hat Tigers and Zayne Parekh of the Ontario Hockey League's Saginaw Spirit.

Lindstrom is a 6-foot-4, 216-pound forward who scored 28 goals and added 20 assists in 36 games for the Tigers. Parekh is a swift-footed and creative playmaking defenseman who recorded an outstanding 35 goals and 103 points in 73 OHL games for the Spirit. 

Including North American goaltenders, NHL Central Scouting lists 23 Minnesota natives among the top players on the continent. That set includes 12 forwards, eight defensemen, and three goaltenders. 

Leading the Minnesota pack is St. Cloud State commit Colin Ralph (No. 32), a Maple Grove native who's bounced around from the Omaha Hockey Club to CarShield AAA based in the St. Louis area to the Prep team at Shattuck-St. Mary's. This season, the 6-foot-4, 227-pound Ralph totaled 58 assists and 66 points for the 18U national champion Sabres.

Ralph is joined among the top Minnesota-born skaters by fellow Maple Grove native Will Zellers (No. 54), who racked up 54 goals and 111 points for Shattuck's Prep team. Zellers is verbally committed to North Dakota, where his father Kurt played football before launching a political career. 

Hermantown's Max Plante (No. 43) made the leap from high school hockey to the National Team Development Program and has played the last two seasons in Plymouth, Mich. Plante has 12 goals and 50 points in 43 games this season for the NTDP's U18 squad. 

A pair of Chaska-Chanhassen youth products polish off Minnesota's top-five skaters in defenseman Adam Kleber (No. 34) and forward Javon Moore (No. 47). Kleber left high school hockey after one season at Chaska and has played the last two years for Sioux Falls of the USHL. He's totaled five goals and 36 points in 121 USHL games.

Moore was named a Mr. Hockey finalist in 2024 after posting 26 goals and 53 points for Minnetonka High School. His junior rights are owned by the Stampede, and he is a verbal commit of the University of Minnesota. 
Both Plante and Kleber have verbally committed to Minnesota Duluth.

Two players with stints within Minnesota youth hockey but eventually moved on to other opportunities include Tanner Henricks and John Whipple.

Originally from California, Henricks is ranked No. 79 by NHLCS and played for the USHL's Lincoln Stars last season. Henricks skated in the Woodbury youth program before joining Shattuck-St. Mary's. Fellow defender John Whipple, a native of New Jersey,  played one season for the Minnetonka Bantam AA team before advancing to the NTDP U17s.

Minnesotan goaltenders listed by NHLCS include Caleb Heil (No. 23), AJ Reyelts (No. 28) and Kam Hendrickson (No. 32). Heil played with the USHL's Sioux Falls Stampede this season after multiple years in the Sioux Falls Power youth organization. Reyelts played last season for Proctor High School, and Hendrickson helmed Chanhassen to a runner-up finish at this year's Class AA State Tournament.