Brandon Wheat Kings forward Nolan Patrick remains in the No. 1 spot on NHL Central Scouting's rankings for the 2017 NHL Draft.

The NHL released its midterm draft rankings Wednesday, and the 6-foot-3, 198-pound pivot leads the pack of North American skaters. Patrick missed 35 games and the world juniors with an upper-body injury, but has scored six goals and 13 points in eight games since returning.

Here's a look at how the rest of the field plays out:

North American skaters

European skaters

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Fans aren't the only ones that awe at Erik Karlsson.

Upon visiting the St. Louis Blues on Tuesday night, opposing head coach Ken Hitchcock marveled at the swift blue-liner's skill set.

"He's a great skater but it's his anticipation that puts him ahead of everybody," Hitchcock told Bruce Garrioch of The Ottawa Citizen. "It's his reads, when to jump, when to go, when to attack. He just seems to be a step ahead mentally (of) most players playing that position."

The Ottawa Senators captain lived up to the praise, delivering what's become a standard one-assist, two-hit, five-block performance in 24:16 of ice time, a key cog in the 6-4 win.

Hitchcock went on to coin Karlsson's unique style of play with a special term.

"We consider him to be an offenseman and we consider him to be a guy that's dangerous when you have the puck," Hitchcock said. "If you have the puck, and you make a puck error and he's on the ice, he will make you pay for it every time. That's just what exceptional thinkers do."

He has a point. After all, not too many defensemen lead their teams in scoring three seasons in a row, and counting:

It's no wonder Karlsson has two Norris Trophies to his name.

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One more.

Henrik Sedin scored the only goal Tuesday between the Canucks and Nashville Predators, a bank shot off Pekka Rinne that eventually gave Vancouver a 1-0 decision.

The goal was the captain's 10th of the season, and brings him up to 999 career points. The exceptional Swede will look to make history Friday at home against the Florida Panthers.

Already the leading scorer in Canucks history, Henrik will be the first Vancouver player in history to record 1,000 points.

Twin brother Daniel will join him, but likely next season, as he's 33 points away, and producing at his lowest rate (0.56 points per game heading into Tuesday) since the 2002-2003 season.

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DENVER - Vinnie Hinostroza scored twice in the third period, including the go-ahead goal with 11:49 remaining, and the Chicago Blackhawks rallied for a 6-4 win over the Colorado Avalanche on Tuesday night.

Tanner Kero had two goals and Nick Schmaltz and Brent Seabrook also scored for Chicago, which snapped a two-game skid.

The Blackhawks switched around their line combinations, breaking up the Jonathan Toews-Marian Hossa tandem in an effort to spark the offense. It certainly worked with Hinostroza, Kero and Hossa combining for eight points. Hossa had three assists.

Matt Duchene had two goals and Blake Comeau and Matt Nieto also scored for the last-place Avalanche, who wrapped up a four-game homestand with a 1-3 mark. This game felt more like a road game, though, with all the Blackhawk fans in attendance.

The loudest cheer of the night came when Hinostroza scored the game-winner by tapping a shot past Semyon Varlamov.

Colorado pulled Varlamov with around 35 seconds remaining, but couldn't get anything past Corey Crawford. Kero added an empty-netter with 10.6 seconds left.

Hinostroza tied the game at 4 early in the third period when he took a long pass from Seabrook and skated in all alone, lifting a wrist shot over Varlamov.

The 22-year-old Hinostroza entered with four career goals.

There were a combined four goals scored in a frenzied second period, with Colorado taking a 3-2 lead on Nieto's first goal of the season. The advantage lasted all of 19 seconds as Kero answered.

On the play, Hossa had his first assist of the night to give him 600 for his career. He's the 32nd player in NHL history to record 500 goals and 600 assists.

In the first period, Duchene scored a rare power-play goal for the Avalanche. They were 2 of 41 on the man advantage over the last 11 games before Duchene tipped Nathan MacKinnon's shot past Crawford.

Given how far they're fallen, the Avalanche could soon be looking at a possible shake-up. Duchene, the team's leading goal scorer, captain Gabriel Landeskog and defenseman Tyson Barrie have been frequently mentioned in trade rumors. The trio are part of the core that general manager Joe Sakic has been trying to build around for the last few seasons.

''I believe in the guys we have in this room,'' Barrie said. ''It's about learning, but you can only say that for so long.

''It would be a lot of fun to win with these guys. I don't think we're too far off.''

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Mikael Backlund, Michael Frolik, and Matthew Tkachuk cannot be stopped.

The "Triple-M" line paced the Flames again Tuesday, with the first of Backlund's two goals in 12 seconds holding up as the winner in a 5-2 decision over the Florida Panthers.

The three forwards combined for two goals and five assists, and Backlund led the way with three points. The 27-year-old is at 14 goals through 47 games, only seven off his career high of 21. His 32 points are 15 back of the career-high 47 he registered last season.

Frolik had 32 points in 64 games last season, and he's now collected 27 points.

Tkachuk, meanwhile, is having a stellar rookie season, with 29 points in 43 games as a 19-year-old.

(Video courtesy: NHL.com)

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ST. LOUIS - Mike Hoffman and Mark Stone each scored twice to lead the Ottawa Senators over the St. Louis Blues 6-4 on Tuesday night.

Jean-Gabriel Pageau and Bobby Ryan also scored for the Senators, who won their fourth straight at Scottrade Center for the first time in team history. Mike Condon made 19 saves.

Paul Stastny, Kevin Shattenkirk, Alexander Steen and Patrik Berglund scored for the Blues, who had their two-game winning streak snapped. Carter Hutton made 18 saves.

Stone's third goal in four games at the 2:35 mark of the third period was the winner. Exactly a minute after Steen tied it, Stone stole Jaden Schwartz's pass to score his 14th goal of the season, giving the Senators a 4-3 lead.

Hoffman's goal at 13:53, his 14th of the season, gave the Senators insurance. Stone added an empty-netter.

Pageau scored his first goal in 15 games to give the Senators a 1-0 lead at the 3:03 mark of the first period.

It was the seventh consecutive time the Blues surrendered the first goal on home ice.

Stastny evened it with a power-play goal midway through the first. Stastny has seven points, including four goals, in his last seven games.

Hoffman regained the lead for the Senators with a power-play goal with 6:34 left in the second period. Hoffman scored his third goal in his last four games after Kyle Turris' shot went off Robert Bortuzzo and deflected right to his stick.

Ryan made it 3-1 Senators 85 seconds later. Hutton thought he had Ryan Dzingel's shot covered with his pad, but the whistle never blew and Ryan banged the rebound into the net.

It was Ryan's 18th goal and 32nd point in 25 career games against the Blues.

Shattenkirk scored with 46 seconds left in the second to cut Ottawa's lead to 3-2. Shattenkirk extended his points streak against the Senators to four games.

Steen scored the Blues' second power-play goal of the game to tie it 3-3 at the 1:35 mark of the third period.

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If the Colorado Avalanche are devoted to building around youth and speed, maybe don't trade Matt Duchene.

The 26-year-old not-so-young forward turned on the jets and scored an absolutely beautiful goal against Chicago.

Then again, with a bevy of scouts in attendance, maybe his trade value went up a level with this one.

The goal was Duchene's second of the game and 15th of the season.

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Some adversity for the Western Conference-best Minnesota Wild.

Bruce Boudreau's squad's 4-3 loss to the New Jersey Devils on Tuesday came at a hefty price. Defenseman Jonas Brodin played only 9:23, and it was announced after the game that he sustained a broken finger.

The extent of the damage and how long Brodin will be out will be known Wednesday. The 23-year-old went into the game averaging over 20 minutes of ice time and having registered 16 points, so his loss is a significant one.

Meanwhile, the Devils are rolling. They came back from down 2-0 and 3-2, and Beau Bennett scored the winner with slightly over two minutes to play.

New Jersey heads home happy after a four-game road trip, collecting seven points on three wins and an overtime loss through Western Canada and Saint Paul.

Cory Schneider was stellar as usual, stopping 32-of-35 shots. He kept his team in the game early, allowing only one goal on 15 shots by the Wild in the first period.

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