225 picks. From 0 to 1,200 ProdigyPoints in 24 hours.
The USHL Phase I (Futures) Draft happened yesterday — 16 teams selected 225 fifteen-year-olds (the 2010 cohort). Every one of them entered our database with F19 Draft Points = 0. By tonight's rebuild, all 225 will sit somewhere between 603 and 1,200 — joining the elite tier of our ranking algorithm overnight.
Defenseman Evan Miller (Chicago Mission 15U AAA → Waterloo Black Hawks) went #1 overall and tops the list at 1,200 ProdigyPoints. Seven of the top ten picks were defenders — an unusual scout-philosophy signal worth watching.
Published 2026-05-05~6 min read225 / 225 picks tracked
F19 (Draft Points) credits players for being selected in major junior or top-tier US junior drafts. The scoring is tier-based:
Round 1 = Elite tier (top 5%, 1,150–1,200 points)
Rounds 2–4 = High tier (top 20%)
Rounds 5–8 = Mid-High tier
Rounds 9–12 = Middle tier
Round 13+ = Late tier
Within each tier, points scale linearly with pick number. USHL is anchored ~100 points below CHL (OHL/WHL/QMJHL) reflecting league strength. Result: Pick #1 in the USHL ≈ Pick #15 in the CHL Bantam Draft, by our model.
Top 25 risers
The Round 1 oddity
Round 1 had only 4 picks this year (vs. 16 expected). Twelve teams either passed, forfeited, or had picks rolled into Round 2. The mystery is the topic of our Wednesday breakdown.
The international flavor
225 players were drafted across 12 nationalities: USA (188), Czechia (13), Canada (9), Slovakia (6), Kazakhstan (2), Switzerland (1), South Korea (1), Sweden (1), Russia (1), Bosnia (1), Estonia (1), Latvia (1).
Of note: 13 Czech players were taken — a record-tier number suggesting the Czech development pipeline is producing a generation of NA-bound talent. Plus single picks from Bosnia, Estonia, South Korea — the kind of edge of map content that defines what makes the Phase I draft interesting.
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16 team draft classes — all 225 picks, sorted by team, with F19 scores
The international callout — every non-USA pick, country and pick number
The 2010 cohort baseline — methodology caveats and what this means for the U17 World pipeline
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By drafting team
16 teams. 225 picks. Tri-City Storm went deepest with 17 selections; Sioux City Musketeers had the leanest at 13. Top pick by team is the lead-in for each block below.
Waterloo Black Hawks 15 PICKSTOP @ #1
15,442 total ProdigyPoints across 15 2010-born selections.
The Round 1 mystery. Why 12 teams passed on Round 1 picks is not visible in our data. We're publishing a separate breakdown Wednesday.
Late-bloomer bias. Players drafted in Rounds 13+ get the lowest tier, but the bottom of every Phase I draft has produced future stars. F19 is a credentialing signal, not a prediction.
League anchor calibration. Our USHL anchor is set ~100 points below CHL. Reasonable people can disagree on the exact gap.
Pre-draft form. A player's pre-draft games and stats live in F15 (league points), F11 (visibility), F14 (achievements). F19 is the credentialing layer; the rest of the model still applies.
What's next
This is Day 1 of a 5-day series covering both the IIHF U18 World Championship and the USHL Phase I Draft. Tomorrow: The 138 new F17 cap-hitters — what the international ceiling means for scouts. Subscribers get every report first.
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