Tkachuk humbled by No. 1 ranking on CSS list

Matthew Tkachuk, No. 1 on NHL Central Scouting's midterm rankings of North American skaters eligible for the 2016 NHL Draft, is in his first season with the London Knights of the Ontario Hockey League. The 6-foot-1, 195-pound left wing has 15 goals and 65 points in 34 games. He had 38 goals and 96 points in 65 games with USA Hockey's Under-18 National Team Development Program last season. The St. Louis native has offered to maintain a blog for NHL.com leading up to the 2016 NHL Draft in Buffalo, N.Y.

Happy New Year everyone!

The rankings for NHL Central Scouting is something that's kind of new to me and it's pretty special to be ranked No. 1 among North American skaters but hard work pays off. Like I've been saying this whole year, anything can happen. A ranking is just a number and I've always had the mindset that it doesn't really matter where you're ranked but what you've been doing during the year to get better and become more prepared to be ready at the NHL level. I think I've seen a big difference and I feel like I'm more prepared for the next step.

For me, you have to realize mentally that if you don't give 100 percent every shift at the next level you will be out of the League as quickly as you got there. My mindset is, every NHL player gives 110 percent and every really good NHL player gives it their all every shift. One of the things I've been working on this year is making sure that I'm first on every puck and winning every battle; those little things that will hopefully separate me at the next level.

It was nice to see Auston (Matthews) ranked No. 1 among the international skaters. We were both born in Scottsdale (Ariz.) but I really grew up in St. Louis my whole life. St. Louis wasn't really known as the hottest place to raise a hockey player when I was younger but now I feel like with the help of a lot of NHL players, there's been a lot more kids who have come through the system and moving on to play college, junior or NHL. Arizona did a great job with Auston too; the state is on the verge of producing a No. 1 overall pick and that's something very special.

Auston actually sent me a text even before I saw the list come out. He told me to go check and I went and looked. It was pretty cool to see the pictures and us side by side (on NHL.com).

I really like where we're at in London in the OHL. We split up a couple of lines so we have a few different scoring lines so it's really hard for other teams to match. I think it's hard for teams to shut down one line. We had a big (5-4) win at Kitchener on Tuesday and all four lines and our defense and goalie played well. I'm very happy with where we are as a team right now.

Thanks for reading. Until next time.

Follow Matthew Tkachuk on Twitter at: @TKACHUKycheese