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Opening "The '15 File:" The Hot List

With less than three weeks to go until the 2015 NHL Entry Draft, here's our fourth annual listing of the draft-eligible players -- foreign and domestic -- that have caught the attention of your "Game Time" Prospect Department this year.

By Tomorrows Blues

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In this edition of "Opening The '15 File," your "Game Time" Prospect Department presents, once again, our annual listing of the draft-eligible players that we feel are most likely to be targeted by the Blues at the upcoming NHL Entry Draft.

To view the entire list, click on the "View Full-Size Workbook" icon (bottom right-hand corner, inside the grey bar). The file will open at Line 80, the first line of the Goaltenders listing, because try as we might, we cannot get this file to open anywhere else (like at the top of the file, where it should). So once you are in Microsoft OneDrive, simply scroll up to the top line.

You might notice that the birthplaces of a few players are highlighted in grey. Those are the players who, like "Effingham's Own" Luke Opilka, were born in the St. Louis area.

In addition to Opilka, currently a goaltender with the USNTDP in Ann Arbor and bound for Wisconsin in the fall, there are three other St. Louis area natives whom we feel have a fair shot at being selected by the Blues in the draft.

The first of these is defenseman Chris Martenet, a teammate of 2014 draftee C.J. Yakimowicz with the Ontario League's London Knights. At. 6' 7 and just under 200 pounds, Martenet is a big kid, but not necessarily a big scorer (just seven goals and 16 points in the regular season, and no points in ten playoff games).

Martenet came up through the Shattuck St. Mary's Midget AA program in Minnesota, and played alongside 2012 draftee Sam Kurker with the Indiana Ice of the USHL in 2013-14 before jumping to the OHL for this season. The big defenseman is ranked 81st in North America by Central Scouting for this draft.

There are also two big right wings on our list, one hailing from St. Louis proper and the other from the right side of the river in Collinsville. Both played in the USHL this past season, and are not ranked in Central Scouting's Final rankings, so they're considered long shots for selection this year.

Jake Henderson is a 6' 2, 210-pound bruiser with the Omaha Lancers, and is committed to the National Champion Providence College Friars for next season, where he will be a teammate of 2014 draftee Jake Walman. Henderson is a veteran of the St. Louis Jr. Blues AAA midget program, and has played the last two seasons with Omaha.

Collinsville native Zach Jordan started his USHL career with Omaha in 2013-14 along with Henderson, but was traded to the Des Moines Buccaneers midway through this past season. Jordan is even bigger than Henderson at 6' 3, 215 pounds, and is committed to attend Michigan Tech University in the fall.