Top Prospects: The Defensemen
Fall 2025
The 2025-2026 season should see an outstanding class of rookie NHL defensemen, with all of the top five in this iteration of the Hockey Prophets' top defensemen prospects likely to see full-time NHL action. The league's top 2025 draft pick Matthew Schaefer will almost certainly get a chance to crack the New York Islanders roster coming out of camp, and the next three--Levshunov, Parekh and Zeev Buium--all had seen ice time at the end of last season. Throw in San Jose's Sam Dickinson and Montreal's David Reinbacher, and the influx of top-tiered blueliner talent is obvious.
See Also Top Prospects: The Forwards
Rank Name Position Age Height Weight Draft Selection Pre-Draft Ranking A/P Score Comment 1 Schaefer, Matthew Defenseman 18 6'2 186 1 1 -4.24 2 Levshunov, Artyom Defenseman 20 6'1 205 2 6 -2.84 3 Parekh, Zayne Defenseman 20 6'0 170 9 4 -4.29 4 Buium, Zeev Defenseman 20 6'0 186 12 5 -4.30 5 Dickinson, Sam Defenseman 19 6'2 203 11 9 -2.76 6 Yakemchuk, Carter Defenseman 20 6'3 202 7 17 -2.50 7 Silayev, Anton Defenseman 19 6'7 207 10 10 -0.52 8 Reinbacher, David Defenseman 21 6'2 194 5 11 -0.90 9 Smith, Jackson Defenseman 18 6'4 199 14 9 -1.75 10 Sandin Pellikka, Axel Defenseman 21 5'11 185 17 14 -2.03 11 Aitcheson, Kashawn Defenseman 19 6'1 199 17 15 -1.86 12 Mrtka, Radim Defenseman 18 6'5 218 9 17 -1.88 13 Hutson, Cole Defenseman 19 5'10 159 43 29 -2.35 14 Hensler, Logan Defenseman 19 6'2 198 23 32 -0.06 15 Reid, Cameron Defenseman 19 6'0 183 21 19 -1.74 16 Simashev, Dmitri Defenseman 21 6'5 203 6 31 0.47 17 Mews, Henry Defenseman 20 6'0 189 74 28 -2.23 18 Willander, Tom Defenseman 21 6'1 180 11 33 -0.35 19 Boumedienne, Sascha Defenseman 19 6'1 184 28 35 -0.05 20 Dragicevic, Lukas Defenseman 20 6'2 196 57 18 -2.98 21 Bonk, Oliver Defenseman 21 6'2 179 22 36 -0.73 22 Marrelli, Luca Defenseman 20 6'1 185 86 27 -1.59 23 Brzustewicz, Henry Defenseman 19 6'2 194 31 22 -0.91 24 Fiddler, Blake Defenseman 18 6'4 220 36 24 -0.72 25 Rombach, Jacob Defenseman 19 6'6 209 35 40 0.29 26 Gill, Spencer Defenseman 19 6'3 186 59 32 -1.57 27 Molendyk, Tanner Defenseman 21 6'0 181 24 41 -0.64 28 Solberg, Stian Defenseman 20 6'1 205 23 55 0.05 29 Morin, Etienne Defenseman 21 6'0 180 48 33 -2.78 30 Freij, Alfons Defenseman 20 6'0 197 37 30 -0.93 31 Amico, Carter Defenseman 19 6'5 232 38 59 0.73 32 Gulyayev, Mikhail Defenseman 20 5'11 183 31 23 -2.21 33 Rinzel, Sam Defenseman 21 6'4 190 25 59 -0.11 34 Kettles, Peyton Defenseman 18 6'5 195 39 54 0.22 35 Wang, Haoxi Defenseman 18 6'5 222 33 85 1.10 36 Pickford, Bryce Defenseman 20 6'0 183 81 50 -1.79 37 Psenicka, Max Defenseman 19 6'5 185 46 46 0.39 38 Mailloux, Logan Defenseman 22 6'3 214 31 78 0.10 39 Lamoureux, Maveric Defenseman 22 6'7 214 29 53 -0.11 40 Smith, Tarin Defenseman 20 6'1 187 79 51 -1.10 41 Bertucci, Tristan Defenseman 20 6'2 179 61 37 -1.86 42 Duda, Artyom Defenseman 22 6'1 187 36 43 -1.04 43 Pickering, Owen Defenseman 22 6'5 185 21 24 -0.50 44 Morrow, Scott Defenseman 23 6'2 190 40 77 0.16 45 Sahlin Wallenius, Leo Defenseman 20 6'0 180 53 46 -1.51 46 Danford, Ben Defenseman 20 6'1 191 31 75 -0.45 47 Jiricek, Adam Defenseman 19 6'2 176 16 58 0.80 48 Akey, Beau Defenseman 21 6'0 175 56 32 -1.26 49 Brzustewicz, Hunter Defenseman 21 6'0 190 75 39 -1.64 50 Limatov, Kurban Defenseman 19 6'3 198 67 31 -0.06