Top Prospects

Player Notes

 

 

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Topi NiemelaCanada vs Finland (2019 World U-18s)4/18/2019Another good outlet pass through traffic.

 

Number of Players

Number of Notes

Number of Games Noted
1,460 9,458 325
Brian Fogarty Top Prospects By Team

Top Prospects: The NHL System Rankings

#9: Columbus Blue Jackets

 

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Number of Ranked Prospects: 30

Number of Forwards in the Top 50: 2

Number of Defensemen in the Top 50: 2

Average Rank of Top 10 Prospects in Pool: 51st

Top Forward Prospect in The System: Cayden Lindstrom (4th)

Top Defenseman Prospect in The System: Denton Mateychuk (10th)

System Score: 4.5

 

Jarmo Kekalainen was the general manager for 11 of the first 26 years of the Columbus Blue Jackets' existence, and ran the team for almost the entire period of time during which the prospects considered in the current ranking were acquired (save the 2024 draft overseen by current GM Don Waddell). Under Kekalainen's guidance, the Blue Jackets drafted multiple key NHL players including several selected after the first two rounds (including Oliver Bjorkstand 89th, Elvis Merzlinkins 76th, Vladislav Gavrikov 159th, Markus Nutivaara 189th). In the top rounds, they found key players such as Adam Fantilli, Kent Johnson, Yegor Chinakov, Kirill Marchenko and David Jiricek.

However, despite relative success in the draft, the Blue Jackets have struggled to translate player procurement into wins, and have made the playoffs only six times (five under Kekalainen). As such, Columbus has held a lot of lottery draft picks in recent years, and have built up a top-ten prospect system. 

Brian Fogarty Top Prospects By Team

Top Prospects: The NHL System Rankings

#10: Minnesota Wild

 

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Number of Ranked Prospects: 34

Number of Forwards in the Top 50: 2

Number of Defensemen in the Top 50: 2

Average Rank of Top 10 Prospects in Pool: 75th

Top Forward Prospect in The System: Danila Yurov (28th)

Top Defenseman Prospect in The System: Zeev Buium (4th)

System Score: 4.5

 

The Minnesota Wild have never won a Stanley Cup, nor have they even played in a Cup Final. In fact, since the 2015-2016 season, the Wild have either missed the playoffs entirely or lost in the first round of the playoffs. An amazing aspect of the Wild's history is that they often have solid teams that are difficult to play against, but they just fall short at crunch time. A sequence of quality coaches has not been able to get the Wild over the top, nor have the four general managers in team history (the current GM being Bill Guerin, who took over from Paul Fenton in August of 2019). Guerin, a storied NHL player in his own right, looks to have the NHL squad on the right track and he has been building a quality prospect system to support them.

Since 2018, the Wild have used nine first round picks and a further 17 second and third round picks. Despite having made one of the Hockey Prophets' least favorite first-round draft picks in 2018 (Minnesota selected Filip Johansson 24th overall, a player that Hockey Prophets had ranked at 62nd and who has yet to play in an NHL game) and took a gamble on drafting the enigmatic Charlie Stramel 21st overall in 2023, the Wild have had some solid success with their early-round picks. Full-time NHL players and burgeoning stars Matt Boldy (drafted 12th in 2019) and Marco Rossi (9th in 2020) are the headliners, but the team has also used multiple picks to stock a prospect pool with several top players including a top-five defender drafted last summer.

Brian Fogarty Top Prospects By Team

Top Prospects: The NHL System Rankings

#11: St Louis Blues

 

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Number of Ranked Prospects: 36

Number of Forwards in the Top 50: 2

Number of Defensemen in the Top 50: 1

Average Rank of Top 10 Prospects in Pool: 55th

Top Forward Prospect in The System: Dalibor Dvorsky (11th)

Top Defenseman Prospect in The System: Adam Jiricek (8th)

System Score: 4

 

The St Louis Blues retained only six first- or second-round draft picks during the five years from 2018-2022, and was able to extract only one true full-time NHLer with those six picks (Jake Neighbours, the forward drafted 26th overall in 2020). The team and long-time general manager Doug Armstrong was trying desperately to stay relevant as a Stanley Cup contender after their surprising run to the 2019 championship. However, by midway through the 2022 season all the signs of decay were too obvious to deny, and the team dived deep into rebuild mode. They traded NHL starters and started collecting draft picks, and by the end of the season they had three first-round picks in hand, and the team as a total has made six first- and second-round picks in just the last two seasons. With those picks the Blues were able to fortify their prospect pool with several high-quality young players to join some of their solid prospects already in the system. Two of those first-round picks allowed the Blues to grab two of the best hockey prospects--one forward and one defender--in the prospect world.

Brian Fogarty Top Prospects By Team

Top Prospects: The NHL System Rankings

#12: Philadelphia Flyers

 

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Number of Ranked Prospects: 33

Number of Forwards in the Top 50: 2

Number of Defensemen in the Top 50: 1

Average Rank of Top 10 Prospects in Pool: 95th

Top Forward Prospect in The System: Matvei Michkov (2nd)

Top Defenseman Prospect in The System: Oliver Bonk (15th)

System Score: 4

 

The Philadelphia Flyers are a team in transition. General Manager Daniel Briere took the reins of the organization in March of 2023, and has led the team through the last two NHL drafts. Prior to Briere's ascension, the drafting was led by Chuck Fletcher, who was in charge from 2018 through spring of 2023. Fletcher's draft record with the Flyers was less than stellar, and resulted in only a handful of players who have become NHL regulars, and only one player--goalie Samuel Ersson, drafted 127th overall in 2018--has been a NHL contributor from beyond the first two rounds of any of the Fletcher drafts. Joel Farabee (drafted 14th overall in 2018) and Cam York (drafted 14th in 2019) are mainstays in the Flyers lineup, and Tyson Foerster (23rd in 2020) and Bobby Brink (34th in 2019, and the only non-first rounder other than Ersson to make the regular lineup) have each played less than 100 NHL games but have recently become integral parts of the Flyers team. 

Some key misses were Jay O'Brien, drafted 19th in 2018 (Hockey Prophets had him ranked 42nd). He is currently signed to an AHL contract and set to start the season with the ECHL's Savannah Ghost Pirates. Also in 2018 the Flyers drafted defenseman Adam Ginning at 50th overall. Ginning has played 10 NHL games, while three other blueliners selected just after him (Sean Durzi, 52nd; Calen Addison, 53rd; Kevin Bahl, 55th) have all become NHL regulars. Most notably, Cutter Gauthier is a player the Flyers drafted 5th overall in 2022, but who made headlines by refusing to play for the Flyers and was eventually traded by Briere for Jamie Drysdale and a second-round pick in January 2024. 

In last couple of years under Briere's guidance, however, the Flyers seem to have done much better on draft day(s). Briere has made 17 draft picks in the last two seasons, so the system has depth in numbers, but it is the quality at the top of the pile that stands out and has the Philadelphia system close to the top ten in the league.

Brian Fogarty Top Prospects By Team

Top Prospects: The NHL System Rankings

#13: Winnipeg Jets

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Number of Ranked Prospects: 25

Number of Forwards in the Top 50: 3

Number of Defensemen in the Top 50: 2

Average Rank of Top 10 Prospects in Pool: 112th

Top Forward Prospect in The System: Colby Barlow (29th)

Top Defenseman Prospect in The System: Alfons Freij (43rd)

System Score: 4

 

If the success of an organization's drafting ability is measured by the NHL players they are able to find beyond the first two rounds of the NHL draft, then the Winnipeg Jets have been among the league's best since moving from Atlanta prior to the 2011 season. The list of mid- and late-draft NHL regulars that the Jets have found is long and sometimes illustrious, including: Adam Lowry (67th overall in 2011, 707 NHL games played), Connor Hellebuyck (130th in 2012, 509 NHL games) and Andrew Copp (104th in 2013, 649 NHL games). Of course, Winnipeg has found success in the first two rounds, as well. The Jets drafted Cole Perfetti 10th overall in 2020 and he has quickly become a productive regular in the Jets lineup with 79 points in 145 games over the last couple of seasons. The last couple of drafts have seen the Jets with fewer than normal picks, but they have had a string of first and second round selections--and a few from later rounds, as well--who are waiting for their chances to crack the big league lineup.