The 2023-24 National Hockey League season is right around the corner and I wanted to share my top-50 prospects drafted by teams.
To be included on the list, the following criteria needed to be met:
- Must not have played more than 25 games in the National Hockey League.
Instead of ranking the players from 1 to 50, I’ve decided to break it down into tiers – A++, A+, A, and B. The tiers are based on several factors, with the main one being how effective I think the player will be once they become a full-time NHLer. I’ve also decided to solely focus on skaters, which means there are no goalies on my list.
Let’s take a look at the 50 prospects I’ve highlighted on my list!
A++
- Connor Bedard (Chicago Blackhawks)
A+
- Leo Carlsson (Anaheim Ducks)
- Logan Cooley (Arizona Coyotes)
- Adam Fantilli (Columbus Blue Jackets)
- David Jiricek (Columbus Blue Jackets)
- Brandt Clarke (Los Angeles Kings)
- Luke Hughes (New Jersey Devils)
- Simon Nemec (New Jersey Devils)
- Matvei Michkov (Philadelphia Flyers)
- Will Smith (San Jose Sharks)
- Shane Wright (Seattle Kraken)
A
- Olen Zellweger (Anaheim Ducks)
- Dylan Guenther (Arizona Coyotes)
- Zach Benson (Buffalo Sabres)
- Matthew Savoie (Buffalo Sabres)
- Kevin Korchinski (Chciago Blackhawks)
- Lian Bichsel (Dallas Stars)
- Simon Edvinsson (Detroit Red Wings)
- Axel Sandin-Pellikka (Detroit Red Wings)
- Marco Rossi (Minnesota Wild)
- Lane Hutson (Montreal Canadiens)
- David Reinbacher (Montreal Canadiens)
- Joakim Kemell (Nashville Predators)
- Alexander Holtz (New Jersey Devils)
- Cutter Gauthier (Philadelphia Flyers)
- William Eklund (San Jose Sharks)
- Matthew Knies (Toronto Maple Leafs)
- Ivan Miroshnichenko (Washington Capitals)
B
- Pavel Mintyukov (Anaheim Ducks)
- Dmitry Simashev (Arizona Coyotes)
- Fabian Lysell (Boston Bruins)
- Matthew Coronato (Calgary Flames)
- Alexander Nikishin (Carolina Hurricanes)
- Oliver Moore (Chicago Blackhawks)
- Mavrik Bourque (Dallas Stars)
- Marco Kasper (Detroit Red Wings)
- Danila Yurov (Minnesota Wild)
- Arseni Gritsyuk (New Jersey Devils)
- Gabe Perreault (New York Rangers)
- Owen Pickering (Pittsburgh Penguins)
- Quinten Musty (San Jose Sharks)
- Eduard Sale (Seattle Kraken)
- Dalibor Dvorsky (St. Louis Blues)
- Topi Niemela (Toronto Maple Leafs)
- Tom Willander (Vancouver Canucks)
- Aatu Raty (Vancouver Canucks)
- Jonathan Lekkerimaki (Vancouver Canucks)
- Ryan Leonard (Washington Capitals)
- Andrew Cristall (Washington Capitals)
- Brad Lambert (Winnipeg Jets)
When I initially started the process of listing the 50-best NHL drafted prospects, I had over 80 names highlighted, all of whom were worthy of being on this list. There were several I went back and forth on if I should have included them or not, including Owen Beck (Montreal), Chaz Lucius (Winnipeg), Brendan Brisson (Vegas) and Brennan Othmann (New York Rangers), among others. This list may have been the toughest one I’ve done yet, but I’m confident and happy with the 50 that I have mentioned.
With the 2023-24 National Hockey League season approaching, I’m hoping to be posting on here, with a season preview article coming either Sunday or Monday! Until then, Happy Thanksgiving and thank you to all those of have continued to read, I really appreciate it.
-Cooper.