NHL teams, for the most part, have plenty of depth within their prospect pools, and some include high-calibre players who will make an impact on their roster some day. Today, I’ve decided to compile a list of who I think the top 30 NHL drafted prospects are. I have also included five honorable mentions.
Many sources have different criteria on what a prospect is. For my list, there were two rules, which are:
- The player must have not played anymore than 24 games in one NHL season.
- The player must have not played anymore than 49 games in the NHL.
Let’s dive right into the list. I have included 19 forwards, 8 defencemen, and 3 goaltenders.
| # | Player | Age | Position | Country | Team (Draft) |
| 1 | Kirill Kaprizov | 23 | Left Wing | Russia | Minnesota Wild (2015, 5th round, 135th overall) |
| 2 | Alexis Lafreniere | 19 | Left Wing | Canada | New York Rangers (2020, 1st round, 1st overall) |
| 3 | Trevor Zegras | 19 | Center | United States | Anaheim Ducks (2019, 1st round, 9th overall) |
| 4 | Bowen Byram | 19 | Defenceman | Canada | Colorado Avalanche (2019, 1st round, 4th overall) |
| 5 | Alexander Romanov | 21 | Defenceman | Russia | Montreal Canadiens (2018, 2nd round, 38th overall) |
| 6 | Alex Turcotte | 19 | Center | United States | Los Angeles Kings (2019, 1st round, 5th overall) |
| 7 | Dylan Cozens | 19 | Center | Canada | Buffalo Sabres (2019, 1st round, 7th overall) |
| 8 | Tim Stuetzle | 18 | Center/Left Wing | Germany | Ottawa Senators (2020, 1st round, 3rd overall) |
| 9 | Quinton Byfield | 18 | Center | Canada | Los Angeles Kings (2020, 1st round, 2nd overall) |
| 10 | Moritz Seider | 19 | Defenceman | Germany | Detroit Red Wings (2019, 1st round, 6th overall) |
| 11 | Jamie Drysdale | 19 | Defenceman | Canada | Anaheim Ducks (2020, 1st round, 6th overall) |
| 12 | Cole Caufield | 20 | Right Wing | United States | Montreal Canadiens (2019, 1st round, 15th overall) |
| 13 | Barrett Hayton | 20 | Center | Canada | Arizona Coyotes (2018, 1st round, 5th overall) |
| 14 | Yaroslav Askarov | 18 | Goaltender | Russia | Nashville Predators (2020, 1st round, 11th overall) |
| 15 | Vasili Podkolzin | 19 | Right Wing | Russia | Vancouver Canucks (2019, 1st round, 10th overall) |
| 16 | Connor McMichael | 19 | Center | Canada | Washington Capitals (2019, 1st round, 25th overall) |
| 17 | Alex Newhook | 19 | Center | Canada | Colorado Avalanche (2019, 1st round, 16th overall) |
| 18 | Nick Robertson | 19 | Left Wing | United States | Toronto Maple Leafs (2019, 2nd round, 53rd overall) |
| 19 | Igor Shesterkin | 25 | Goaltender | Russia | New York Rangers (2014, 4th round, 118th overall) |
| 20 | Ty Smith | 20 | Defenceman | Canada | New Jersey Devils (2018, 1st round, 17th overall) |
| 21 | Anton Lundell | 19 | Center | Finland | Florida Panthers (2020, 1st round, 12th overall) |
| 22 | Philip Broberg | 19 | Defenceman | Sweden | Edmonton Oilers (2019, 1st round, 8th overall) |
| 23 | Victor Soderstrom | 19 | Defenceman | Sweden | Arizona Coyotes (2019, 1st round, 11th overall) |
| 24 | Nils Hoglander | 20 | Left Wing | Sweden | Vancouver Canucks (2019, 2nd round, 40th overall) |
| 25 | K’Andre Miller | 20 | Defenceman | United States | New York Rangers (2018, 1st round, 22nd overall) |
| 26 | Ilya Sorokin | 25 | Goaltender | Russia | New York Islanders (2014, 3rd round, 78th overall) |
| 27 | Grigori Denisenko | 20 | Left Wing | Russia | Florida Panthers (2018, 1st round, 15th overall) |
| 28 | Kristian Vesalainen | 21 | Left Wing | Finland | Winnipeg Jets (2017, 1st round, 24th overall) |
| 29 | Marco Rossi | 19 | Center | Austria | Minnesota Wild (2020, 1st round, 9th overall) |
| 30 | Arthur Kaliyev | 19 | Left Wing | United States | Los Angeles Kings (2019, 2nd round, 33rd overall) |
| HM | Aleksi Heponiemi | 21 | Left Wing | Finland | Florida Panthers (2017, 2nd round, 40th overall) |
| HM | Vitali Kravtsov | 21 | Right Wing | Russia | New York Rangers (2018, 1st round, 9th overall) |
| HM | Lukas Dostal | 20 | Goaltender | Czech Republic | Anaheim Ducks (2018, 3rd round, 85th overall) |
| HM | Jake Sanderson | 18 | Defenceman | United States | Ottawa Senators (2020, 1st round, 5th overall) |
| HM | Isac Lundestrom | 21 | Center | Sweden | Anaheim Ducks (2018, 1st round, 23rd overall) |
Every six months I’m going to do an updated top 30 NHL prospects list. Thanks to everyone who’s been reading my blogs.
-Cooper.