The 2024-25 National Hockey League season is officially underway and today, I decided to take a look at who I think are the top-50 drafted prospects heading into the new campaign, along with ten honourable mentions.
As I did last year, I won’t be ranking the prospects individually, instead, I’ll be putting them into different categories – A+, A, B & C. Each category represents what I think the prospect will end up being at their peak in the National Hockey League. (A+ = Franchise player, A = Star, B – Elite, C = Top-six F/Top-four D).
I’ve narrowed my list down from over 100 to 60 and it was certainly tough as I had to cut some prospects including Chicago Blackhawks 2023 first-rounder Oliver Moore, Winnipeg Jets 2023 first-rounder Colby Barlow, among others.
Before I jump into the 50 prospects and ten honourable mentions, I wanted to break down the criteria I used to choose these players. Firstly, they needed to be under the age of 25. They also had to have played less than 50 career games in the National Hockey League. For this ranking, I decided to only go with skaters (forwards & defenceman) rather than including goaltenders. I may potentially take a look at doing top-15/20 goaltending prospect ranking in the near future.
Without further ado, here is my prospect rankings/categories heading into the 2024-25 National Hockey League season!
A+: Macklin Celebrini (San Jose Sharks), Matvei Michkov (Philadelphia Flyers), Ivan Demidov (Montreal Canadiens).
A: Cutter Gauthier (Anaheim Ducks), Artyom Levshunov (Chicago Blackhawks), Alexander Nikishin (Carolina Hurricanes), Will Smith (San Jose Sharks), Logan Stankoven (Dallas Stars), Lane Hutson (Montreal Canadiens), Zeev Buium (Minnesota Wild), Sam Dickinson (San Jose Sharks).
B: Beckett Sennecke (Anaheim Ducks), Zach Benson (Buffalo Sabres), Konsta Helenius (Buffalo Sabres), Cayden Lindstrom (Columbus Blue Jackets), Zayne Parekh (Calgary Flames), Calum Ritchie (Colorado Avalanche), Mikhail Gulyayev (Colorado Avalanche), Simon Edvinsson (Detroit Red Wings), Michael Brandsegg-Nygard (Detroit Red Wings), Brandt Clarke (Los Angeles Kings), Danila Yurov (Minnesota Wild), Michael Hage (Montreal Canadiens), Seamus Casey (New Jersey Devils), Anton Silayev (New Jersey Devils), Cole Eiserman (New York Islanders), Rutger McGroarty (Pittsburgh Penguins), Shane Wright (Seattle Kraken), Jimmy Snuggerud (St. Louis Blues), Dalibor Dvorsky (St. Louis Blues), Easton Cowan (Toronto Maple Leafs), Tij Iginla (Utah Hockey Club), Dmitri Simashev (Utah Hockey Club), Jonathan Lekkerimaki (Vancouver Canucks), Tom Willander (Vancouver Canucks), Andrew Cristall (Washington Capitals), Brayden Yager (Winnipeg Jets).
C: Jiri Kulich (Buffalo Sabres), David Jiricek (Columbus Blue Jackets), Frank Nazar (Chicago Blackhawks), Matt Coronato (Calgary Flames), Mavrik Bourque (Dallas Stars), Axel Sandin-Pellikka (Detroit Red Wings), Tanner Molendyk (Nashville Predators), Berkly Catton (Seattle Kraken), Conor Geekie (Tampa Bay Lightning), Ryan Leonard (Washington Capitals), Matthew Savoie (Edmonton Oilers), David Reinbacher (Montreal Canadiens).
Honourable Mentions: Fabian Lysell (Boston Bruins), Gavin Brindley (Columbus Blue Jackets), Emil Hemming (Dallas Stars), Liam Greentree (Los Angeles Kings), Gabe Perreault (New York Rangers), Carter Yakemchuk (Ottawa Senators), Carson Rehkopf (Seattle Kraken), Trevor Connolly (Vegas Golden Knights), Ivan Miroshnichenko (Washington Capitals), Brad Lambert (Winnipeg Jets).
A number of these prospects are set to make their National Hockey League debuts this season and some may end up play prominent roles for their respective teams including Macklin Celebrini and Matvei Michkov.
Thanks to those who have been reading, I greatly appreciate it.
-Cooper.