Catch up on deep dives, strengths and weaknesses, draft summaries and more on every NHL team's prospect pools, courtesy of prospect expert Tony Ferrari.
The NHL prospect pool overview series is one of my favorite projects every single year.
It allows me a chance to sit down, review every team’s draft class, refresh myself on prospects throughout the NHL, see where they’ve developed and get a sense of what every team has in the pipeline.
It’s an exhaustive and detailed journey through every team’s prospect pool, covering all of the system's top prospects, the 2024 NHL draft class, strengths, weaknesses, and the pipeline's depth chart.
Below, you’ll find links to every NHL team’s prospect pool overview, along with a quick tidbit of what to expect from each team’s deep dive.
Anaheim Ducks
Selecting Beckett Senecke surprised some, but the Ducks are loading up on talent. Leo Carlsson, Cutter Gauthier and Pavel Mintyukov join the core of Trevor Zegras and Mason McTavish to make the Ducks one of the most dangerously intriguing young teams in the league.
Boston Bruins
The Bruins have been competitive for more than a decade, and they don’t want to go away. That’s left their cupboard a bit empty, but they could have a few pieces who will help supplement the team over the next few years, such as Fabian Lysell and the recently drafted Dean Letourneau.
Buffalo Sabres
Despite trading Matt Savoie at the start of the off-season, the Sabres are absolutely loaded throughout the prospect pool. For a team that’s missed the playoffs for 13 straight years, they had to trade some of their prospect stock for NHL talent, and that’s what the Savoie trade was about. With Zach Benson, Owen Power, Devon Levi, Bowen Byram and Dylan Cozens leading the next wave of young talent, the Sabres are in good shape.
Calgary Flames
It’s rebuild time in Calgary. The Flames seem to be embracing that finally, and they collected one of the most intriguing groups at the 2024 NHL draft. Led by Zayne Parekh, Matvei Gridin and Andrew Basha, the Flames' future looks brighter.
Carolina Hurricanes
Carolina has built a reputation for being one of the NHL’s most savvy drafting teams. They always seem to draft players who are well-regarded by public draft analysts and others within the industry. It’s time to see some of their swings on talent and upside make the NHL roster, and we could see that this year with Bradly Nadeau and Scott Morrow looking to be factors at the pro level.
Chicago Blackhawks
Connor Bedard is obviously leading the way, but the Hawks' prospect pipeline should be the envy of the NHL in many ways. Frank Nazar, Oliver Moore and Sacha Boisvert lead an impressive forward group, while top 2024 draft choice Artyom Levshunov and Ethan Del Mastro lead the way on the back end. The Hawks could be building their next perennial playoff contender in front of our eyes.
Colorado Avalanche
When you’re as competitive as the Avalanche have been, you often have to sacrifice your prospect pool and draft stock. That’s been the case with Colorado for many years, but the team has still found a few solid pieces for the future in Calum Ritchie, Mikhail Gulyayev and Justus Annunen.
Columbus Blue Jackets
Columbus drafted Adam Fantilli last year and Cayden Lindstrom this year to form a duo down the middle that could rock the house in a couple of years. It’s not often a team can build their squad around two big, powerful centers with upper-echelon skill. With Gavin Brindley, Luca Pinelli, Denton Mateychuk and David Jiricek among players looking to fill out the rest of the roster, the Jackets could be a force with some patience.
Dallas Stars
Drafting and developing takes on a whole new meaning in Dallas as the Stars have been one of the most successful teams in that regard. They take some big swings on talent, stay patient and develop them with great detail. Logan Stankoven and Mavrik Bourque are the two most recent examples of this, but their pipeline is loaded with players who could be impact NHLers, giving one of the league's best teams one of the league's best prospect pools as well.
Detroit Red Wings
Although the ‘Yzerplan’ hasn’t had the immediate results that many had hoped by this point, they have a strong group of players coming up through the system. Simon Edvinsson should be a pillar on the blueline alongside Moritz Seider, and they have Axel Sandin-Pellikka on the way, too. Lucas Raymond ascended to star status this past season, and with players like 2024 draft choice Michael Brandsegg-Nygard and Nate Danielsson coming, the Wings have one of the deepest talent pools in the league.
Edmonton Oilers
The Oilers acquired Savoie at the start of the off-season, and he became the team's top prospect right away. Savoie is a high-octane forward with plenty of skill and offensive ability. Beyond Savoie, things get a bit more shaky as the Oilers pipeline is one of the most uninspiring in the NHL.
Florida Panthers
It doesn’t matter how bad your prospect pool is when you win the Stanley Cup. Mackie Samoskevich is coming, Linus Eriksson is a really nice draft pick, and Spencer Knight could bounce back into an NHL difference-making netminder.
Los Angeles Kings
The Kings once had a prospect pool that everyone around the league envied, but they’ve become a cautionary tale of what happens when the promise of prospects doesn't match up with the development. They still have plenty of interesting or intriguing players coming, such as Brandt Clarke and 2024 first-rounder Liam Greentree, and they hope those players will help elevate them from pretender to contender at the NHL level.
Minnesota Wild
Marco Rossi and Brock Faber lead the youth movement in the Twin Cities. That said, the Wild look to use some entry-level contracts to help offset the final year of the cap hell they are in because of buyouts a couple of years ago. Liam Ohgren, Marat Khusnutdinov and Jesper Wallstedt are set to become effective players at the NHL level as soon as this season.
Montreal Canadiens
Ivan Demidov is the game-breaking talent the Montreal Canadiens have desperately needed, but the pipeline goes so much deeper than the Russian superstar prospect. With David Reinbacher and Lane Hutson leading a strong pipeline of defensemen, Michael Hage and Owen Beck solidifying the forward corps and Jacob Fowler looking like a steal in net, the Canadiens are in contention for the NHL’s top prospect pool.
Nashville Predators
The GM Barry Trotz Era has started with a bang over the last year, building a solid prospect pool with an exciting NHL roster. Their 2024 draft choices were among the best in the NHL, with Egor Surin as an intriguing late-round pick on Day 1 and then swings on Teddy Stiga and Miguel Marques on Day 2. The Predators may have found a balance between building for today and tomorrow.
New Jersey Devils
With Luke Hughes and Simon Nemec joining the roster last year, the last group of elite prospects New Jersey assembled during its rebuild is graduating to the NHL. With players such as Seamus Casey and Anton Silayev sitting atop the prospect pool, the question becomes whether or not the Devils have any true impact players left in the pipeline. They could also use what’s left to fill specific roles and build around the young talent already on the team.
New York Islanders
Before they took Cole Eiserman and the rest of a solid NHL draft class, the Islanders' prospect pool looked fairly barren. Now, it looks more rounded out. Calle Odelius was the top player coming into the draft, and he brings some interesting offensive skills on the back end, but the 2024 draft class really is the highlight of the Islanders' pipeline.
New York Rangers
Matt Rempe took the NHL by storm last season, and his development will be interesting to watch moving forward. Brennan Othmann is a potential super pest in the pipeline, while Gabe Perreault is one of the more intelligent offensive creators around. The Rangers have some interesting players in the system, even if they don’t have a true difference-maker.
Ottawa Senators
When you’re bad for years, you usually fall backward into building a solid prospect pool. But the Ottawa Senators are struggling to find high-end prospects. The 2020 draft class featuring Tim Stutzle, Jake Sanderson and Ridly Greig have all graduated to the NHL full-time, leaving a series of reaches and misses all over their prospect pool. How Ottawa starts changing things under new ownership and management will be interesting.
Philadelphia Flyers
Matvei Michkov wasn’t supposed to come to the NHL for at least another year, but his contract was terminated in the KHL, and the Russian sniper is going to be in Flyers’ orange when the hockey season kicks off. Michkov leads a growing group of impressive prospects in the Flyers' system. Oliver Bonk, Denver Barkey and Jett Luchanko give the Flyers a good group to build around.
Pittsburgh Penguins
Brayden Yager leads the Penguins' prospect pool, but beyond him, the outlook looks sketchy. Owen Pickering is a toolsy defender who hasn’t taken the steps the Pens had hoped but there’s plenty of runway left for him. The Penguins need to start thinking about what life after Sidney Crosby will look like, but they seem to be intent on getting back to competing before 'Sid the Kid' is gone.
San Jose Sharks
There may not be a better prospect pool in all of hockey than the one that San Jose boasts. Macklin Celebrini and Will Smith lead the next generation of San Jose Sharks, but they are far from the only good prospects in the system. Sam Dickinson, Quentin Musty and Filip Bystedt are just the tip of the iceberg behind their star centers.
Seattle Kraken
The Seattle Kraken haven’t been around long, but their habit of swinging on upside and getting skilled players in the draft built them a prospect pool that should make them competitive for a long time. Shane Wright, Berkly Catton and Carson Rehkopf highlight a skilled and offensively gifted pipeline.
St. Louis Blues
In St. Louis, a full-on rebuild was never really in the cards. They’ve done a good job of retooling on the fly, building up a strong prospect pool and staying close to the playoff race for the last couple of years. Dalibor Dvorsky, Jimmy Snuggerud and Theo Lindstein look like NHL locks in a couple of years, while Otto Stenberg and Adam Jiricek are high-reward swings who could help put them over the top.
Tampa Bay Lightning
With the prime years of their Stanley Cup window behind them, the Lightning’s underwhelming prospect pool may come into play. Isaac Howard is a solid player who bounced back last year. Getting Conor Geekie in the trade that sent Mikhail Sergachev out of town was a big win, as he became their top prospect. The Lightning may have some diamonds in the rough, but it’s not easy to find them.
Toronto Maple Leafs
The Maple Leafs have found some really solid value players at various points of the draft in recent years, but they’ve struggled to integrate most of them into the lineup. Is this finally the time when a player such as Fraser Minten, Easton Cowan or even Mikko Kokkonen find their way into the lineup?
Utah Hockey Club
The former Arizona Coyotes' hockey assets have a very solid group of prospects with one thing in common – they’re huge. The Utah management team continued to carry over the philosophy of drafting massive players beyond the top of the draft, hoping to assemble the league's biggest squad. Dmitriy Simashev, Maveric Lamoureux, Daniil But and Will Skahan highlight the giants in Utah's system.
Vancouver Canucks
Vancouver got back into contender status last year, and they could be looking toward their top prospects to help get them over the hump. Jonathan Lekkerimaki and Aatu Raty could both factor into the lineup at points next season, and if things go the way Vancouver would want them to, they could be key pieces heading into the playoffs as they ascend into impact NHLer status. The Canucks have a player or two at every position but the fall off is hard in a lot of spots.
Vegas Golden Knights
Vegas has never seemed to be a fan of building a prospect pool. The Golden Knights have always had their eye on contending, and they’ve traded almost every first-round pick they’ve ever had, whether it was before or after they made the pick. They took a big chance on Trevor Connelly at the draft this year with the hope that his past behavior is behind him and he can just showcase his incredible skill on the ice moving forward.
Washington Capitals
The Capitals' main goal in the last couple of seasons has been getting Alexander Ovechkin to the all-time goal record, and they have a few prospects who could be along for the ride when that happens. Ivan Miroshnichenko was a fan of Ovechkin growing up, and now he could be on the ice when the record is set. Ryan Leonard is one of the NCAA’s best players, and he could join the Caps as soon as this spring. The Caps have some interesting names in the system beyond them.
Winnipeg Jets
With Rutger McGroarty requesting a trade, one of their top prospects in the system could be out the door, but that doesn’t mean they’ll be left high and dry. The Jets have a sneaky good pipeline, with Brad Lambert and Colby Barlow bringing some offensive punch. On the back end, Elias Salomonsson and Alfons Freij could be sneaky Day 2 picks who play a big role in the NHL in a couple of years.
For a deeper dive into the prospect pool with player rankings, check out the Future Watch and upcoming Yearbook print editions in The Hockey News. And share your thoughts by commenting below the article on THN.com or by visiting our forum.