Best Young Player Pools in the RHL (32 - 11)

Corey Pronman has released his listing of the top players on an NHL reserve list aged 22 or younger as of January 1, 2025. (This is why top prospect Trevor Wong was not ranked, as NHL teams still don’t see the star he will become). These ranking are, in Corey’s words, “meant to show who I think will have the best pro careers, not who I would take in an NHL game tomorrow.”

Here is the link to Corey’s article, which includes tool grades and a short blurb about each player: https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6037690/2025/01/14/nhl-prospects-rankings-under-23-2025/

Below are the beginnings of the rankings of the top pools of young players in the RHL, based on a fancy new algorithm that attempts to give credence to Corey’s player tiers, as well as the individual rankings within those tiers. I have also included the final point value given to each team.

As well, here are Corey’s 6 tiers of players for reference:

Tier 1 – Elite NHL Player

Tier 2 – NHL All-Star

Tier 3 – Bubble NHL All-Star and top of the lineup player

Tier 4 – Top of the lineup player

Tier 5 – Bubble top and middle of the lineup player

Tier 6 – Middle of the lineup player

32 – Winnipeg Jets – 0.00

31 – Dallas Stars – 1.33

137 – Marcus Gidlof – Tier 6

30 – Utah Hockey Club – 9.20

89 – Sacha Boisvert – Tier 6

29 – Nashville Predators – 10.67

80 – Jamie Drysdale – Tier 6

28 – San Jose Sharks – 15.77

78 – Ridly Greig – Tier 6

116 – Tyson Foerster – Tier 6

27 – Seattle Kraken – 17.92

51 – David Reinbacher – Tier 5

26 – Los Angeles Kings – 28.04

68 – Tom Willander – Tier 5

95 – Cole Hutson – Tier 6

113 – Seamus Casey – Tier 6

139 – Mikhail Yegorov – Tier 6

25 – Pittsburgh Penguins – 31.39

53 – Stian Solberg – Tier 5

97 – Emil Pieniniemi – Tier 6

124 – Tristan Luneau – Tier 6

129 – Matt Savoie – Tier 6

24 – Philadelphia Flyers – 33.96

59 – Cole Sillinger – Tier 5

76 – Lian Bichsel – Tier 5

105 – Carson Rehkopf – Tier 6

23 – New Jersey Devils – 40.38

39 – Lane Hutson – Tier 5

79 – Jiri Kulich – Tier 6

93 – Charlie Stramel – Tier 6

22 – New York Islanders – 46.26

45 – Axel Sandin Pellikka – Tier 5

82 – Kaiden Guhle – Tier 6

106 – Matthew Wood – Tier 6

114 – Brad Lambert – Tier 6

127 – Terik Parascak – Tier 6

133 – Adam Jecho – Tier 6

21 – New York Rangers – 47.25

7 – Jake Sanderson – Tier 2

20 – Colorado Avalanche – 49.68

9 – Lucas Raymond – Tier 2

115 – Owen Pickering – Tier 6

19 – Chicago Blackhawks – 54.91

26 – Shane Wright – Tier 4

77 – Trevor Connelly – Tier 5

91 – Oliver Moore – Tier 6

122 – Tanner Molendyk – Tier 6

18 – Detroit Red Wings – 58.80

28 – Carter Yakemchuk – Tier 4

43 – JJ Peterka – Tier 5

88 – Brayden Yager – Tier 6

17 – Boston Bruins – 60.92

48 – Calum Ritchie – Tier 5

55 – Tij Iginla – Tier 5

67 – Sam Rinzel – Tier 5

92 – Julius Miettinen – Tier 6

128 – Lukas Reichel – Tier 6

16 – Columbus Blue Jackets – 66.04

17 – Matty Beniers – Tier 3

49 – Danila Yurov – Tier 5

83 – Zach Benson – Tier 6

15 – Vegas Golden Knights – 66.84

8 – Zeev Buium – Tier 2

71 – Jimmy Snuggerud – Tier 5

96 – Vincent Iorio – Tier 6

14 – Carolina Hurricanes – 66.93

46 – Pavel Mintyukov – Tier 5

69 – Yegor Zavragin – Tier 5

72 – Liam Greentree – Tier 5

74 – Samuel Honzek – Tier 5

85 – Konsta Helenius – Tier 6

13 – Ottawa Senators – 67.08

19 – Quinton Byfield – Tier 3

63 – Conor Geekie – Tier 5

73 – Roman Kantserov – Tier 5

121 – Vojtech Hradec – Tier 6

12 – Toronto Maple Leafs – 67.10

34 – Brandt Clarke – Tier 4

36 – Nate Danielson – Tier 4

47 – Maveric Lamoureux – Tier 5

11 – Edmonton Oilers – 67.98

22 – Artyom Levshunov – Tier 3

29 – Logan Stankoven – Tier 4

112 – Olen Zellweger – Tier 6

Which leaves the following ten teams in the top 10 in some order:

Anaheim Ducks, Buffalo Sabres, Calgary Flames, Florida Panthers, Minnesota Wild, Montreal Canadiens, St Louis Blues, Tampa Bay Lightning, Vancouver Canucks, Washington Capitals