Best Young Player Pools in the RHL (5 - 1)

2025-02-10

Welcome to part 3 of 3 of the rankings of the best young player pools in the RHL, based on Corey Pronman’s rankings of the top 139 players 22 or younger for the Athletic. See part 1 for a little more on Corey’s criteria and how I ranked the teams. I’ve added original draft positions and teams here, going back to the 2021 draft, as I couldn’t find the full results of the 2020 draft.

5 – Tampa Bay Lightning – 178.14

6 – Matvei Michkov – 2023 4th overall – TBL

18 – Owen Power – 2021 1st overall – TBL

37 – Zayne Parekh – 2024 13th overall – TBL

41 – Dmitriy Simashev – 2023 28th overall – TBL

50 – David Edstrom – 2023 36th overall – TBL

62 – Dalibor Dvorsky – 2023 9th overall – TBL

99 – Easton Cowan – 2023 58th overall – MTL

123 – Leo Sahlin Wallenius – 2024 42nd overall – TBL

125 – Adam Kleber – 2024 57th overall – TBL

132 – Colton Dach – 2021 35th overall – TOR

Michkov is obviously the crown jewel here, followed by three defensemen that could give the Lightning a strong core for years to come, with Power already established in the NHL, Parekh leading the OHL in points from the back end, and Simashev averaging over 16 minutes a night against men in the KHL. Following his strong showing with the NHL’s Flyers this season, Michkov looks poised to be in the Calder contention in the RHL next year, and a staple on Tampa’s top line for years to come.

4 – Buffalo Sabres – 186.09

5 – Luke Hughes – 2021 5th overall – BUF

12 – Wyatt Johnston – 2021 24th overall – BUF

13 – Logan Cooley – 2022 3rd overall – WAS

33 – Daniil But – 2023 18th overall – BUF

44 – Marco Kasper – 2022 13th overall – VAN

109 – Igor Chernyshov – 2024 26th overall – BUF

131 – Jani Nyman – 2022 48th overall – BUF

136 – Michael Hrabal – 2023 39th overall – BUF

Buffalo is the only team on the list with three players in the top 15, and only misses out on being ranked higher due to their list being a few guys shorter than the other top 5 teams. Those three guys are also all relatively on the older side of those ranked, with all three already rated and helping out the Sabres.

3 – Calgary Flames – 197.56

14 – Juraj Slafkovsky – 2022 2nd overall – CGY

24 – Kent Johnson – 2021 6th overall – MIN

27 – Mason McTavish – 2021 8th overall – CGY

31 – Anton Silayev – 2024 3rd overall - CGY

38 – Ryan Leonard – 2023 7th overall – CGY

56 – Cutter Gauthier – 2022 7th overall – VGK

60 – Cole Perfetti – 2020 draft – STL

100 – Liam Ohgren – 2022 15th overall – CGY

119 – Brennan Othmann – 2021 32nd overall – STL

130 – Kasper Halttunen – 2023 34th overall – CGY

Almost the opposite of the Lightning, the Flames earn this ranking thanks to having 5 players in Corey’s tiers 3 and 4, with another 2 to round out 6 of the top 60. Slafkovsky and Johnson lead the group here, with Kent Johnson being acquired back in 2022 in a blockbuster deal that sent Auston Matthews to the Wild in a package for Johnson, Mikhail Sergachev, and two 1st round picks, Jimmy Snuggerud (traded to VGK in the deal that got Calgary Gauthier), and Luca Del Bel Belluz (not ranked). This kind of deal highlights the wheeling and dealing that helped get Calgary into this position on the list, but also sees them outside of the playoffs this year without their own 1st round pick.

2 – Washington Capitals – 234.52

1 – Macklin Celebrini – 2024 1st overall – WAS

3 – Connor Bedard – 2023 1st overall – WAS

20 – Berkly Catton – 2024 7th overall – WAS

58 – Ivan Miroshnichenko – 2022 25th overall – WAS

61 – Will Cuylle – 2020 draft

65 – David Jiricek – 2022 10th overall – WAS

66 – Kevin Korchinski – 2022 16th overall – NYR

94 – Harrison Brunicke – 2024 60th overall – WAS

98 – Nikita Artamonov – 2024 39th overall – WAS

104 – Egor Surin – 2024 29th overall – WAS

138 – Mikhail Gulyayev – 2023 35th overall – WAS

If you surveyed all of the GMs in the league for which group of young players they’d most like to have, it’s very probable that the majority would want Washington’s. With both of the most recent 1st overall picks looking to be well above even the average 1st overall player, Washington is looking at having two Hart contenders for years to come if everything breaks right. Bedard joining the team has also seen them competing for a playoff spot even as the calendar turns to February, and that’s without Celebrini, who will sign his ELC and join the team next year.

1 – St Louis Blues – 271.61

4 – Leo Carlsson – 2023 3rd overall – STL

10 – Adam Fantilli – 2023 2nd overall – STL

16 – Ivan Demidov – 2024 2nd overall – STL

30 – William Eklund – 2021 2nd overall – STL

32 – Matthew Knies – 2021 63rd overall – STL

35 – Will Smith – 2023 5th overall – STL

54 – Adam Jiricek – 2024 18th overall – STL

64 – Denton Mateychuk – 2022 11th overall – STL

70 – Gavin Brindley – 2023 33rd overall – STL

84 – Jonathan Lekkerimaki – 2022 8th overall – STL

120 – Cole Beaudoin – 2024 34th overall – STL

135 – Shakir Mukhamadullin – 2020 draft

Without a single 1st overall pick (outside of those 30 seconds in 2021 when they thought they had it), St Louis has built an impressive stable of top end young talent, largely due to having 3 picks in the top 5 in the 2023 draft and picking 2nd overall as well in 2021 and 2024. With 6 highly rated forwards leading their list, it will remain to be seen if their back end will be enough to jump them into contention in the coming years.