Welcome to Today’s edition of “Top Shelf Prospects”. Over the last 6 weeks we have featured a team-by-team look at the top prospects in the NHL, going team by team throughout the league. You can find all the articles here. You can also look at my extensive NHL Draft preview for more on many of these prospects. For those wondering, the cut-off for what is or isn’t a prospect is typically about 50 NHL games played or being 25 years old. These are not hard or fast rules though, and I may make some exceptions depending on the circumstances (especially due to the fact that the latest NHL season was only 48 games). Friday we looked at the Organizations Ranked 30-21, Saturday we continued, looking at each team in countdown style from 20-11. Today, this is it, the top 10 systems in the NHL. For more information on each team, you can click on the team name which will take you to the article on their system.
10. Winnipeg Jets – The Jets took a big jump in this year’s rankings. Over the last year Kevin Cheveldayoff and the Jets staff have done an excellent job in building up the Jets system. Last summer I said that the Jets had two excellent prospects in Mark Scheifele and Jacob Trouba but little depth behind them. In the meantime, Scheifele and Trouba both had outstanding seasons, taking them from the range of excellent prospects to true top notch blue chippers. Added to that was an outstanding 2013 draft including Josh Morrisse, and Jan Kostalek on defence, Eric Comrie in goal and Nicolas Petan, Jimmy Lodge, and J.C. Lipon up front, that really strengthened the depth in all positions. Also in the system are players like Scott Kosmachuk, Lukas Sutter and Patrice Cormier who add depth to the forward ranks while Brendan Kichton, Paul Postma, and Zach Redmond add to the defence. In fact it was likely that Redmond was NHL ready last year, when a significant cut to his leg basically ended his year.
9. Calgary Flames – Three first rounders in the 2013 draft bring the team excellent prospects in Sean Monahan, Emile Poirer and Morgan Klimchuk. The three new forwards add to a group that already had a pair of nice wingers in Sven Baertschi and Johnny Gaudreau along with centre project Mark Jankowski, and NHL-ready centre Corban Knight who was acquired in a steal of a trade with Florida. On defence youngster T.J. Brodie has graduated, but there are two nice potential shut down defenders behind him in Patrick Sieloff and Tyler Wotherspoon. There is some potential between the pipes as well with Laurent Brossoit, and Jon Gillies. Trades also added depth to the pool as the Flames finally began to lay the foundation for a rebuild at the trade deadline last year. It is now time for the Franchise to build upon that foundation.
8. St. Louis Blues – The Blues get a massive benefit in that Vladimir Tarasenko did not play enough games to be considered graduated. His presence, as an elite blue-chipper moves the pool up several spots and into the top 10. However he is not alone as Dmitri Jaskin and Ty Rattie were two of the best players in the CHL this season. In goal, Jake Allen seems ready to take the next step into the NHL, while Jordan Binnington is coming up fast behind him as he makes his way through the junior ranks. On defence, Ian Cole is now graduated and pushing for regular time while Cade Fairchild isn’t far behind. Jani Hakanpaa is making his way into the pro game as Jordan Schmaltz and Tommy Vanelli make their way through the college ranks, and soon to be pushing for spots. If there is a weakness for the Blues prospect group it is at centre, but the Blues may have some time as the centres on the NHL club are young quality players. Overall the post 2005 lockout rebuild by the Blues has been extremely successful. And after going through some growing pains, this team seems set to emerge as a perennial contender for the foreseeable future.
7. Chicago Blackhawks – The Hawks pipeline is producing real talent. Brandon Saad, who is considered graduated, is evidence of this. In Teuvo Teravainen they have another stud on the way, though he’ll likely play in Finland this season. Brandon Pirri seems to be NHL ready now, and is the front runner for taking over the centre spot vacated by the trade of Dave Bolland. He will however face stiff competition for spot from Philip Danault, Drew Leblanc, and Mark McNeill showing strong depth at centre. Other forwards looking to make the Hawks on a full-time basis in the near future include Jeremy Morin, Ben Smith and Jimmy Hayes who have all experienced the NHL game over the last two years. One forward who is facing a now or never situation is Kyle Beach. The 11th overall pick in the 2008 draft, Beach has not lived up to the hype in the five years since being drafted. The 23-year-old may never make the top lines, but he’s a physical player and a decent skater who could add something to the bottom 6. He must learn to play a more disciplined game to make that a reality though. On Defence the Hawks have decent depth in Adam Clendening, Dylan Olsen, Stephen Johns and Shawn Lalonde. With the Hawks current core looking to be around for a while, they will provide the depth the Hawks will need to compliment a core of Keith, Seabrook, Hjalmarsson, Oduya, and Leddy. In goal the Hawks are excited to see Antti Raanta, a big free agent signing out of Finland, along with Brandon Whitney and Mac Carruth coming through the system. Overall the strong get stronger as the Hawks have an excellent group of prospects.
6. Montreal Canadiens – The Montreal Canadiens have really strengthened their farm system with great back to back drafts. On defence they have two top notch prospects in Nathan Beaulieu and Jarred Tinordi. A deep pool follows those two in Darren Dietz, Magnus Nygren, Morgan Ellis and Greg Pateryn, who are all expected to be in the AHL this season. Dalton Thrower is another possibility to join the Hamilton Bulldogs. In the college ranks Mac Bennett continues to develop. Upfront the graduations of Alex Galchenyuk and Brendan Gallagher keep the team from challenging for top spot, but there is still plenty here to be excited about. On the wings Sebastian Collberg has the potential to be a top line goal scorer while Charles Hudon and Tim Bozon both had impressive CHL seasons last year. AHLers Christian Thomas and Louis Leblanc are competing for a spot on the team as well. Amongst the 2013 draftees, Mike McCarron adds much-needed size and physicality while Arturri Lehkonen is a potential 2nd round draft steal. At centre the Habs drafted Jacob de la Rose, a strong two-way player out of Sweden, adding to a stable of two way guys which includes Michael Bournival, Gabriel Dumont and Brady Vail. Last year the prospect depth in goaltending was considered weak but the addition of Dustin Tokarski helps at the AHL level while the team also grabbed Zach Fucale, who was the best goalie in the draft.
5. Anaheim Ducks – The Anaheim Ducks have a number of good young players up front. In addition to Emerson Etem, and Kyle Palmieri who made contributions in the NHL this year, they added Jakob Silfverberg and Stefan Noesen in the Bobby Ryan deal. Now while Etem, Palmieri and Silfverberg are considered graduates, Noesen adds to a prospect group where Rickard Rakell, William Karlsson, Nicolas Kerdiles, Peter Holland and Max Friberg highlight a system with impressive forward depth. On defence, Hampus Lindholm and Sami Vatanen are knocking at the door for the Ducks and should add to an already relatively young NHL group that includes Cam Fowler and Luca Sbisa. The additions of Shea Theodore and Keaton Thompson further stock the blueline cupboards. In net, there isn’t much more to say about John Gibson than has already been said. Quite simply, he is the best goaltending prospect in the world right now. The team has depth in all positions, and the Ducks future is bright.
4. New York Islanders – The Islanders continue to have a strong stable of prospects. At the NHL draft they added a player at 15th overall in Ryan Pulock, who I believe was an absolute steal, to a very deep group of defence that includes Ville Pokka, Adam Pelech, Calvin DeHaan, Matt Donovan, Scott Mayfield, Aaron Ness and Andrey Pedan. Of course the defence is headlined by a top notch prospect in Griffin Reinhart. Overall this group of defencemen is so deep that the Islanders may need to explore moving some of these defenders for help in other areas. The goaltending with Kevin Poulin in the NHL and Anders Nilsson in the AHL is also in good shape. Up front the headliner is another elite prospect in Ryan Strome. He is followed by Brock Nelson, Johan Sundstrom, Anders Lee and of course the recently graduated Casey Cizikas. It’s a strong group of centres who can provide depth behind John Tavares going forward. In fact some of these centres may need to convert into wingers at the NHL level as this appears to be the one area where the Islanders could use a little help in their group. Kirill Kabanov is highly touted but remains very much a boom or bust type of prospect.
3. Buffalo Sabres – The Sabres have really improved their system in recent years. Back-to-back drafts with multiple first round picks have strengthened things, and the Sabres got a king’s ransom for Jason Pominville at the deadline. In addition to two draft picks, the Sabres added players like Matt Hackett who was a boost to the goaltending depth, and Johan Larsson who adds to an impressive list of centres that includes Mikhail Grigorenko, Zemgus Girgensons and and Logan Nelson. Meanwhile the defence was boosted with Rasmus Ristolainen and Nikita Zadorov, adding to a group that already includes Jake McCabe and Mark Pysyk. There was some concern that the Sabres prospect pool was thin on the wings after Joel Armia and recently graduated Marcus Foligno but a strong season from Bryan Flynn and the additions of Justin Bailey, J.T. Compher, Connor Hurley and Nick Baptiste has gone a long way to remedying that issue as well. While one or both of Compher and Hurley may end up at centre, their versatility and the Sabres centre depth (including Cody Hodgson as well) means they may get shifted to the wings long term. In short though, the Sabres seem to have built a system with high level talent, and depth at every position. They should be considered amongst the top prospect groups in the NHL, and if they can get Grigorenko to his elite potential, we may look back on this rebuild as a very successful maneuver by Darcy Regier.
2. Tampa Bay Lightning – The Lightning must have been pleased to see Jonathan Drouin, who was the number 1 player in our pre-draft rankings, was available at third overall. He’s a high end offensive dynamo who will likely be in the NHL this season. Last year’s first round goaltender Andrey Vasilevsky has continued down the path of being one of the best goalie prospects out there. Nikita Kucherov showed that he was a potential draft day steal, lighting things up for Rouyn-Norenda in the QMJHL and carrying them in the playoffs. Adding to this group are players like Slater Koekkoek (who needs to stay healthy), Alex Killorn (who looked good in his time with Tampa last year), Nikita Nesterov (a talented Russian who might be a steal given his talent level and being a 5th rounder due to the Russian Factor), Richard Panik (a goal scoring RW who put up lots of points for Syracuse), Vladislav Namestnikov (a skilled centre who needs to stay healthy), J.T. Brown (the 2012 NCAA free agent prize), Mark Barbiero (one of the AHL’s best defenders and knocking on the Tampa door), Adam Erne (who we ranked in the mid-first round) and Andrej Sustr (the 2013 NCAA free agent prize) we see a deep system in Tampa. Now that they have the top end talent in Drouin to put the cherry on top of the sundae, they have risen all the way up to number 2 in the rankings.
1. Florida Panthers – The Panthers system is chock full of talent. They have graduated a superstud in Jonathan Huberdeau, but replace him with another superstud in Aleksander Barkov. Knocking on the door to the NHL is a top goalie prospect in Jacob Markstrom as his time is now. Nick Bjugstad has been one of the best players in college hockey over the last two years and is now ready to make the jump to the pros. 2012 first round pick Michael Matheson is developing at Boston College and took on a top four role as a freshman. He looks like a strong two way defender. Add to this the pint sized offensive talent of Rocco Grimaldi, a man who competed for the OHL scoring title in Vincent Trocheck, and other strong prospects such as Kyle Rau, Alex Petrovic, Quinton Howden, Colby Robak, John McFarland, and Michael Houser. What we have is a system with outstanding depth. The Panthers system has it all, depth at every position, as well as quality and quantity. They take this year’s prize at TSP’s top ranked organization.
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