Welcome to the 2014 edition of “Top Shelf Prospects”. As we have gone through the Summer of 2014 I featured a team-by-team look at the top prospects in the NHL. You can find all the articles here. You can also find the 2014 Draftees in our extensive NHL Draft preview, where players were reviewed and ranked prior to the 2014 NHL Draft. For those wondering, the cut-off for what is or isn’t a prospect is typically about 50 NHL games played (including playoffs) or being 25 years old. These are not hard or fast rules though, and I may make some exceptions depending on the circumstances.
As we continue in our top shelf series, the next step is to look at what each team has in the pipeline in our NHL organizational prospect rankings. This will be done in 3 parts, with 10 teams included in each section.
A reminder that if you click the team name you will be taken to that franchise’s TSP page, which has scouting reports on their top 3 prospects; a sleeper prospect (4th round or later pick) and links to reports on any 2014 draft picks reviewed by LWOS.
2014 NHL Organizational Prospect Rankings Top 10
The first thing we note is that in three years of doing these organizational rankings, they have never been tougher to rank. It seems that there are more and more solid prospects that we like this year than ever before. Even teams in the low to mid 20’s on this list would get good letter grades for their prospect lists.
10) Calgary Flames (B+)
In Sam Bennett, the Flames have drafted a stud center who will become a one-two punch with Sean Monahan for the next decade or more. In Johnny Gaudreau, they will bring one of the best players in college hockey to the pro game this year. The slick skating Emile Poirier, snipers Sven Baertschi and Morgan Klimchuk, developing project Mark Jankowski, and two way center Max Reinhart add solid depth and good talent to the forward group.
In goal Jon Gilles is an excellent prospect, and Joni Ortio also shows potential. Still, it’s on defense where the team must get better. Patrick Sieloff and Tyler Wotherspoon are decent prospects of the defence-first variety, but there is a real lack of offensive defensemen, and overall depth in the system. Adding to the defense will be the next phase of the Flames rebuild.
9) Detroit Red Wings (B+)
After a season filled with graduations (Nyquist, Tatar, Sheahan, Andersson, Glendening, Lashoff, DeKeyser); the Wings slip a little in the rankings. Thats only natural though, due to the number of players no longer considered prospects. Still, this is a deep system that features draft day steal Anthony Mantha, and NHL-ready Thomas Jurco upfront. On the wing there is more depth in Martin Frk, Andreas Athanasiou, Teemu Pulkkinen, Zach Nastasiuk, and Tyler Bertuzzi. They also have three very good, high-end defensemen in Xavier Ouellet, Ryan Sproul, and Alexey Marchenko.
Add to that a near NHL-ready goalie in Peter Mrazek, and a good youngster in Jake Patterson, and the system has plenty of depth. The one criticism right now is that they are weak down the middle, as the graduations (plus the trade of Calle Jarnkrok), caused the Wings to take a real hit at this position. That said, in Dylan Larkin the Red Wings started to address this in the 2014 Draft.
8) Chicago Blackhawks (B+)
This is a deep system on defense and up the middle. The Hawks have a real stud in Teuvo Teravainen, who should take over as the team’s second line centre as soon as he adds a little more muscle to his frame. Also at center they have Mark McNeil, Joakim Nordstrom, Phillip Danault, John Hayden, Vince Hinostroza, and first round pick Nick Schmaltz. On the wings, Jeremy Morin is NHL-ready and 2013 first-rounder Ryan Hartman plays a very gritty game and is converting from center to the wing. McNeil and Hayden have also shown the versatility to play on the wing, and this will come in handy given the fact that there are only so many spots available down the middle for Chicago.
On Defense, we see Adam Clendening is close to NHL-ready, while Stephen Johns, Klas Dahlbeck, Carl Dahlstrom and Dillon Fournier provide a nice variety of skill sets and add depth.
If there is a weakspot; its in goal. Antti Raanta is the team’s top goaltending prospect but he looks like he tops out as a solid backup (a role he should take for the Blackhawks this season). While there are a number of other prospects, they seem to be more long-term projects than blue chippers. Overall though, the Hawks have drafted well in recent years, and this is apparent in the depth of the system. This depth has helped the team retool on the fly in recent years, after cap issues forced them to part with a lot of their depth, particularly after the 2010 Stanley Cup win.
7) Columbus Blue Jackets (B+)
Three first round picks in a deep draft like the 2013 NHL draft can really do a lot for a team’s prospect system. Alexander Wennberg is looking like a potential stud center and can provide a one-two punch with Ryan Johansen down the middle. Kerby Rychel, and Marko Dano were solid additions on the wings last year, with the ability to both agitate and score. Josh Anderson, Michael Chaput and Oliver Bjorkstrand add depth up front. The Blue Jackets also added Sonny Milano this year, a player who has a ton of pure offensive skill.
On defense, the Jackets are already a young team but have more talent in the pipeline. Mike Reilly has become a real offensive force from the backend for the University of Minnesota, and Dillon Heatherington had another solid year. 2014 picks Ryan Collins, and Blake Siebenaler were solid additions to the group as well.
In goal Oscar Dansk and Joonas Korpisalo were highly touted, but both struggled last year, and must bounce back this year.
6) Montreal Canadiens (A-)
The Canadiens have a deep system at nearly every position, and three players in the top 55 in Nathan Beaulieu, Jarred Tinordi and Jacob de la Rose. Beaulieu and Tinordi are near NHL-ready and, with two spots available on the Canadiens blueline, they will push hard to start the year on the big club.
There will be challengers though, as Greg Pateryn was the AHL’s Hamilton Bulldogs best defenseman last season, and Magnus Nygren put up another solid year in Sweden. Further down the depth chart Mac Bennett, Josiah Didier, Darren Dietz, Morgan Ellis and Dalton Thrower all bring assets to the table. The defense is a good mix of puck movers, two-way players, and defensive defenders, featuring both right-handed and left-handed shots.
There is also a forward spot available in Montreal and the newly-signed Jiri Sekac will battle de la Rose and Sven Andrighetto to take it. Nikita Scherbak was an excellent pick who fell into the Habs hands due to the Russian factor, and he should be back lighting up the WHL this year. Add to them players like Arturri Lehkonen, Martin Reway and Charles Hudon, who were all key members of their country’s world junior teams, Jeremie Gregoire who is attempting to make the 2015 Team Canada, and Tim Bozon, who lit up the WHL before fighting meningitis and is now back on the ice. Connor Crisp adds much needed size and toughness. Two forwards who need to bounce back from bad years are Michael McCarron and Christian Thomas. Zach Fucale, Dustin Tokarski and Mike Condon give the team depth in goal. Overall the Canadiens have done an excellent job in recent drafts.
5) Arizona Coyotes (A-)
In Max Domi, Brendan Perlini, Brandon Gormley and Henrik Samuelsson, the Coyotes have four of our top 55 prospects (though none in the top 30). They were also named as having the top draft of 2014 by pulling down Perlini, and 6 more of our top 100 ranked prospects. Overall this shows the tremendous depth the Coyotes are building.
That depth is highlighted outside their top prospects where Mark Visentin and Brendan Burke lead the way in goal. On defense, Connor Murphy, Cade Fairchild, and James Melindy provide depth behind Gormley. The forwards also have talent with Tobias Reider, Lucas Lessio, and Laurent Dauphin showing potential.
Overall the system is one of the best in the league. The difference between the Coyotes and those ahead of them? The lack of a true elite talent. They have the blue chip guys, but true elite is on another level.
4) Anaheim Ducks (A)
In Jon Gibson, the Ducks feature a player who we feel is the best goaltending prospect in hockey. They also picked up the 10th overall pick in a trade with Ottawa, and we feel that got a real steal in Nick Ritchie, who is a throwback to the days of Gary Roberts, Cam Neely, and other power wingers who could score and intimidate.
There is real depth at forward with William Karlsson, Nic Kerdiles, and Nick Sorenson all having solid seasons at their current level. Richard Rackell is getting his feet wet in North America, but this center brings offensive potential along with a two way game. One high-end prospect missed nearly the entire year following a knee ligament tear during practice, as Stefan Noesen had played just two AHL games before getting hurt.
Further down the depth chart, Max Friberg and Kevin Roy are talented offensive players who have size issues. On defence, Shea Theodore led the WHL in scoring by a defenseman this year, and Marcus Patterson was an excellent second round pick. Keaton Thompson also a solid freshman season at North Dakota and Josh Manson is a solid defensive defenseman at North Dakota. The team could be deeper on defense, but its a minor issue. They have two stud prospects and a ton of depth, giving the Ducks an A rating.
3) New York Islanders (A)
Islanders drafts in recent years have been all about addressing organizational needs, and while we personally believe that taking the best player available is the best draft strategy, its hard to argue with the Isles when they have had the good fortune to see the best player available often be at a position of need.
Take this year for instance. There was concern about the Islanders depth and lack of high-end talent in the system on the wings, but that was addressed with the drafting of Michael dal Colle at fifth overall and Joshua Ho-Sang later in the first round. Add in the trade that brings them Sebastian Collberg, and the conversion of Anders Lee from center to left wing, and that issue is solved. The Isles next two picks were used to add a pair of goaltenders to the system.
In 2012, the Islanders drafted defense heavy and got Griffin Reinhart, Ville Pokka, and Adam Pelech. 2013 first-rounder Ryan Pulock is the offensive stud of the bunch though. However the real elite prospect here is Ryan Strome, who was tearing up the AHL with 49 points in 37 games as a rookie last year, bunched around two NHL stints. We think he’ll be a full time NHLer this year.
So, the team boasts two elite talents (Strome and Dal Colle), a few blue chippers (Pulock, Reinhart, Ho-Sang, Pokka, Collberg, Lee), and depth at all positions. The Barclays Center Islanders should be significantly improved over the team that has been in Nassau for the last decade (And one more year).
2) Tampa Bay Lightning (A+)
The only team with two prospects in our top ten also features our number one prospect overall in superstud Jonathan Drouin. Andrey Vasilevski was our number two rated goaltender. Behind Vasilevsky, the goaltending is extremely deep with Latvian Olympic Hero Krister Gudlevskis and Jaroslav Janus also in the system.
On defense, Slater Koekkoek is a top prospect who has the tools, but needs to stay healthy. He is joined by four 2014 draft picks (including first rounder Anthony DeAngelo) as well as Dylan Blujus, and Nikita Nesterov to form a solid group.
Meanwhile, the forwards behind Drouin include Adam Erne, Vladislav Namestnikov, Henri Ikonen, Jonathan Marchessault, and newly drafted Brayden Point. While not a prospect for our rankings (and not included in this grade) due to NHL games played, Brett Connolly had a solid AHL season and continues to knock on the door for the NHL team. He’s still just 22-years-old, which is easy to forget. The Bolts also had two Calder contenders in Tyler Johnson and Ondrej Palat. Overall, the team’s prospect group is led by the two absolute studs and features excellent depth in all positions earning the Lightning an A+ ranking.
1) Buffalo Sabres (A++)
The Buffalo Sabres have been bad at the NHL level for a few years now, but one thing they have done well is stockpile draft picks and prospects galore. This has resulted in the deepest prospect pool we have seen in the three years of our top shelf series, and with owning the Islanders 2015 first-rounder (along with their own), in what looks like an excellent draft class, there is more on the way.
Lets look at what they already have though. It all starts up the middle, where Sam Reinhart was the best forward in the 2014 draft, and has franchise center potential. Mikhail Grigorenko has some question marks but you can’t question his skill level. It will now be up to the new Sabres management team to manage his development better than their predecessors. JT Compher, Eric Cornel, Connor Hurley and Johan Larsson are also excellent prospects.
On the wings we see Joel Armia knocking on the door to an NHL spot. Nick Baptiste, Justin Bailey, Hudson Fasching, Brendan Lemieux, William Carrier, and Vaclav Karabacek are just some of the other top notch wing prospects.
On defense, Rasmus Ristolainen and Nikita Zadorov are studs, with Ristolainen just missing out on landing in our top 10 (11th). Add in Jake McCabe and Brycen Martin, along with the graduated Mark Pysyk, and you have the core of a future elite group.
In goal, the Sabres also feature depth and high-end talent with Andrey Makarov, Linus Ullmark, Nathan Lieuwenn, Matt Hackett, and newly drafted Jonas Johansson. The Sabres have a wealth of riches and could become an NHL powerhouse if their development team can get the most out of these players.
For the latest sports injury news, check out our friends at Sports Injury Alert.
Thank you for reading. Please take a moment to follow me on Twitter – @lastwordBkerr. Support LWOS by following us on Twitter – @LastWordOnSport – and “liking” our Facebook page.
Have you tuned into Last Word On Sports Radio? LWOS is pleased to bring you 24/7 sports radio to your PC, laptop, tablet or smartphone. What are you waiting for? GO!
Main Photo by Claus Andersen/Getty Images
