Welcome to the 2015 edition of Top Shelf Prospects. As the summer progresses, I will be featuring each NHL team’s top prospects, following the order of the first round of the 2015 NHL draft (as if there were no traded draft picks) —you can find all the articles here.
Because we already published an extensive NHL Draft preview, I will not be reviewing the players who were drafted in 2015, as my reports on them will not have changed — I will, however, link you to those articles. Instead I will focus on prospects that were acquired in past drafts, examining their progress and their chances of making the 2015-16 roster of their respective NHL team. I will also choose one sleeper pick – a player who was either drafted in the fourth round or later, or was an undrafted free agent signing who I pick as a darkhorse to make the NHL.
For those wondering, the determining factors for defining who is or isn’t a prospect is typically about 50 NHL games played or being 25 years old. These are not set in stone, and I may make some exceptions depending on the circumstances.
2015 NHL Organizational Prospect Rankings Top 10
Click on the team name to see a full report.
For teams 30-21 click here.
For teams 20-11 click here.
10. Anaheim Ducks: In John Gibson the Ducks have one of the best goalie prospects in hockey. In Nick Ritchie they have an intriguing power forward prospect who combines goal scoring talent with toughness in a way that few NHL players do. In Shea Theodore there is a young defender with offensive upside and two way play. That trio puts the Ducks squarely in our top 10. Behind them are some depth prospects who could be decent NHL players, but if you are looking for high upside, we’ve already listed them. On defence, Josh Manson played in 23 games for the Ducks last year, and could stick with the team out of camp this year. They also are developing Brandon Montour and added Jacob Larsson through the draft. Up front some players to keep an eye on include Nicolas Kerdiles, Stefan Noesen, Kevin Roy, Ondrej Kase, Nick Sorensen and newly drafted Julius Nattinen.
9. Chicago Blackhawks: The rich get richer. Marko Dano was excellent in Columbus after being called up, and Artemi Panarin put up monster numbers in the KHL last year. The Hawks added some serious talent this summer. They join a group with Nick Schmaltz, Ryan Hartman and Philip Danault who have top 6 potential, while Mark McNeil, Tyler Motte and John Hayden provide depth. Graham Knott was a good pickup in the draft. On defence, Ville Pokka and Trevor van Riemsdyk are both knocking on the door of NHL spots. The problem area is in goal where the Hawks have little to speak of.
8. Detroit Red Wings: Dylan Larkin and Anthony Mantha are high potential forwards, and the addition of Evgeny Svechnikov at the NHL draft was an excellent one. Teemu Pulkkinen is one of Detroit’s classic “over ripe” prospects who could make an impact on the NHL team this season. Andreas Athanasiou also had a strong first pro campaign. Tyler Bertuzzi, Axel Holmstrom, Zach Nastasiuk, and Dominic Turgeon are excellent depth. The Wings defence is impressive with Xavier Ouellet, Ryan Sproul, and Alexei Marchenko at the pro level, and all looking very close to NHL ready. Joe Hicketts looks solid in junior, and adding Robbie Russo was a coup. In goal, Peter Mrazek is no longer considered a prospect, but they do have another player with potential in Jake Patterson in the pipeline.
7. Tampa Bay Lightning: Andrei Vasilevskiy is the top goaltending prospect in the world, even if he will miss time with blood clots. On defence, Anthony DeAngelo won defenceman of the year in the CHL, and Slater Koekkoek showed great progression in his first year of pro hockey. Nikita Nesterov is still technically a prospect, but looks to have found a full time place in the NHL. That’s a strong trio of defence prospects. Up front, Adam Erne was nearly a goal per game scorer in the QMJHL playoffs, while Brayden Point was a part of Team Canada’s gold medal winning world junior team last year, and is expected to get a big role on this year’s club. The 2015 NHL draft selections of Mitchell Stephens and Dennis Yan added to a strong forward group.
6. Toronto Maple Leafs: The Leafs hope that Mitch Marner and William Nylander become stars in the future, and the two have shown the potential. There is still a major question looming on both, are they wingers or are they centres? A centre is way more valuable than a winger, and if both successfully make the transition, the Leafs prospect pool looks better. Two prospects who will stay on the wing are Kasperi Kapanen and Connor Brown. Kapanen was the main return in the Phil Kessel deal, and Brown was the AHL leader for rookie points. An excellent draft added a number of highly skilled, undersized forwards to the fold as well. On defence, Travis Dermott and Rinat Valiev are quality defenders in junior, but beyond Stuart Percy there isn’t much in terms of defenders with top 4 potential playing for the Marlies. Scott Harrington could become a third pairing guy. Antoine Bibeau shows some potential between the pipes, but there are still questions on his rebound control. Overall the system should continue to improve, as the Leafs will likely be trading more players for prospects and picks over the course of the NHL season.
5. Arizona Coyotes: The Coyotes had another outstanding draft, adding a potential franchise centre in Dylan Strome, and made some great value picks in Nick Merkley, Christian Fischer, and Kyle Capobianco. Up front they also have stud prospects in Max Domi and Anthony Duclair who were two-thirds of a deadly trio for team Canada at the World Juniors last year. Brendan Perlini is a force in junior and should be a big part of this year’s Canadian Junior team. There is also plenty of depth behind these forwards with players like Christian Dvorak, Anton Karlsson, Lucas Lessio, Brendan Shinnimin, and Laurent Dauphin showing potential. The defence needs an injection of talent, as there seems to be a bunch of depth here but no real high potential. Philip Samuelsson, Dysin Mayo, Klas Dhalback and James Melindy provide that depth. Louis Domingue does give the squad a top notch goalie prospect though.
4. Buffalo Sabres: The team has two potential franchise centres in Jack Eichel and Sam Reinhart. The forward group also has Hudson Fasching, Nick Baptiste, Justin Bailey, Phil Varone, Vaclav Karabacek and William Carrier developing nicely. On the blueline, Jake McCabe and Brycen Martin are a pair of up and coming defence prospects, and there is plenty of depth beyond them in Chad Ruhwedel, and Brendan Guhle. In goal there is no standout prospect but Andrey Makarov, Linus Ullmark and Cal Petersen all show potential. Years of pain are finally going to start paying off for the Sabres who still rank in our top 5 despite trading away a number of prospects and picks in deals to get Evander Kane, Ryan O’Reilly, and Robin Lehner in the past 8 months.
3. New York Islanders: In Michael Dal Colle, Joshua Ho-Sang, Mathew Barzal and Anthony Beaulivier, the Islanders have a deep and talented forward group. There is also still some hope that Sebastian Collberg, Kirill Petrov, and Johan Sundstrom can develop. Ryan Pulock is a stud blueliner, and there is depth at that position with Mitchell Vande Sompel, Scott Mayfield, Adam Pelech and Parker Wotherspoon. In goal, Linus Soderstrom and Ilya Sorokin are strong goalie prospects. Beyond that, the team already had a lot of prospect depth, and added more in the recent Michael Grabner trade.
2. Winnipeg Jets: This is perhaps the deepest group of prospects in the NHL. Nikolaj Ehlers and Josh Morrissey are amongst the best prospects in hockey at their positions. Nic Petan has been a real steal, and shows high end potential despite his small size. A strong draft added Kyle Connor, Jack Roslovic, and Jansen Harkins to the mix, while Joel Armia and Brendan Lemieux were added in trades this year. They join a forward group that has Andrew Copp, Scott Kosmachuk, and Chase De Leo as depth. On the blueline there is Jan Kostalek, Ben Chiarot, Jack Glover, and Brendan Kichton. Connor Hellebuyck and Eric Comrie give the team two high end goalie prospects. The system is full of high end, high ceiling prospects, and is well stocked at every position.
1. Edmonton Oilers: Connor McDavid is a generational prospect. He is the best junior player I have seen come through the pipeline since Sidney Crosby. In terms of value, if you get outside of maybe the top 5 teams on this list, you could have a team offer all their prospects up for McDavid, and I would still say that would be a bad trade for Edmonton. Add in two elite prospects in Leon Draisaitl and Darnell Nurse, along with a pretty good prospect in Griffin Reinhart, and they have the best 1-4 top prospects in the NHL. Again going back to trade value, that’s a group 1-4 that you could offer me any other team on this list, their entire prospect pool for those four players, and if I was Peter Chiarelli, I’d have to say no. With prospects like Anton Slepyshev, Iiro Pakarinen, Tyler Pitlick, Bogdan Yakimov, Laurent Broissoit, and Dillon Simpson, you have some depth here as well, though it’s not the usual depth we see out of our number one ranked team in previous editions of this list. For 2015 though, the Oilers earn this rank through the top end talent in the system. It’s overwhelming in terms of value.
