San Jose Sharks center Macklin Celebrini has been ranked as the top under-23 player in the NHL, edging out Chicago Blackhawks phenom Connor Bedard in the latest prospect evaluation. The comprehensive rankings, released by The Athletic’s Corey Pronman, evaluate players 22 years old or younger as of September 15, 2025.<\/p>\n
Celebrini, the 2024 first overall pick, leads an elite tier that includes only himself and Bedard. The 19-year-old center from San Jose represents the future of the Sharks organization following their rebuild efforts.<\/p>\n
Bedard, despite his exceptional rookie campaign, slots into second place in the rankings. The 20-year-old Chicago center continues to be viewed as a generational talent but trails Celebrini in long-term projection.<\/p>\n
The second tier features eight players classified as “NHL All-Star” caliber, including Anaheim Ducks center Leo Carlsson, Columbus Blue Jackets center Adam Fantilli, and New Jersey Devils defenseman Luke Hughes. Notable entries include Philadelphia Flyers winger Matvei Michkov and Montreal Canadiens forward Ivan Demidov.<\/p>\n
Players are evaluated using tool grades across skating, puck skills, hockey sense, and compete level. The rankings span prospects from the 2021 through 2025 NHL Drafts, providing insight into organizational depth.<\/p>\n
Third-tier prospects include several players already making NHL impacts. Dallas Stars center Wyatt Johnston and Seattle Kraken center Matty Beniers represent established young talents, while recent draft picks like Sharks center Michael Misa show tremendous upside.<\/p>\n
The evaluation focuses on projected professional careers rather than immediate readiness, explaining why some current NHL contributors rank belows easoned prospects with higher ceilings.<\/p>\n
Complete Top-50 Under-23 NHL Rankings
Tier 1 (Elite NHL Player)
1. Macklin Celebrini, C, Sharks
2. Connor Bedard, C, Blackhawks<\/p>\n
Tier 2 (NHL All-Star)
3. Leo Carlsson, C, Ducks
4. Adam Fantilli, C, Blue Jackets
5. Luke Hughes, D, Devils
6. Matvei Michkov, RW, Flyers
7. Juraj Slafkovsk\u00fd, RW, Canadiens
8. Zeev Buium, D, Wild
9. Matthew Schaefer, D, Islanders
10. Ivan Demidov, RW, Canadiens<\/p>\n
Tier 3 (Bubble NHL All-Star)
11. Dylan Guenther, RW, Utah
12. Logan Cooley, C, Utah
13. Wyatt Johnston, C, Stars
14. Michael Misa, C, Sharks
15. Sam Dickinson, D, Sharks
16. Porter Martone, RW, Flyers
17. Mason McTavish, C, Ducks
18. Matty Beniers, C, Kraken
19. Will Smith, C, Sharks
20. Berkly Catton, C, Kraken
21. Caleb Desnoyers, C, Utah
22. Artyom Levshunov, D, Blackhawks<\/p>\n
Tier 4 (Top of Lineup Player)
23. Kent Johnson, LW, Blue Jackets
24. James Hagens, C, Bruins
25. Shane Wright, C, Kraken
26. Anton Frondell, C, Blackhawks
27. Owen Power, D, Sabres
28. William Eklund, LW, Sharks
29. Jake O’Brien, C, Kraken
30. Zayne Parekh, D, Flames
31. Carter Yakemchuk, D, Senators
32. Beckett Sennecke, RW, Ducks
33. Anton Silayev, D, Devils
34. Lane Hutson, D, Canadiens
35. Matthew Knies, LW, Maple Leafs
36. Victor Eklund, RW, Islanders
37. Roger McQueen, C, Ducks<\/p>\n
Tier 5 (Bubble Top\/Middle Lineup Player)
38. Logan Stankoven, RW, Hurricanes
39. Ryan Leonard, C, Capitals
40. Brady Martin, C, Predators
41. Kashawn Aitcheson, D, Islanders
42. Nate Danielson, C, Red Wings
43. Cole Hutson, D, Capitals
44. David Reinbacher, D, Canadiens
45. Frank Nazar, C, Blackhawks
46. Simon Edvinsson, D, Red Wings
47. Conor Geekie, C, Lightning
48. Jimmy Snuggerud, RW, Blues
49. Jackson Smith, D, Blue Jackets
50. Dmitriy Simashev, D, Utah<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"San Jose Sharks center Macklin Celebrini has been ranked as the top under-23 player in the NHL, edging…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":115921,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[433],"tags":[49,48,4409,448,4410,4408,4407,82],"class_list":["post-115920","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-national-hockey-league-news","tag-nhl","tag-nhl-fantasy-news","tag-nhl-news","tag-nhl-rumors","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115920","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=115920"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115920\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/115921"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=115920"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=115920"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=115920"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}