The 2022 NHL Draft is the third class we will review this week in our series looking back at recent drafts. 2022 wasn’t considered the most exciting at the top, but the drama of Montreal having the No. 1 pick while hosting the draft, along with the uncertainty surrounding it, made it one of the most exciting draft days in recent memory. Players eligible for this exercise had to have actually been drafted in the draft class mentioned, regardless of their first year of eligibility.
Tier 1: NHL All-Star
RankPlayerPosDraft PositionTeam
1
Juraj Slafkovský
RW
1
Montreal
Tier 2: Bubble star and top of lineup
RankPlayerPosDraft PositionTeam
2
Logan Cooley
C
3
Utah
Tier 3: Top-of-the-lineup player
RankPlayerPosDraft PositionTeam
3
Shane Wright
C
4
Seattle
4
Lane Hutson
D
62
Montreal
Entering the 2022 draft, there was a fierce debate as to which of Logan Cooley, Juraj Slafkovský or Shane Wright was the top prospect. They are still the top three players from this class, although Cooley and Slafkovský have distinguished themselves more than Wright since the draft. The biggest mover is Lane Hutson, who vaults up into the top five coming off his Calder Trophy-winning season after being a late second-round pick.
Tier 4: Bubble top and middle lineup
RankPlayerPosDraft PositionTeam
5
Frank Nazar
C
13
Chicago
6
Conor Geekie
RW
11
Tampa Bay
7
Jimmy Snuggerud
RW
23
St. Louis
8
Marco Kasper
C
8
Detroit
9
Cutter Gauthier
LW
5
Anaheim
10
Simon Nemec
D
2
New Jersey
11
Maveric Lamoureux
D
29
Utah
12
Danila Yurov
RW
24
Minnesota
13
Ivan Miroshnichenko
LW
20
Washington
Tier 5: Middle-of-the-lineup player
RankPlayerPosDraft PositionTeam
14
Denton Mateychuk
D
12
Columbus
15
Kevin Korchinski
D
7
Chicago
16
Sam Rinzel
D
25
Chicago
17
Lian Bichsel
D
18
Dallas
18
Liam Öhgren
LW
19
Minnesota
19
Jonathan Lekkerimäki
RW
15
Vancouver
20
Jiri Kulich
C
28
Buffalo
21
Noah Östlund
C
16
Buffalo
22
Filip Bystedt
C
27
San Jose
23
Pavel Mintyukov
D
10
Anaheim
24
Rutger McGroarty
C
14
Pittsburgh
25
Matt Savoie
C
9
Edmonton
26
Seamus Casey
D
46
New Jersey
27
Jani Nyman
RW
49
Seattle
28
Fraser Minten
C
38
Boston
29
Tristan Luneau
D
53
Anaheim
30
David Jiříček
D
6
Minnesota
31
Isaac Howard
LW
31
Edmonton
The top 10 of this draft is a bit jumbled, given the up and down play of top picks Simon Nemec, David Jiříček, Kevin Korchinski and Pavel Mintyukov the last few years.
Tier 6: Projects to play NHL games
RankPlayerPosDraft PositionTeam
32
Owen Beck
C
33
Montreal
33
Elias Salomonsson
D
55
Winnipeg
34
Elias Pettersson
D
80
Vancouver
35
Dans Locmelis
C
119
Boston
36
Ryan Greene
C
57
Chicago
37
Noah Laba
C
111
New York Rangers
38
Victor Mancini
D
159
Vancouver
39
Joakim Kemell
RW
17
Nashville
40
Artyom Duda
D
36
Utah
41
Arseni Koromyslov
D
120
St. Louis
42
Cameron Lund
C
34
San Jose
43
Nathan Gaucher
C
22
Anaheim
44
Reid Schaefer
LW
32
Nashville
45
Matthew Poitras
C
54
Boston
46
Luca Del Bel Belluz
C
44
Columbus
47
Klavs Veinbergs
C
224
Tampa Bay
48
Jorian Donovan
D
136
Ottawa
49
Anton Johansson
D
105
Detroit
50
Owen Pickering
D
21
Pittsburgh
51
Maksymilloan Szuber
D
163
Utah
52
Brad Lambert
C
30
Winnipeg
53
Vinzenz Rohrer
C
75
Montreal
54
Alex Bump
LW
133
Philadelphia
55
Nikita Grebenkin
LW
135
Philadelphia
56
Kirill Dolzhenkov
RW
109
Columbus
57
Samuel Jonsson
G
158
Edmonton
58
Topias Leinonen
G
41
Buffalo
Tier 7: Has a chance to play games
RankPlayerPosDraft PositionTeam
59
Ryan Chesley
D
37
Washington
60
Jackson Dorrington
D
176
New York Rangers
61
David Goyette
C
61
Seattle
62
Hunter Haight
C
47
Minnesota
63
Kenny Connors
C
103
Los Angeles
64
Jordan Gustafson
C
79
Vegas
65
Isaiah George
D
98
New York Islanders
66
Tomas Hamara
D
87
Ottawa
67
Frédéric Brunet
D
132
Boston
68
Daniil Orlov
D
110
New Jersey
69
Jagger Firkus
RW
35
Seattle
70
Jack Devine
RW
221
Florida
71
Dmitri Buchelnikov
LW
52
Detroit
72
Joey Muldowney
RW
172
San Jose
73
Quinn Finley
LW
78
New York Islanders
74
Sandis Vilmanis
LW
157
Florida
75
Josh Filmon
LW
166
New Jersey
76
Adam Engström
D
92
Montreal
77
Niklas Kokko
G
58
Seattle
78
Sergei Murashov
G
118
Pittsburgh
79
Amadeus Lombardi
C
113
Detroit
80
Matyas Sapovaliv
C
48
Vegas
81
David Spacek
D
153
Minnesota
82
Ty Nelson
D
68
Seattle
83
Simon Forsmark
D
101
Carolina
84
Noah Warren
D
42
Anaheim
85
Jordan Dumais
RW
96
Columbus
86
Gavin Hayes
LW
66
Chicago
87
Rieger Lorenz
LW
56
Minnesota
88
Vsevolod Komarov
D
134
Buffalo
89
Kirill Kudryavtsev
D
208
Vancouver
90
Mattias Hävelid
D
45
San Jose
91
Viktor Neuchev
LW
74
Buffalo
92
Sergei Ivanov
G
138
Columbus
93
Ty Young
G
144
Vancouver
94
Tyler Muszelik
G
189
Florida
(Illustration: Demetrius Robinson / The Athletic; Top photos: David Kirouac, Rob Gray / Imagn Images, Bruce Bennett / Getty Images)
Sep 10, 2025
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