C<\/a><\/p>\nPlayer Ranking<\/p>\n
1. Mackie Samoskevich, RW<\/p>\n
November 15, 2002 | 5-foot-11 | 181 pounds | Shoots right<\/p>\n
Drafted: No. 24 in 2021
Tier: Middle of the lineup player<\/p>\n
Skating: NHL average
Puck skills: Above NHL average
Hockey sense: NHL average
Compete: NHL average
Shot: High-end<\/p>\n
Analysis: Samoskevich became a full-time NHL player this season for Florida with some very good stretches of play. He\u2019s a talented winger with a lot of NHL offensive traits. He\u2019s a quick skater with very good hands who can create scoring chances with speed. He also has an excellent shot and is a threat to score from range. Samoskevich has improved his effort over time, but he does still tend to stay too much on the outside of the offensive zone. He projects as a middle-six scoring winger.<\/p>\n
2. Linus Eriksson, C<\/p>\n
March 23, 2006 | 6-feet | 190 pounds | Shoots left<\/p>\n
Drafted: No. 58 in 2024
Tier: Projected to play NHL games<\/p>\n
Skating: NHL average
Puck skills: NHL average
Hockey sense: NHL average
Compete: High-end<\/p>\n
Analysis: Eriksson bounced between the Allsvenskan and SHL for Timra and played a limited role for Sweden at the World Juniors. You\u2019ll never watch Eriksson and come away thinking how impactful he was offensively, but coaches tend to trust him. He\u2019s a worker bee who plays a reliable two-way game and projects as a pro center. He\u2019s a good skater and puck handler who makes enough plays. He\u2019s not that big, but he plays hard and has the potential to be a fourth-line NHL center.<\/p>\n
3. Simon Zether, C<\/p>\n
October 18, 2005 | 6-foot-3 | 187 pounds | Shoots right<\/p>\n
Drafted: No. 129 in 2024
Tier: Projected to play NHL games<\/p>\n
Skating: Below NHL average
Puck skills: NHL average
Hockey sense: NHL average
Compete: Above NHL average
Shot: Below NHL average<\/p>\n
Analysis: Zether was good versus men in the Allsvenskan. He\u2019s a big center who has a good enough skill level and can make difficult plays with the puck. He doesn\u2019t have great speed, but he can beat defenders wide due to his hands, frame and willingness to attack the middle. Zether competes well and can play both ways. The big debate about him with scouts is the aforementioned skating issues and exactly how much offense is in his game\/the level of hockey IQ he has. I think it\u2019s good enough for him to potentially be a fourth-line forward.<\/p>\n
Has a chance to play*<\/p>\n
Gracyn Sawchyn is a forward with a ton of skill and good enough pace. He\u2019s not that big, though, and his compete is average. Jack Devine lit up college hockey. He\u2019s a very smart playmaker with legit NHL puck play, but he\u2019s a small, awkward skater. Mads Kongsbak Klyvo plays a fast, competitive style of play with minor questions on his overall level of offense.<\/p>\n
Shea Busch, LW<\/p>\n
June 12, 2007 | 6-foot-2 | 214 pounds | Shoots left | Drafted: No. 128 in 2025<\/p>\n
Jack Devine, RW<\/p>\n
October 2, 2003 | 6-feet | 181 pounds | Shoots right | Drafted: No. 221 in 2022<\/p>\n
Denis Gabdrakhmanov, G<\/p>\n
June 22, 2005 | 6-foot-5 | 194 pounds | Catches left | Drafted: No. 201 in 2024<\/p>\n
Olof Glifford, G<\/p>\n
March 5, 2005 | 6-foot-5 | 198 pounds | Shoots left | Drafted: No. 159 in 2023<\/p>\n
Stepan Gorbunov, C<\/p>\n
August 11, 2006 | 6-foot-5 | 196 pounds | Shoots left | Drafted: No. 169 in 2024<\/p>\n
Mads Kongsbak Klyvo, LW<\/p>\n
May 3, 2007 | 6-foot-2 | 194 pounds | Shoots left | Drafted: No. 112 in 2025<\/p>\n
Tyler Muszelik, G<\/p>\n
July 1, 2004 | 6-foot-3 | 194 pounds | Catches left | Drafted: No. 189 in 2022<\/p>\n
Gracyn Sawchyn, C<\/p>\n
January 19, 2005 | 6-feet | 154 pounds | Shoots right | Drafted: No. 63 in 2023<\/p>\n
Matvei Shuravin, D<\/p>\n
March 22, 2006 | 6-foot-2 | 172 pounds | Shoots left | Drafted: No. 97 in 2024<\/p>\n
Hunter St. Martin, LW<\/p>\n
June 13, 2005 | 6-foot-2 | 185 pounds | Shoots left | Drafted: No. 193 in 2024<\/p>\n
Sandis Vilmanis, LW<\/p>\n
January 23, 2004 | 6-foot-2 | 192 pounds | Shoots left | Drafted: No. 157 in 2022<\/p>\n
* Listed in alphabetical order<\/p>\n
Player eligibility: All skaters who are 22 years old or younger as of Sept. 15, 2025, regardless of how many NHL games they\u2019ve played, are eligible. Player heights and weights are taken from the NHL.<\/p>\n
Tool grades: Tool grades are based on a scale with six separate levels, with an eye toward how this attribute would grade in the NHL (poor, below-average, average, above-average, high-end and elite). \u201cAverage\u201d on this scale means the tool projects as NHL average, which is meant as a positive, not a criticism. Skating, puck skills, hockey sense and compete for every projected NHL player are graded. Shot grades are only included if a shot is notably good or poor.<\/p>\n
Tier definitions: Tiers are meant to show roughly where in an average NHL lineup a player projects to slot in.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
(Illustration: Will Tullos \/ The Athletic. Photo: Claus Andersen\u00a0\/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The only legit top young player left in this pipeline is Mackie Samoskevich, Florida\u2019s first-round pick from 2021.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":109554,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[66],"tags":[4820,385,99],"class_list":["post-109553","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-florida-panthers","tag-nhl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109553","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=109553"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109553\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/109554"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=109553"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=109553"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=109553"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}