{"id":820111,"date":"2026-08-20T17:34:18","date_gmt":"2026-08-20T17:34:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/820111\/"},"modified":"2026-08-20T17:34:18","modified_gmt":"2026-08-20T17:34:18","slug":"nhls-best-prospects-an-essential-guide","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/820111\/","title":{"rendered":"NHL\u2019s best prospects: An essential guide"},"content":{"rendered":"

Red Light newsletter\u00a0\ud83c\udfd2\u00a0| This is\u00a0The Athletic\u2019s\u00a0hockey\u00a0newsletter.\u00a0Sign up here<\/a>\u00a0to receive Red Light directly in your inbox.<\/p>\n

Good morning to everyone except all the players who turned 23 this year and can\u2019t be in our prospect rankings<\/a> anymore. Welcome to being old, fellow codgers. Somebody get Matthew Knies a rocking chair. Hike up those pants, Matty Beniers. Prepare to get really into weather-tracking apps, Owen Power. Father Time comes for us all, and he\u2019s undefeated.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\n (Illustration: Demetrius Robinson \/ The Athletic; Photos: Ezra Shaw, Michael Reaves, Matthew Stockman \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n

The FutureHappy prospect ranking week<\/p>\n

It\u2019s been a big week for our hockey coverage, with prospects expert Corey Pronman<\/a> dropping his annual rankings of each team\u2019s pipeline of players 22 and younger.<\/p>\n

You can find the full ranked list here<\/a>, and as always, your favorite team is ranked way too low. (If Corey actually watched the games, he\u2019d know your team\u2019s sixth-round pick is an elite prospect even though he holds his stick the wrong way and once played an entire playoff game with his skate guards on.) Many people think this is because Corey hates their favorite team, but that\u2019s not true. It\u2019s that he hates you, personally. You know what you did.<\/p>\n

All joking aside, Corey spends a ton of time putting his rankings together, and the level of detail<\/a> for each team is impressive. Luckily for us, he still found some time to answer a few questions for Red Light readers.<\/p>\n

While we don\u2019t want to spoil all the suspense, it\u2019s no surprise San Jose tops the list<\/a>, given it just added an impressive draft haul to a system that already has Macklin Celebrini and plenty more. Just how high can the Sharks\u2019 ceiling be?<\/p>\n

\ud83d\udcac Pronman: \u201cThe hardest piece to find is a star No. 1 center. Celebrini looks a lot like how Sidney Crosby did at the same age. The Sharks don\u2019t have an Evgeni Malkin type as well, but they are a very deep and talented young team. They have the makeup of a potential Cup contender in the moderate future.\u201d<\/p>\n

One thing that stands out at the top of your list is that seven of the eight highest-ranking teams are in the West. We know about names such as Connor Bedard and Leo Carlsson, but is there a name in that group that you think fans out east should be paying more attention to?<\/p>\n

\ud83d\udcac Pronman: \u201cUtah feels like a team on the cusp. It has a strong roster and a high-end collection<\/a> of young players. Not all of them will be able to play for the Mammoth, who have the chips to make a big play.\u201d<\/p>\n

The one top-eight exception in the East is the Montreal Canadiens, who ranked third<\/a> among teams and have three of the top 11 players on today\u2019s overall list. Given that they\u2019re already coming off a 106-point season where they won two playoff rounds, just how screwed is the rest of the conference for the next decade or so?<\/p>\n

\ud83d\udcac Pronman: \u201cYou would think they would be screwed if Florida wasn\u2019t a thing and Toronto didn\u2019t just get the No. 1 pick and Buffalo wasn\u2019t also very young. Montreal has the most promising outlook, though, of any team in the East \u2014 by a fair margin.\u201d<\/p>\n

Thanks to Corey for that. Now it\u2019s time for you to head over and find out where your team ranked<\/a> and how each of its top 22-and-under players breaks down by potential future impact.<\/p>\n

And if the team rankings aren\u2019t enough, don\u2019t forget to check Corey\u2019s tiered ranking of 156 young players<\/a> from around the league, as well as a special ranking of the top players drafted outside the first round<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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\n The Calder Trophy. (Christopher Hanewinckel \/ Imagn Images)<\/p>\n

\ud83d\udca1 Trivia Time<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s keep the prospect theme going, with a nod toward Corey\u2019s ranking of players drafted outside the first round. In the cap era, how many players can you name who were not first-round draft picks but went on to win the Calder Trophy as NHL rookie of the year?<\/p>\n

A few hints: There\u2019s one recent winner you should probably get fairly quickly. There are multiple European winners who didn\u2019t come over to the NHL until years after being drafted. And don\u2019t forget about the goaltenders.<\/p>\n

Answer at the bottom.<\/p>\n

Coast to Coast<\/p>\n

\ud83e\udd2f Macklin Celebrini is the first hockey player not named Wayne Gretzky to have his card sell for more than $1 million. The Sharks superstar \u2014 at just 20 years old \u2014 is one of only 33 players across five sports who\u2019ve had one or more of their cards sell for at least $1 million. The sale price of his Upper Deck Young Guns Gold Outburst? A cool $1.28 million<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\ud83d\uddf3\ufe0f How confident are you in your team\u2019s front office? Tapping into the collective opinion of our well-informed subscribers, we quantified that confidence, or lack thereof. The Hurricanes are no surprise at No. 1, but it gets very interesting<\/a> after that.<\/p>\n

\ud83e\udd98 If you\u2019re like me and you\u2019ve ever wondered why NHL teams bother testing how high a player can jump, check out this fascinating piece<\/a> from Fluto Shinzawa.<\/p>\n

\ud83d\udc76 Every fanbase is unique, but one thing unites us all: the lingering belief that every random rookie who debuts against our team absolutely lights them up<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\ud83d\udea8 Jesse Granger checks in from the star-studded U.S. national goaltending symposium, where the vibes around American goalies couldn\u2019t be any better<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\ud83d\udcfa Julian McKenzie has the news of the end of the barrier-breaking \u201cHockey Night in Canada: Punjabi Edition\u201d after 18 years on the air<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\ud83e\udd2b Arpon Basu weighs in on the pressing offseason question in Montreal: Why were the Habs so quiet?<\/a><\/p>\n

\ud83c\udf99\ufe0f It\u2019s a big week for \u201cThe Athletic Hockey Show\u201d as Pronman has a full breakdown of all 32 teams\u2019 prospect systems. Plus, on a separate episode, the guys deep dive into Corey\u2019s under-23 player rankings and Scott Wheeler\u2019s first 2027 NHL Draft ranking of the year. Listen or watch here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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\n Dylan Larkin. (Bruce Bennett \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Losing the PlotNHL\u2019s forgotten storylines<\/p>\n

One of the most frustrating things that can happen as a TV fan is getting invested in a storyline on your favorite show, only to have the writers and producers just kind of \u2026 forget about it. As a viewer, you\u2019re left sitting there thinking \u201cWait, didn\u2019t that used to be important?\u201d<\/p>\n

Luckily, the NHL\u2019s script writers rarely fall into this trap. If they introduce some random waiver-wire pickup<\/a> early on, it\u2019s probably going to be important by the end of the season<\/a>.<\/p>\n

But every now and then, they introduce what seems like a major plotline and then just kind of abandon it for a while. That\u2019s been a theme of the offseason so far, where a bunch of seemingly crucial stories from early summer are still just kind of sitting there as we head into late August.<\/p>\n

Here are three that come to mind. If you\u2019re an NHL writer, consider this your gentle reminder to get going.<\/p>\n

1\ufe0f\u20e3 Team USA exodus<\/p>\n

The setup: In the aftermath of their Olympic win, all of Team USA\u2019s star players apparently got together in a group chat and decided to demand trades. Zach Werenski, Dylan Larkin, Brady Tkachuk and Connor Hellebuyck were all going to be on the move. Tkachuk went first, heading to join his brother in Florida, leaving three more big names to drive the summer trade market.<\/p>\n

But then \u2026 Werenski appeared to change his mind, pulling himself off the market, at least for now<\/a>. Hellebuyck was apparently close to being dealt to the Sabres at the draft, but it fell through and his trade talk<\/a> has since gone quiet. As for Larkin, he still hasn\u2019t been traded, and now we\u2019re not even sure who would be trading him<\/a>, because \u2026<\/p>\n

2\ufe0f\u20e3 Red Wings\u2019 new GM<\/p>\n

The setup: The shocking news of Steve Yzerman\u2018s ouster<\/a> as Wings GM came in mid-July, leading to all sorts of speculation about what would come next, how it would affect Larkin and what it would mean about what the floundering Red Wings were even trying to do.<\/p>\n

But then \u2026 over a month later, and \u2026 nothing yet<\/a>. Detroit is the only team in the league without a GM, leaving not just Larkin but basically its entire 2026-27 plans in limbo. Meanwhile, we\u2019ve yet to so much as hear from Yzerman himself on the move.<\/p>\n

3\ufe0f\u20e3 Resetting of the blue-line market<\/p>\n

The setup: With Cale Makar and Quinn Hughes both needing extensions, the clock was ticking on two contracts that would no doubt blow the lid off of Erik Karlsson\u2019s league-high $11.5 million cap hit for defensemen. The question was not just who would get what, but who\u2019d go first and how long it would all take.<\/p>\n

But then \u2026 crickets so far, with neither player re-signing or even sounding like he\u2019s all that close. Instead, it was Bowen Byram who got to temporarily assume Karlsson\u2019s throne<\/a>. That\u2019s fine as far as Hughes and Makar go \u2014 they\u2019re both under contract for the coming season, so in theory they\u2019ve got 10 months to get deals done. But with everyone else watching and waiting, we\u2019re still trying to figure out which blue-line shoe will be the first to drop.<\/p>\n

Mix in a handful of remaining UFAs, such as Patrik Laine and Vladimir Tarasenko, plus the ongoing Cutter Gauthier drama<\/a>, and there\u2019s still some work left to be done for the NHL\u2019s 32 GMs. Well, 31 until the Wings get moving.<\/p>\n

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\n Lane Hutson. (Ezra Shaw \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Trivia Answer<\/p>\n

Of the 21 cap-era Calder Trophy winners, only four were not first-round picks.<\/p>\n

Those players were:<\/p>\n

2024 winner Lane Hutson, a second-round pick in 2022
\n2021 winner Kirill Kaprizov, a fifth-round pick in 2015
\n2016 winner Artemi Panarin, who was undrafted
\n2009 winner Steve Mason, a third-round pick in 2006<\/p>\n

Even with our goaltending hint, I\u2019d be impressed if you got Mason. He remains the only goalie to win the Calder in the cap era, although four have been runners-up, most recently Dustin Wolf in 2025.<\/p>\n

Questions, comments or corrections? We\u2019d love to hear your feedback. Email us at redlight@theathletic.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\ud83d\udceb Love Red Light? Check out The Athletic\u2019s other newsletters<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Red Light newsletter\u00a0\ud83c\udfd2\u00a0| This is\u00a0The Athletic\u2019s\u00a0hockey\u00a0newsletter.\u00a0Sign up here\u00a0to receive Red Light directly in your inbox. Good morning to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":820112,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[66],"tags":[385,99],"class_list":["post-820111","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-nhl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/820111","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=820111"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/820111\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/820112"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=820111"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=820111"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=820111"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}