Lord Stanley
Revoluccion Leader
Our last top 20 was done roughly a year ago. The criteria for the list is as follows. A skater is a prospect if he’s played less than 25 NHL games in a campaign (regular season and playoffs combined), or less than 50 games total. Last years rank inside (*)
Not a lot of hockey has happened since we last posted our top 20 list, however there are some changes due to graduations, trades, draft and based off of some of the play which has happened.
1: Alexander Romanov (2)
Last year he was 2nd on my list but I had really struggled with the decision between him and Hayton. So far he’s off to a pretty solid start to his NHL career averaging 18:53 of ice time, including seeing time on both the power play and in short handed situations.
2: Barrett Hayton (1)
After a gutsy performance at last years World Juniors where he led Canada to a gold medal I ranked him 1st on this list. So far this year he’s seeing bottom six minutes in Arizona and struggling to hit the score sheet. He has improved his face-off percentage and his possession metrics are up.
3: Liam Foudy (new)
Acquired towards the deadline last year from the Panthers for Paul Stastny. Foudy really impressed in a two game emergency call up and then again in the NHL playoff bubble. So far this season he’s played 11 games, but was just sent to the taxi squad after the Jackets acquired Laine and Roslovic.
4: Owen Tippett (5)
Feels like Tippett has been around for a long time, but he’s just about to turn 22 years old. He’s struggled to get ice time with the Panthers this year and was recently sent to the taxi squad. Even at just 21 years old it feels a little bit like time may be running out for Owen in Florida to become an impact scorer.
5: Rasmus Kupari (6)
Hasn’t played yet since writing this list last year, except for some AHL exhibition games. He suffered a knee injury in his first game of the World Juniors last year. All reports so far seem to point to Kupari being fully recovered and looking good so far in AHL exhibition games and training camp.
6: Dustin Wolf (14)
I drafted him in the 4th round of the 2019 draft, after he had a dazzling season with Everett. His size seemed to have turn teams away from drafting him earlier in the NHL Draft as he feel to the 7th round. Last year he won CHL goalie of the year and has only played in 2 games this year at the World Juniors where he didn’t allow a goal. He has signed a entry level contract with the Flames and is on the AHL roster once the Canadian division gets going. The Flames affiliate has moved from Stockton to Calgary for this year at least.
7: Egor Zamula (7)
After an impressive World Juniors last year it was revealed that Zamula had been playing with a back injury which required surgery and ended the rest of his season. He has yet to play in any games since the injury but is expected to play top 4 minutes in the AHL once that season gets going for the Flyers affiliate.
8: Matias Maccelli (9)
He had a breakout season last year in Liiga after I drafted him in the 5th round. He has continued his solid play this year with a slight uptick in his offensive contributions. Maybe we will see him in the AHL later this year or next year.
9: Sam Colangelo (new)
Has played much since being drafted this past summer. He was the 13th forward for team USA at the World Juniors, and has only played 4 games so far for Northeastern in the NCAA.
10: Roni Hirvonen (new)
A player we were excited to get in the 3rd round this past summer similar to Colangelo we had ranked in the 2nd round. Hirvonen had a strong showing at the World Juniors. So far in Liiga he’s put up 12 points in 29 games with Assat which places him 5th in scoring amongst players U20 in the league.
11: Eemil Viro (new)
12: Pyotr Kochetkov (new)
13: Jack Finley (new)
14: Trent Frederic (new)
15: Semyon Chistyakov (20)
16: Serron Noel (11)
17: Michael Teply (12)
18: Mads Sogaard (13)
19: Yegor Spiridonov (17)
20: Otto Koivula (15)
Honorable Mentions: Calle Clang, Jesper Sellgren, Cam Hillis, Stelio Mattheos, Ty Emberson, Artyon Zub, Bogdan Trineyev, Mackenzie Entwistle, Patrick Harper, Logan O’Connor.
The players ranked 11 through our honourable mentions we feel give us a good mix of prospects that are in some cases close to full time NHL duty or just guys with decent potential to be solid contributors down the road for an NHL club. Our list overall isn’t as strong as last year, but this seems like a fairly solid group with the potential to provide quite a few NHL players. What it does lack is potential star power with the exception of possibly Romanov and arguably Hayton but he is looking less likely to become a top line center.
Not a lot of hockey has happened since we last posted our top 20 list, however there are some changes due to graduations, trades, draft and based off of some of the play which has happened.
1: Alexander Romanov (2)
Last year he was 2nd on my list but I had really struggled with the decision between him and Hayton. So far he’s off to a pretty solid start to his NHL career averaging 18:53 of ice time, including seeing time on both the power play and in short handed situations.
2: Barrett Hayton (1)
After a gutsy performance at last years World Juniors where he led Canada to a gold medal I ranked him 1st on this list. So far this year he’s seeing bottom six minutes in Arizona and struggling to hit the score sheet. He has improved his face-off percentage and his possession metrics are up.
3: Liam Foudy (new)
Acquired towards the deadline last year from the Panthers for Paul Stastny. Foudy really impressed in a two game emergency call up and then again in the NHL playoff bubble. So far this season he’s played 11 games, but was just sent to the taxi squad after the Jackets acquired Laine and Roslovic.
4: Owen Tippett (5)
Feels like Tippett has been around for a long time, but he’s just about to turn 22 years old. He’s struggled to get ice time with the Panthers this year and was recently sent to the taxi squad. Even at just 21 years old it feels a little bit like time may be running out for Owen in Florida to become an impact scorer.
5: Rasmus Kupari (6)
Hasn’t played yet since writing this list last year, except for some AHL exhibition games. He suffered a knee injury in his first game of the World Juniors last year. All reports so far seem to point to Kupari being fully recovered and looking good so far in AHL exhibition games and training camp.
6: Dustin Wolf (14)
I drafted him in the 4th round of the 2019 draft, after he had a dazzling season with Everett. His size seemed to have turn teams away from drafting him earlier in the NHL Draft as he feel to the 7th round. Last year he won CHL goalie of the year and has only played in 2 games this year at the World Juniors where he didn’t allow a goal. He has signed a entry level contract with the Flames and is on the AHL roster once the Canadian division gets going. The Flames affiliate has moved from Stockton to Calgary for this year at least.
7: Egor Zamula (7)
After an impressive World Juniors last year it was revealed that Zamula had been playing with a back injury which required surgery and ended the rest of his season. He has yet to play in any games since the injury but is expected to play top 4 minutes in the AHL once that season gets going for the Flyers affiliate.
8: Matias Maccelli (9)
He had a breakout season last year in Liiga after I drafted him in the 5th round. He has continued his solid play this year with a slight uptick in his offensive contributions. Maybe we will see him in the AHL later this year or next year.
9: Sam Colangelo (new)
Has played much since being drafted this past summer. He was the 13th forward for team USA at the World Juniors, and has only played 4 games so far for Northeastern in the NCAA.
10: Roni Hirvonen (new)
A player we were excited to get in the 3rd round this past summer similar to Colangelo we had ranked in the 2nd round. Hirvonen had a strong showing at the World Juniors. So far in Liiga he’s put up 12 points in 29 games with Assat which places him 5th in scoring amongst players U20 in the league.
11: Eemil Viro (new)
12: Pyotr Kochetkov (new)
13: Jack Finley (new)
14: Trent Frederic (new)
15: Semyon Chistyakov (20)
16: Serron Noel (11)
17: Michael Teply (12)
18: Mads Sogaard (13)
19: Yegor Spiridonov (17)
20: Otto Koivula (15)
Honorable Mentions: Calle Clang, Jesper Sellgren, Cam Hillis, Stelio Mattheos, Ty Emberson, Artyon Zub, Bogdan Trineyev, Mackenzie Entwistle, Patrick Harper, Logan O’Connor.
The players ranked 11 through our honourable mentions we feel give us a good mix of prospects that are in some cases close to full time NHL duty or just guys with decent potential to be solid contributors down the road for an NHL club. Our list overall isn’t as strong as last year, but this seems like a fairly solid group with the potential to provide quite a few NHL players. What it does lack is potential star power with the exception of possibly Romanov and arguably Hayton but he is looking less likely to become a top line center.
