Welcome to the 2024 edition of my ranking of the NHL’s best prospects at The Athletic.
This two-piece, twice-a-year project ranks the league’s top drafted skaters and top drafted goalies (released tomorrow). This year, the two rankings have expanded from 50 skaters and 10 goalies to 75 skaters and 15 goalies, and are now packaged for the first time in our new user interface.
Ten prospects who appeared in the last installment of this ranking (released last summer) are now considered graduated. They are: Connor Bedard, Adam Fantilli, Leo Carlsson, Logan Cooley, Luke Hughes, Kevin Korchinski, Pavel Mintyukov, Marco Rossi, Alexander Holtz and William Eklund. My definition of a prospect and criteria for inclusion can be found on the landing page for this year’s 32 prospect pool rankings.
GO DEEPER
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This edition of my top 75 drafted prospects ranking includes 29 players from the 2023 draft, 25 from 2022, 14 from 2021, four from 2020, and three from 2019. It is made up of 55 forwards and 20 defensemen (of which nine are lefties and 11 are righties).
The Red Wings, Blue Jackets and Predators lead the way with five ranked prospects each. Four teams don’t have a prospect on the list: the Islanders, Senators, Panthers and Golden Knights. The Islanders and Senators also don’t have a prospect among the 40 honorable mentions.
Below are full scouting reports on all 115 prospects, broken down into tiers.
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Tier 1
On talent, upside and pedigree, Michkov looks like he’s going to be a prolific, point-producing star in the NHL. The pedigree is two of the most productive teenaged seasons in KHL history, a goal per game in the MHL a full year out from his draft year, and record-chasing international play at the Youth Olympics, Hlinka Gretzky Cup and under-18 worlds while playing with the draft class in front of his in each.
The player’s brilliance comes primarily from his ability to make his decisions quickly and execute on them with incredible proficiency, whether that’s ripping a patterned shot (his one-timer, his standstill wrister, his curl-and-drag, etc.), a quick move into a pass, a sudden stop-up, an attacking cut, or the use of some ingenious spatial awareness and creativity.
But he’s also sneaky-sturdy for his size (5-foot-10), which allows him to extend plays when he needs to, hang onto pucks when an immediate opportunity attack isn’t there, or delay for his linemates. And while he shines in moments more than in long stretches of dominant play or prolonged carries, those short moments and the consistency of his execution within them (despite being freakishly talented, he makes very few mistakes with the puck) create a uniquely high-reward, somehow low-risk game when the puck’s on his stick despite a tendency to come and go when it’s not. When he tries things — and he often does — he’s never trying them out of desperation but rather intention. He’s a rare kind of player who he’s got A-grade offensive tools across the board (without being an explosive skater, though he is more agile than he has sometimes been credited). Still, he’s also got a smartness and efficiency to his attacking that is incredibly rare for a skilled player (especially one his age). He’s not the hardest-working player defensively, nor the fastest skater, but he always seems to be lurking around the play (and the puck) anyway and his skill level pops from there with game-breaking quality. I believe he has point-per-game, lead-a-team-in-scoring NHL upside.
Photo:
Brian Babineau / NHLI via Getty Images
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