We’ve ranked the top 100 prospects (skaters) along with the top 30 goalie prospects. Now how do the teams stack up against each other when it comes to their respective prospect pools in terms of quality and depth. A team of prospect-focused writers here at THW have collaborated to rank NHL franchises on this basis.
Coast to Coast and Across the Pond
To get a broad perspective of hockey’s next ones, we combined the rankings of the following to come to a consensus:
- East Coast: Eldon MacDonald – based in Atlantic Canada, E-Mac has a widespread knowledge of the hockey prospect world with a focus on the QMJHL and the OHL. Always an essential draft resource, check out his War Room 2016 NHL Draft Prospect Tracker.
- Joseph Aleong is a prospects writer for THW from Toronto, Ontario.
- Zach Hopkins is based out of Philadelphia
- West Coast: Yours truly – based in Calgary, I get to see the WHL up close and personal along with the Hockey Canada based events. Follow The Next Ones series as the hockey season unfolds.
- Across the Pond: Dennis Schellenberg – THW’s unique European perspective, based out of Switzerland. He recently attended the Ivan Hlinka Memorial tournament.
In the table highlighting the rankings the aggregate rankings are on the left. We’ve also left in each contributor’s rankings for comparison. While we agreed upon the placement of many teams (e.g. Jets, Blue Jackets, Canucks, and Sharks), there were several teams that were polarizing. For instance:
- The Calgary Flames were ranked as high as 8th and as low as 20th.
- The Pittsburgh Penguins were ranked as high as 12th and as low as 23rd.
- The most divergence of opinion was with the Ottawa Senators who were ranked as high as 12th and as low as 28th.
Prospect Criteria
We settled on the following subjective criteria when considering the teams’ prospect pools:
- Age: 25 years old or younger
- Has not established himself as a NHL regular
- To clarify further, if they were in the NHL the last quarter of the season and not sent to the minors or CHL at season’s end, then they are no longer a prospect.
- Must be drafted or signed by a NHL team
NHL Team Prospect Pools Power Rankings
Summer 2015
Note: Teams with completed Top 10 Prospect Rankings are in bold and hyperlinked.
| # | Team | CR | EM | JA | ZH | DS | # Top 100 Prospects | # Top 30 Goalies |
| 1 | Jets | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 8 | 2 |
| 2 | Coyotes | 2 | 3 | 6 | 3 | 2 | 6 | 0 |
| 3 | Oilers | 3 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 6 | 4 | 0 |
| 4 | Islanders | 5 | 9 | 4 | 5 | 3 | 5 | 2 |
| 5 | Sabres | 4 | 6 | 3 | 6 | 8 | 3 | 1 |
| 6 | Maple Leafs | 6 | 8 | 5 | 8 | 4 | 5 | 0 |
| 7 | Red Wings | 7 | 2 | 9 | 9 | 5 | 4 | 0 |
| 8 | Flyers | 9 | 5 | 8 | 4 | 7 | 6 | 1 |
| 9 | Blue Jackets | 10 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 9 | 4 | 1 |
| 10 | Canucks | 11 | 10 | 13 | 11 | 10 | 5 | 1 |
| 11 | Flames | 8 | 16 | 11 | 10 | 20 | 4 | 2 |
| 12 | Bruins | 13 | 13 | 21 | 12 | 18 | 2 | 2 |
| 13 | Capitals | 14 | 15 | 18 | 15 | 15 | 2 | 2 |
| 14 | Avalanche | 12 | 11 | 23 | 13 | 22 | 2 | 2 |
| 15 | Lightning | 16 | 25 | 12 | 16 | 13 | 4 | 1 |
| 16 | Predators | 18 | 26 | 10 | 18 | 11 | 2 | 1 |
| 17 | Sharks | 17 | 19 | 17 | 17 | 16 | 4 | 0 |
| 18 | Blues | 19 | 18 | 19 | 19 | 14 | 3 | 3 |
| 19 | Stars | 24 | 14 | 14 | 14 | 24 | 4 | 0 |
| 20 | Penguins | 23 | 20 | 15 | 22 | 12 | 2 | 2 |
| 21 | Ducks | 26 | 23 | 16 | 21 | 19 | 2 | 0 |
| 22 | Canadiens | 21 | 17 | 25 | 23 | 21 | 3 | 1 |
| 23 | Senators | 15 | 12 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 2 | 1 |
| 24 | Hurricanes | 20 | 29 | 20 | 20 | 27 | 2 | 1 |
| 25 | Blackhawks | 25 | 21 | 24 | 24 | 25 | 2 | 0 |
| 26 | Wild | 22 | 27 | 27 | 26 | 17 | 3 | 0 |
| 27 | Panthers | 27 | 22 | 22 | 25 | 29 | 2 | 0 |
| 28 | Rangers | 29 | 28 | 28 | 28 | 26 | 1 | 3 |
| 29 | Devils | 28 | 24 | 29 | 29 | 30 | 2 | 1 |
| 30 | Kings | 30 | 30 | 30 | 30 | 23 | 1 | 0 |
- 8th column: figures from Hockey’s Next Ones: Top 100 NHL Prospects
- 9th column: figures from Hockey’s Next Ones: Top 30 NHL Goalie Prospects
For further team prospect pool breakdowns, stay tuned as we work through our top 10 rankings for each team. In the meantime, we’re happy to take questions via the comments section below. We will hyperlink all top 10 rankings articles on this page as they are completed.
Related Articles
- 2016 NHL Draft Rankings: The Next Ones Preliminary Edition
- Who’s set to invade the Top 100 Prospects next season?
- NHL Draft Rankings: Top 60 Prospects for Fantasy Hockey
- From the 2015 draft class