With the top 50 prospects ranking done, and hockey seasons well underway worldwide, it is time to rank each NHL team’s prospect pipeline.

The criteria for a player to be included in the prospect pool are the same as for the prospect ranking: Any player who is under 23, with under 50 NHL games played, is eligible for this list. The rankings are done by assigning a value to each of the prospects based on his NHL projection and taking the cumulative value of each team’s prospects. That means some teams with many prospects might rank higher than others with fewer, but more talented, prospects. A tie goes to the pipeline with the higher-quality prospects.

Counting down from No. 32 all the way to No. 1, here’s the lay of the land for NHL team prospect pipelines for the 2025-26 season:

Last season: 27

Following back-to-back Stanley Cups and three Cup Final appearances in as many years, the Panthers are exactly where they desire to be and will have no qualms about it.

Trading prospects and picks away to win Stanley Cups is the easiest decision — when it works. It has worked famously well for the Panthers of late, but it leaves them with a very depleted pipeline. Not a single player is expected to become an impactful NHLer, and most are long shots to play.

Gracyn Sawchyn is far and away their best prospect, and has skill and confidence to develop into a middle-six player. Jack Devine and Shamar Moses have NHL depth potential, but are likely to be a few years away. Marek Alscher is an intriguing defensive prospect, with the size and defensive ability to fill a bottom-pairing role for the Panthers in the future.

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Last season: 31

Conor Geekie isn’t eligible for this ranking, or the Lightning might have moved up a few spots.

Sam O’Reilly, who was acquired in the Isaac Howard trade, is the Lightning’s best opportunity at a middle-six, impact player. He’s a well-rounded, two-way center capable of contributing offense and shutting down the opponent’s best. Learning from Anthony Cirelli is going to be huge for his NHL transition.

The two Ethans, Czata and Gauthier, have NHL potential, and are most likely to be third-line, offensive contributors. Dylan Duke is NHL-ready and should be a contributor in the middle six with a relentless, checking play style.

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Last season: 22

The Stars have had plenty of success finding players late in the draft, but without many draft picks recently, accruing value is difficult.

Still, the Stars extracted tremendous value getting Cameron Schmidt in the 2025 draft. If he were 3 inches taller, he would’ve been a top-15 pick. Schmidt is unsettlingly fast and generates scoring chances through his skating. If his offensive toolbox of skating, shooting and playmaking translates, he’ll be a top-six forward.

Samu Tuomaala should carve out a bottom-six role as soon as next season for the Stars. Emil Hemming and Brandon Gorzynski have potential to become bottom-six NHL players, with Hemming representing the best chance of an impactful depth player.

Aram Minnetian is the lone defender projected to play NHL games after the Stars dealt Christian Kyrou to Philadelphia. Minnetian’s skating and skill with the puck should see him become a No. 4/5 defender who exits the zone cleanly and disrupts offense.

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Last season: 30

The Oilers have three players who are going to play NHL games and, if slotted properly, should be impactful players. Outside of that … it is bleak.

Isaac Howard is playing in the NHL and has 30-goal potential. To unlock that, playing him consistently with Connor McDavid or Leon Draisaitl will be necessary. He’s a good skater who can keep pace, shoots the puck well and brings some physicality on the forecheck. Ideally, he turns into “Zach Hyman lite.”

Matt Savoie is a smaller forward with high-end offensive abilities. He’s another perfect complement to McDavid or Draisaitl and could provide secondary offense, something the Oilers desperately need.

Beau Akey is the lone NHL-projectable defenseman outside of the NHL for the Oilers. He moves very well, making him dangerous in transition, and he defends very well in transition. If he starts to consistently engage physically, he could be a shutdown defender on the Oilers’ second pair.

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Last season: 24

After the Avs’ traded away their most valuable prospect in Cal Ritchie, their pipeline took a major hit. It leaves them with two forward prospects with NHL potential in the middle six.

Gavin Brindley started the season with Colorado before getting hurt, but he made things happen when he was on the ice and endeared himself to his coach. He would benefit from some more AHL time, but there is a middle-six, all-situations forward there if he develops properly. Sean Behrens is the other forward prospect with middle-six potential, but he is likely two to three years away.

Mikhail Gulyayev is a tantalizing defensive prospect with good transition defense and untapped offensive capability. He needs to play in North America to develop the offense further and realize his NHL potential as a middle-pairing defender.

Ilya Nabokov has legitimate potential to be an NHL starter and is certainly someone who can split time with a 1A goaltender. He moves in a controlled and powerful manner, cuts the angle well, and is difficult to beat in breakaway situations. There’s something there for the Avs, who might have him on their roster next year.

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Last season: 20

Gone are the days of drafting prospects with special skill; in are the days of drafting big bodies, it seems. While both Easton Cowan and Ben Danford play physical, in-your-face hockey, they are also the Leafs’ most intelligent prospects in their on-ice decision-making.

Cowan is already playing NHL games, and likely carves out a long-term, second-line role as a scoring pest, although he was sent down to the AHL on Wednesday. Danford is a physical defender who should become a second-pair, shutdown guy in tough matchups.

Harry Nansi and Miroslav Holinka have increased their prospect value and projections with brilliant starts to the season. Nansi in particular has elevated his projection to a be middle-six forward with two-way ability and complementary offense. Holinka is most likely to be a bottom-six forward if his two-way play improves.

Luke Haymes and Tyler Hopkins have relatively confident projections as NHL depth players who might grow into third-line contributors. Defensively, Noah Chadwick and Victor Johansson represent organizational depth options in a year or two.

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Last season: 28

Vegas has a few players that are projected to play NHL games — but it’s unlikely those games will be for the Golden Knights, given the organization’s propensity to trade away draft picks and top prospects.

Trevor Connelly is a brilliantly skilled forward who is a reasonable bet to become a top-six option who can score and make plays. Jakob Ihs-Wozniak has an NHL-ready shot and very good playmaking ability. Whether he makes the NHL as a middle-six forward will be determined by improvement in his skating and competitive engagement.

Matyas Sapovaliv and Mathieu Cataford have bottom-six potential as checking, penalty-killing forwards with secondary offense if they improve their skating.

Carl Lindbom has earned his keep as one of the best young goaltenders in the AHL and has performed admirably in NHL appearances. His path to more NHL playing time was blocked with the signing of Carter Hart, elongating the 22-year-old’s path to the NHL. He has the tools to be a starter in the NHL and would help a few teams if he were to be traded.

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Last season: 29

Almost all of the Senators’ pipeline value is concentrated on defense. At this point, they should have the NHL’s best D corps in three years.

Carter Yakemchuk and Logan Hensler are both projected to become top-four defenders, with Yakemchuk’s offensive prowess expected to serve him well on the power play. Hensler’s defensive abilities could see him play a significant shutdown role in the NHL.

Tomas Hamara, Gabriel Eliasson and Jorian Donovan are longer shots to become NHL regulars but should provide value in depth roles.

Up front, Blake Montgomery and Javon Moore are big, reliable two-way players with offensive upside that could see them contribute in third-line roles, providing secondary scoring. Lucas Beckman is an intriguing prospect in goal because he has platoon starter potential as a 1B, but he needs to refine his techniques and movements to realize his potential.

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Last season: 19

The Devils have prospects at every position, but their standout prospects are on defense and in goal.

Anton Silayev and Seamus Casey both have comfortable projections in the NHL as middle- to bottom-pairing defenders. Silayev is a mammoth (6-7, 207 pounds) with high-end skating ability who thrives in physical battles. He’ll be best suited in a shutdown role on the middle pair.

Casey is an offensive catalyst who defends the rush very well and squeezes much larger opponents off the puck. His path in Jersey seems blocked by other similar defensemen, but Casey could be an interesting trade chip to an organization that needs mobile defenders. There is immediate No. 4/5 potential there.

Mikhail Yegorov is a strong candidate to develop into an NHL goalie with his size, athleticism and strong mental approach. He makes timely saves and doesn’t get rattled by the moment. Up front, Lenni Hameenaho, Shane Lachance and Ben Kevan have the best chance to become impactful third-line players who can contribute offensively.

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Last season: 23

The bulk of the Kings’ pipeline value can be attributed to three goaltenders with NHL potential. Carter George, Hampton Slukynsky and Petteri Rimpinen all have the skill and ability to become starting goaltenders, likely in platoon roles.

George and Slukynsky could form the tandem that becomes the Kings’ future in net, as soon as the 2027-28 season after Darcy Kuemper‘s contract expires. They are both that good.

Liam Greentree has a fair chance of developing into a dual-threat playmaker and finisher in the top six if he can improve his skating. Kristian Epperson, Koehn Zimmer and Kenny Conners have reasonable chances to become bottom-six forwards.

On defense, Henry Brzustewicz projects as a creative, play-driving, middle-pairing defender. He’s likely two years away, but he will add more mobility and creativity to the Kings’ blue line.

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Last season: 16

Gathering excellent value outside of the first round has allowed the Jets to have quite a few NHL prospects in the pipeline. In particular, the Jets have two forward prospects who should be impactful in middle-six roles.

Brayden Yager has an NHL-ready shot and developed his playmaking skills in the AHL last season. If he continues to develop his off-puck play, he should become an offensive contributor in the middle of the lineup. Brad Lambert is a speedy winger with good puck skills that are tough to defend in transition. If his defensive play continues to improve, he’s going to be a solid middle-six player.

Other forwards with opportunities to play depth roles include Colby Barlow, Kevin He, Kieran Walton, Nikita Chibrikov and Owen Martin.

Elias Salomonsson and Sascha Boumedienne are two Swedish defenders with middle-pair potential for the Jets. Salomonsson is more likely to play a bottom-pair role, where he can win secondary matchups. Ideally, Boumedienne hones his offensive skills and become a secondary power-play quarterback who can drive play.

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Last season: 21

The Canucks have been in the mushy middle for a while, but they have four prospects with potential to become impactful NHLers.

Braeden Cootes fills a significant organizational need for center, and while he made the team out of camp, the Canucks made the right choice in returning him to junior. He’s going to be a solid, middle-six center who produces secondary offense and drives play. Jonathan Lekkerimaki isn’t a complete boom-or-bust prospect, but his slight frame isn’t helpful to him if he’s anything but a top-line scorer. He’s certainly got the skill and shot to play in the NHL, but adding strength will increase his confidence to play in the middle.

Tom Willander already looks the part of a middle-pairing defender with shutdown ability, and he should be a key part of Vancouver’s blue line for years.

The Canucks were fantastic at developing goaltenders under Ian Clark, and while he has stepped back from day-to-day involvement, Alexei Medvedev is the type of goaltender who should thrive in his development system. He’s young, with excellent athleticism and skating ability, and has a strong chance to become an NHL goaltender.

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Last season: 7

It has been quite some time since the Sabres were this far down the prospect pipeline ranking, and unlimited lottery picks will certainly buoy the value of a prospect pool. Many of their high-end prospects (Zach Benson, Jiri Kulich, Devon Levi) have graduated.

The No. 9 pick this summer, Radim Mrtka is their best defensive prospect, and he projects to become a middle-pairing defender who drives play. Adam Kleber has No. 4/5 defender written all over him with his combination of size (6-6, 229 pounds) and skating ability.

Up front, there are three players with legitimate middle-six upside. Konsta Helenius and Noah Ostlund have the highest upside as second-line players, while Brodie Ziemer projects as a middle-six, secondary scorer. Helenius needs to find more offense to become a second-line center and would likely instead be one of the NHL’s best third-line centers with his two-way ability. Ostlund is best suited for the wing at the NHL level, and will need his dynamic playmaking ability to translate for him to be successful.

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Last season: 14

Gabe Perreault and Scott Morrow are the crown jewels of the Rangers’ prospect pool. Perreault has the offensive talent to be a top-six scorer in the NHL, as soon as next season. Morrow has the potential to become a middle-pairing, offensive play driver because of his brilliant skating and puck-handling ability.

Malcolm Spence and Brennan Othmann have third-line potential with bite, and they would complement Noah Laba perfectly. Laba has made a seamless transition to the NHL and is already playing in the role he’s best suited for in the middle six.

EJ Emery has a path to becoming a shutdown defender in a depth role. Sean Barnhill and Drew Fortescue are longer shots to become NHL defenders, but both have tools and are longer-term projects with projectable NHL traits.

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Last season: 32

Having James Hagens fall into their laps at No. 7 this summer certainly boosted the value of the Bruins’ pipeline. Hagens is more than likely to become a first-line center around whom Boston can build.

Acquired at the deadline last season, Fraser Minten is already filling a middle-six role and is likely to be a long-term third-line player. Dean Letourneau has the size and skill to become a middle-six forward who provides complementary offense, but he’s at least two years away.

William Moore and Fabian Lysell project to play NHL games and are most likely to contribute in middle of the lineup. Dans Locmelis impressed through camp and is off to a good start in his first AHL season. A bottom-six role does not seem to be out of the question.

Scoring over a point per game in the USHL, Cooper Simpson is off to a fantastic start. He’s two or three years away, but there is middle-six potential as a complementary scorer.

You might have noticed: The Bruins lack defensive or goaltending prospects, something they will need to address in the near future.

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Last season: 13

This is a well-rounded prospect pool with projectable players at every position, players with modest projections and players with high-risk, high-reward projections.

Brady Martin and Matthew Wood project to be second-line players, with Martin profiling as a playoff menace. Ryker Lee is a boom-or-bust type, where he’s a top-six offensive play driver if he hits and an AHL player if he doesn’t. Teddy Stiga and Yegor Surin have real potential as top-six forwards who complement skilled players because of their relentless play style, good speed and ability to make plays.

Ozzy Weisblatt, Cole O’Hara and Joey Willis are all reasonable bets to fill bottom-six roles, with Weisblatt starting to see NHL playing time.

On defense, Tanner Molendyk, Andrew Gibson and Jacob Rombach represent formidable options in middle- or bottom-pair roles. Jack Ivankovic has the tools to become the next Nashville goalie on the smaller side to steal games. If his skating improves and he develops on schedule, he can be a platoon starter in three years’ time.

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Last season: 25

A lot of eyebrows were raised when the Penguins drafted Ben Kindel 11th overall this summer, but he is well on his way to proving every doubter wrong. He has looked excellent thus far, making the Penguins out of camp and providing impactful minutes along the way. He’s well ahead of development schedule to be a scoring, top-six forward.

Ville Koivunen has made the jump to the NHL after a short stint lighting up the AHL. Koivunen is very smart, and his skating has improved to where becoming a middle-six, secondary scorer seems to be his most likely outcome.

Rutger McGroarty, William Horcoff, Tanner Howe and Bill Zonnon all bring complementary offensive games with strong two-way details that should lead to them contributing in the bottom six.

Harrison Brunicke and Owen Pickering are playing with the NHL club, and while they’re not tilting the ice in favor of the Penguins yet, they don’t look out of place either. Both are developing, and if they can minimize the mistakes, they have paths to becoming top-four defenders.

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Last season: 10

The Canes have graduated many of their top prospects, but a few remain, and they continue to draft well.

Bradly Nadeau leads the charge, and he is a relatively safe bet to become a top-six forward with an elite shot. Two other young forwards to be excited about in the middle six are Nikita Artamonov and Felix Under Sorum. Ivan Ryabkin is a major wild card. If he hits, he’s a second-line power forward; if he doesn’t, he probably won’t carve out a role in the NHL. Playing in the AHL will be good for his development.

Kurban Limatov and Dominik Badinka represent legitimate options in the middle pair who are big, physical and very mobile. Vladimir Grudinin and Charles-Alexis Legault have reasonable projections to become depth defenders, and Legault is already seeing NHL action. If either of those players can provide depth for the Canes on a consistent basis, it will be a major win.

Semyon Frolov has the tools to become a platoon starter in the NHL, with excellent athleticism and flexibility. If he can quiet his movements and play regularly while he develops, he could provide stability in goal.

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Last season: 4

There is a long list of prospects slated to become NHL players in this system. Emmitt Finnie was not high on that list, but he made the Red Wings out of camp and looks every bit the part of an NHL player this season.

Axel Sandin-Pellikka is already playing top-four minutes in an offensive role and looks every bit the part of a future offensive blue-line star.

Carter Bear projects to become a Swiss Army knife forward with top-six scoring ability and the type of guy you need to win in the playoffs. Nate Danielson and Michael Brandsegg-Nygard are tracking to become middle-six forwards with two-way play as their main calling card.

In goal, the Red Wings have two quality prospects in Trey Augustine and Sebastian Cossa. Both are excellent, and in an ideal world, form the type of 1A/1B tandem that Jeremy Swayman and Linus Ullmark rode to success for Boston. The Red Wings are headed in the right direction, as long as they continue to add young players who contribute to their lineup.

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Last season: 6

The Wild have done a fantastic job stocking the prospect cupboard through the last five years despite being consistent playoff participants. They draft for smarts, translatable skill sets and talent, and they are rewarded for it.

Zeev Buium is already an NHL defender and power-play quarterback, and there is plenty of room for growth. He’s on track to become a top-pairing, offensive dynamo. Jesper Wallstedt barely makes the age cutoff, but he’s one of the best goalie prospects and has potential to be a platoon starter right now.

Up front, the Wild are loaded with talent including NHL-ready talent in Danila Yurov and Liam Ohgren, who will contribute in the middle six as complementary pieces. Ryder Ritchie, Riley Heidt and Hunter Haight all have middle-six NHL projections with complementary scoring upside.

Caeden Bankier and Adam Benak are longer shots to become NHL players, but the toolbox is there for both of them with elongated development. Defensively, David Jiricek no longer qualifies for inclusion here due to games played, but he should be a middle-pairing defender and is worth mentioning. Carson Lambos and Aron Kiviharju are longer shots to become NHL defenders, but if they hit, they are top-four offensive catalysts and all you need is one of them to complement Zeev Buium and the blue line starts to look elite.

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Last season: 11

There are a lot of young, highly skilled forwards in the Kraken pipeline, which is exactly what their NHL lineup needs.

Jake O’Brien and Berkly Catton are on pace to become top-six offensive dynamos for the Kraken. Both possess high-end hockey sense and puck skill to execute plays that drive offense. It wouldn’t be surprising if both are on the top power-play unit as soon as next season.

Outside of those two, the Kraken have other forwards capable of filling middle-six roles and contributing offensively. Eduard Sale, Carson Rehkopf, Jani Nyman, Oskar Fisker Molgaard and Jagger Firkus all have potential to contribute in complementary offensive roles. Not all of them will get there, but two or three of them should.

Defensively, they lack a high-end prospect. Blake Fiddler, Caden Price and Lukas Dragicevic all have NHL potential, with Fiddler’s trajectory as a middle-pairing defender representing the Kraken’s best opportunity at an impact player. Price defends well by keeping players to the outside and exiting the zone with ease, which profiles him as a depth defender.

The Kraken have three goaltending prospects with NHL potential. Niklas Kokko is likely an NHL backup, while Kim Saarinen and Semyon Vyazovoi have platoon starter potential a few years down the road.

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Last season: 2

The Blue Jackets, buoyed by high-value prospects at the top of the pool, land just outside the top 10.

Cayden Lindstrom’s development has been marred by injury, but that has not altered his projection as a top-six forward who drives play with physical bite. Lindstrom is big, moves well, owns an excellent shot and should be an NHL contributor next season.

Jackson Smith is a well-rounded defender who should play top-four minutes and dictate play on both sides of the rink. If he continues to develop, there’s a chance he becomes a 60-point defender who shuts down the best players on other teams.

Stanislav Svozil and Charlie Elick have depth projections with an outside chance of middle-pairing minutes. Luca Del Bel Belluz, Owen Griffin and Luca Pinelli have third-line, complementary scoring potential.

In goal, Sergei Ivanov and Pyotr Andreyonov are a few years away, but both of them possess platoon-starter potential. The Blue Jackets have a well-rounded prospect pipeline with projectable players at every position.

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Last season: 12

The Blues have a plethora of forwards who are likely to be impactful NHLers, and a few more who can win minutes in bottom-six roles.

Justin Carbonneau, Jimmy Snuggerud and Dalibor Dvorsky are going to score in the NHL. They have clear paths to top-six roles, with skill and hockey IQ to match. Otto Stenberg, Tomas Mrsic and Juraj Pekarcik all have relatively confident projections as NHL players in bottom-six roles, with potential to provide offense in third-line duty.

On the blue line, Adam Jiricek and Theo Lindstein could form a fun middle pairing that provides offense while locking it down defensively. Both are at least a year or two away, but the tools are there. Lukas Fischer and Colin Ralph have depth-pairing potential and bring different skill sets. Fischer is more offensively calibrated, while Ralph is a physical menace who violently defends all over the ice. If two of the four play games for the Blues, that would be considered a win because there is no shortage of forwards expected to play.

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Last season: 17

The Caps have four players projected to play impactful minutes for them in their prospect pipeline.

Ryan Leonard is already an NHL player, and he looks like the right fit in the Capitals’ top six, a spot he will occupy for the foreseeable future. Lynden Lakovic and Ilya Protas are on track to become middle-six players, with ceilings as second-line scoring wingers. Andrew Cristall and Terik Parascak are longer shots, because they need top-six minutes to contribute offensively. Their path to that is a tough one but remains viable.

In the bottom six, Milton Gastrin and Eriks Mateiko have confident projections to become checking, two-way forwards.

Cole Hutson is tracking to become a top-four defender in the NHL and could step into the lineup at the end of his NCAA season. He’s brilliant with the puck, creating and facilitating offense in all situations. Ryan Chesley and Leon Muggli have a decent chance to become middle-of-the-lineup defenders if they can develop the puck skills, specifically Chesley’s retrievals and Muggli’s playmaking. They have projectable defensive qualities to become modern shutdown defenders.

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Last season: 15

The Flames’ top two prospects are with the big club, and it appears they will remain there.

Zayne Parekh is a dynamic offensive defenseman who will be quarterbacking the Flames’ power play for years to come. He’s a brilliant skater with the puck skill to match and has the potential to become one of the best offensive defensemen in the NHL.

Samuel Honzek is currently playing middle-six minutes. He’s likely to be a long-term center in the middle six who can contribute offensively.

The Flames have a plethora of forwards with middle-six scoring potential, including Cullen Potter, Matvei Gridin, Cole Reschny, Aydar Suniev and Andrew Basha. In the bottom six, Luke Misa and Jacob Battaglia have potential to provide reliable play with modest offensive contributions.

The two Henrys — Brzustewicz and Mews — have the tools and potential to become bottom-pairing defenders, with Brzustewicz owning the higher ceiling for his two-way play. The Flames have a well-rounded prospect pool, but they lack a projectable top-six forward.

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Last season: 18

The Flyers’ prospect pool has an identity, and that is tough to play against, physically imposing, low-risk players.

Porter Martone is the cream of the crop and is one of the smartest prospects outside the NHL. There is little doubt he will become a top-six dual-threat forward, especially if his skating improves.

Jett Luchanko and Alex Bump project to become complementary, middle-six NHL players with secondary scoring capability. Denver Barkey, Shane Vansaghi, Jack Murtagh and Jack Nesbitt all have ceilings in the middle six but are more likely to form an integral part of a bottom six that is physically punishing, relentless in puck pursuit and trusted to kill penalties.

On defense, Oliver Bonk is the Flyers’ best hope for a top-four defender who can play matchup minutes in a middle-pairing role. Carter Amico is a commanding presence who defends very well, kills plays in transition and is a nightmare to battle at the net front. If he continues to develop, he’s going to be a quality shutdown defender for the Flyers who plays big minutes.

If the prospect pipeline is any indicator, the Broad Street Bullies 2.0 Era is just around the corner.

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Last season: 5

Quack, Quack, Quack, Mr. Ducksworth! The young Ducks have been the surprise of the NHL season thus far, and their young players are carrying them.

Beckett Sennecke leads the way, already providing value in the middle six and the potential to leap into a top-line role as he matures. Roger McQueen has the potential to be a unicorn in the NHL at the center ice position if he can stay healthy.

Stop me if you’ve heard this before: The Ducks are loaded with defensive prospects. Not only are they the best at developing defensemen, but they also have a lot of them. Ian Moore missed the cutoff for this list, but Stian Solberg, Tarin Smith, Tyson Hinds and Noah Warren all project to become middle- or depth-pair defenders. Damian Clara has shown potential to be an NHL backup in goal, something the Ducks could use behind Lukas Dostal.

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Last season: 3

Ivan Demidov is special, and there is little doubt about his ability to become an NHL star: a top-line forward, offensive dynamo, get-you-out-of-your-seat kind of player.

Jacob Fowler is the other prospect in the Canadiens’ pipeline who projects to be a high-end NHL talent. Fowler is getting meaningful time in the AHL to develop into a starting goaltender and has the talent to do so.

Outside of those two, the Canadiens have plenty of players who project to become middle-of-the-lineup players at their respective positions. David Reinbacher’s development has been marred by injury, but he has a path to being a second-pair, shutdown defender. Michael Hage and Alxander Zharovsky are reasonable bets to become offensive contributors in the middle six, while LJ Mooney is a longer shot, but the potential is there.

Owen Beck, Oliver Kapanen and Hayden Paupanekis have paths to becoming bottom-six NHL players. Montreal has players in the pipeline to fill out the rest of the roster and is forging a path to a lengthy contention window.

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Last season: 8

A few lottery picks go a long way to bolstering the prospect pipeline, and if all goes to plan, Chicago is set at center, on defense and in goal.

Artyom Levshunov and Sam Rinzel are playing NHL minutes, and there is plenty of room for both players to develop into their roles as top-four defensemen. Much of Chicago’s prospect value is derived from the forward group, which features five players projected to play more than 200 NHL games: Oliver Moore, Sacha Boisvert, Vaclav Nestrasil, Nick Lardis and Marek Vanacker. Add in the upside of Mason West, Nathan Behm and Roman Kantserov and there is plenty to be excited about.

The crown jewel at forward is Anton Frondell, who is on track to become a high-end center in the NHL. Frondell is likely to be an NHL player as soon as next season and should be immediately impactful.

Not every player is going to fit the way the Blackhawks want, but they’ve given themselves plenty of shots at the dart board to get it right with their forward group and defensive core.

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Last season: 9

The mountain of draft picks accumulated by the Arizona Coyotes is starting to come to fruition in the NHL, just in time for the Mammoth to have an owner who is deeply invested in Utah’s success.

There are quality prospects at every position, starting with Dmitriy Simashev on defense. He is a bit of an actual mammoth at 6-6, and has the potential to become a premier shutdown defender in the NHL.

Tij Iginla, Caleb Desnoyers and Daniil But all have floors as middle-six forwards, with Iginla and Desnoyers projected to become high-end, second-line players. Maveric Lamoureux and Max Psenicka represent solid bottom-pair options with potential to play on the second pair.

Goaltender Michael Hrabel is off to a good start at UMass this season and has the potential to be a platoon starter for the Mammoth after developing in the AHL. Utah is well positioned to add young players to its lineup and be a perennial playoff team.

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Last season: 26

Using three first-round picks in a single draft will naturally elevate your prospect pool value. Having one of those prospects break a Bobby Orr record and become a vital part of the NHL blue line from the get-go is extra helpful.

Matthew Schaefer isn’t going to become an NHL star; he is one already. The question becomes: Can he get to Cale Makar/Quinn Hughes territory? There is a distinct possibility that he does.

Victor Eklund and Cal Ritchie possess top-six scoring potential in the NHL and could be ready for full-time roles next season. Add Cole Eiserman, Danny Nelson and Daniil Prokhorov to the mix in the middle six and the Isles should be in business with a blend of size, scoring and two-way ability. That trio could be a future third line, truthfully.

On defense, Kashawn Aitcheson and Jesse Pulkkinen are clear front-runners to play middle-pairing roles with the Isles and have a blend of size, skill and physicality that could prove nightmarish to play against. Their ceilings are sky-high — albeit with high boom-or-bust potential — and if they both hit, the Isles are set on defense for the next decade.

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Last season: 1

Given how many players were featured in the top 50 rankings, it should come as no surprise that the Baby Sharks make up the NHL’s top-ranked prospect pool.

Michael Misa and Sam Dickinson are already making an impact at the NHL level and are more likely than not to become NHL stars.

Outside of those two promising young talents, the Sharks have forwards Quentin Musty and Igor Cherynshov off to great starts at the AHL level. Both of them have potential middle-six ability.

Goaltender Joshua Ravensbergen has platoon-starter potential, which might fit perfectly with Yaroslav Askarov. Notably, Askarov missed the cutoff by a few months; otherwise, San Jose’s lead atop this ranking would have been a landslide.

Other valuable players in the Sharks’ prospect pool include Cam Lund, Kasper Halttunen, Luca Cagnoni and Haoxi Wang. Not every player is going to be an NHL star, but the Sharks have done a fantastic job of stockpiling players with high-end potential. They are going to be a very dangerous team for years to come.

LOS ANGELES — “We Are Young,” the pop-rock track that became his entrance song, blasted through the Dodger Stadium speakers one final time Monday afternoon, and Clayton Kershaw, with the sleeves already cut off his championship T-shirt, struggled to hold himself together.

“I told Freddie [Freeman] I’m gonna try not to cry today,” he said to a crowd of 52,703 who had assembled for yet another World Series parade, “but I don’t know if that’s going to work.”

The farewell season of Kershaw’s 18-year career had played out like a dream, from recording his 3,000th strikeout on the final pitch of his outing on July 3 to winning his last home start on Sept. 19 to being crowned champion — for a third time in six years — on Nov. 2. Now it was over, and the only words he seemed to find were “thank you,” a phrase he uttered 10 times in a speech that lasted 105 seconds.

Over the course of three decades, Kershaw, 37, had lifted the Los Angeles Dodgers franchise like no one else, so much so that part-owner and Lakers legend Magic Johnson compared his impact, on the field and throughout the L.A. community, to Kobe Bryant’s. He shaped culture, elevated expectations and served as a standard-bearer for an eventual dynasty, building a legacy that will endure long after his pitching career. But in this moment, it was Kershaw who was thankful.

“Last year, I said I was a Dodger for life,” said Kershaw, who announced his retirement on Sept. 18. “And today, that’s true. And today, I get to say that I’m a champion for life. And that’s never going away.”

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KERSHAW IS NOT just an icon for these Dodgers. He is a bridge — the one player who was there for the success of veteran-laden Dodgers teams in the early 2000s, saw them through the ugliness of former owner Frank McCourt’s bankruptcy in the years that followed and remained a fixture as the current group evolved from one that continually disappointed in October to one that now embodies the greatest era in franchise history.

Kershaw built the bulk of his Hall of Fame career in his 20s, during a nine-year stretch from 2009 to 2017 when he won 139 regular-season games, put up a 2.25 ERA, threw 1,827⅓ innings, collected three Cy Young Awards, claimed an MVP and accumulated 56.5 FanGraphs wins above replacement, more than any other pitcher. But his legacy has been built on perseverance — on the years that followed, when his fastball faded, the injuries piled up and the stress of throwing more often than anybody began to catch up to him.

From 2020 to 2025, Kershaw absorbed injuries to his back, elbow, forearm, shoulder and toe. His fastball came in five ticks slower than it did when he debuted. His ERA was still 2.90. Among the 96 pitchers who compiled at least 500 innings over the past six years, only three had a lower mark.

“He knows how to do all the little things and shows you he can still win ballgames, even with reduced stuff, which I love, because it just destroys all the minds of all the analytics and all the people who say you can’t pitch like this,” said Max Scherzer, one of few pitchers who can match Kershaw’s credentials. “He goes out and shows you, you can. We can’t model everything about pitching. Analysts don’t have all the answers. For me, when I see him go out there and do his thing like that, I love it because it gets to shut up a lot of people.”

When Kershaw signed his fourth consecutive one-year contract with the Dodgers in the middle of February, he was considered superfluous. By the time he rejoined the rotation three months later, and had fully recovered from the knee and toe injuries that plagued his previous season, he had become a necessity.

Blake Snell and Tyler Glasnow were on the injured list because of shoulder injuries that would force them to sit out a combined 27 turns through the rotation. Roki Sasaki had struggled mightily through his initial introduction to the major leagues. Shohei Ohtani had only begun to build back up as a starting pitcher. The bullpen had already been heavily taxed in an effort to make up for it all. By making competitive starts, Kershaw helped keep the Dodgers afloat.

“He pitched a lot of innings for us that we really needed,” Snell said. “He’s a big reason we won a lot of games.”

The average four-seam-fastball velocity in MLB jumped for the fifth straight year in 2025, up to 94.4 mph. Kershaw’s averaged 88.9 mph. At times, it hovered around 87, while paired with a slider that often lacked its necessary bite and backed by a loopy curveball that has become outdated in the modern game. And yet Kershaw succeeded. In 22 starts, he put up an 11-2 record and a 3.39 ERA.

“I did as well as I could’ve hoped this year, honestly,” Kershaw said.

That was never more true than in August, when Kershaw gave up six runs in 28⅔ innings, during which he gave up only one home run and issued three walks. At one point in that stretch, a prominent member of the Dodgers stated that Kershaw’s stuff was no longer even good enough to be drafted as an amateur, and yet he was rolling through some of the best competition in the world.

“At a time when velocity is king in baseball and everybody’s chasing it,” 25-year-old fellow starting pitcher Emmet Sheehan said, “it shows that being able to pitch and knowing what the hitter’s trying to do and keeping him off balance — it works.”

When September arrived, the Dodgers’ rotation had finally rounded back into form. Their starters posted a 2.07 ERA that month, by far the lowest in the sport. And when the playoffs came, it was clear that Snell, Yamamoto, Glasnow and Ohtani would make up the Dodgers’ rotation. Kershaw had long accepted that.

“The writing was kind of on the wall,” Kershaw said. “No matter how well I pitched, or started, for the season, we have four amazing starters. Obviously I would’ve been ready, but the way those guys are throwing the baseball, it’s really hard to argue with that.”

Knowing his on-field role in the postseason would change, Kershaw spent the final month of his career learning how to be a reliever — asking questions of those who know the trade, experimenting with different ways to stay loose and ultimately growing an appreciation for a role he’d never taken on for a sustained period.

Kershaw was barely called upon, but he was nonetheless useful. In Game 3 of the National League Division Series, he came back out for the top of the eighth because the Dodgers were basically left with no other options and took his lumps for an inning, allowing other arms to stay fresh for Game 4, which ended up being an 11-inning, series-clinching victory. Three weeks later, on Oct. 27, he recorded one of the biggest outs in what became the second-longest game in World Series history. While preparing to check into that game, Kershaw got up to throw off the bullpen mound three separate times.

“He’s handled this last month with class, professionalism,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “All the while, he’s always said that he wants to do anything he can to help the team. He’s followed through on that. All the stuff, finishing out the season and how everything kind of played out, was a lot on his plate. He handled it with grace. And then the kind of uncertainty of role going to the pen, he’s just fallen in line.”

For years, Kershaw seemed to put an entire organization on his back. Never was that more true than in the playoffs. He continually took the ball on short rest and pitched deeper into starts than he often should have, all in an effort to make up for what was lacking around him. His shortcomings — the four-inning start with the Dodgers facing elimination in 2013, the eight-run seventh inning in the playoff opener in 2014, the squandered four-run lead in Game 5 of the 2017 World Series, the back-to-back home runs in Game 5 of the 2019 NLDS — defined him, until he finally broke through as a champion in 2020. Since then, in what has felt like reparation, Kershaw has been the one held up by others.

It has given him gratitude. Also, closure.

“You want to be on the best team,” Kershaw said. “Yeah, there may be some opportunities where I could’ve started somewhere and been a part of a postseason run as a starter, but I want to be here, I want to be a Dodger, and that means being around the best group of guys. It makes a lot of sense to me that this is probably the right time to be done, when you’re not one of the best four when you’re perfectly healthy. I’m at peace with that, and I feel good about it.”

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HIGH-RANKING DODGERS officials say they believe Kershaw’s competitiveness with subpar stuff helped the team’s other starters establish more of an attack mentality. “If he can get outs like that,” the thinking went, “I definitely should.” His impact — the kind that will stick with the Dodgers as they attempt a three-peat next season — also showed up in other ways. Glasnow is one example.

At times, Glasnow found himself carrying bad starts with him a little longer than he’d like, to the point where he felt it affecting his focus thereafter. Starting pitchers follow a very stringent routine. The four to five days in between starts are crucial, and nobody made every minute of that window count more than Kershaw. His work ethic is legendary, but consistency is his hallmark, and Glasnow wanted to know how he didn’t let rough outings interrupt it. Kershaw’s advice: find a teammate who needs support.

“If I can help him,” Kershaw told him, “it makes me feel better.”

Glasnow called Kershaw “the most selfless pitcher,” a rarity for someone who has achieved so much.

“I think from other superstar people I’ve met, he’s kind of an anomaly in that sense,” Glasnow said. “And I think it’s the faith he carries. He really lives it. He really lives a really selfless life.”

Dodgers pitching coach Mark Prior said he saw Kershaw’s willingness to help others show up at a time when the pitching staff around him began to skew younger and when injuries began to make Kershaw ponder his longevity. It began with Walker Buehler, who arrived from a data-driven Vanderbilt program and opened Kershaw’s eyes to the importance of advanced analytics, and continued to a current staff filled by young pitchers such as Justin Wrobleski, Jack Dreyer and Sheehan.

Kershaw offered advice largely on strategy — how to get free strikes, when to attack the zone, where to throw certain pitches in certain counts and, in Wrobleski’s case, how to make best use of the time between innings. But most of his influence came through example.

“The best way that I learned growing up was not by a bunch of people yelling at me or talking to me in general,” Kershaw said. “It was just by observing and watching, and then questions kind of arised from that. That’s what I started to do. I started to watch guys maybe a little bit more.”

Early in his time with the Dodgers, Sheehan arrived in the clubhouse to find Kershaw already drenched in sweat from a workout. It made him want to arrive earlier. On road trips, he always made sure to catch the same bus Kershaw did. In high school, Dreyer, a 26-year-old left-hander from Iowa, created a side-by-side photo of Kershaw’s delivery and his and kept it in his camera roll to study. Since becoming his teammate, Dreyer has been struck by the amount of detail that goes into his preparation.

“It just puts into perspective what it takes to truly be great and to last a long time in this game,” Dreyer said.

Wrobleski, though, also noted its simplicity.

“It’s not like he’s doing anything crazy or doing anything super outlandish,” he said. “He’s hammering the nail every day, or making sure he’s hitting his checkpoints, never deviating from his thing and just kind of knowing what he needs to do to get ready for his next start and just doing it.”

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FREEMAN WORE THE PitchCom in his ear when Kershaw entered with the bases loaded, two outs and the score still tied in the 12th inning of Game 3 of the World Series. The first pitch was a slider that came in at 89.7 mph, and Freeman was stunned. Kershaw hadn’t thrown a slider that hard all season. For six consecutive pitches, the robotic voice in Freeman’s ear kept saying “slider.”

“Come on!” Freeman recalled thinking. “I wanna see how hard this fastball comes in.”

When a fastball was finally called, Kershaw threw it 91.9 mph, his hardest since the middle of the previous season. On the next pitch, another slider, he got Nathan Lukes to ground out, keeping the score tied. The Dodgers ultimately won on Freeman’s walk-off home run in the 18th inning, and that sequence wound up being not just the last time Kershaw pitched in a game at Dodger Stadium, but the last time he would pitch in any game ever.

“You can’t script that,” Kershaw said. “That’s so cool.”

Six days later, in the wee hours of Sunday morning, after the finale of one of the most thrilling World Series in recent memory, Kershaw still couldn’t believe his Dodgers had pulled through in Game 7 and defeated the Toronto Blue Jays to become the first team in a quarter century to repeat. He was still in shock, he said.

“But it’s just amazing. I couldn’t ask for anything more.”

The Dodgers had somehow survived 18 innings in Game 3, riding Will Klein — an unheralded, journeyman reliever who cracked the World Series roster only after a family emergency kept Alex Vesia off of it — for the final 12 outs. They later won back-to-back games in Toronto while facing elimination. When the Blue Jays put two on with one out while trailing by two runs in the ninth inning of Game 6, the Dodgers turned the first game-ending, 7-4 double play in postseason history. In Game 7, they needed a ninth-inning home run from light-hitting Miguel Rojas, two improbable defensive plays and a herculean effort from every member of their starting rotation to pull through.

As he watched it all unfold, Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman kept thinking about Kershaw, and how badly he wanted this for him.

“We wanted to win for everyone,” Friedman said, “but for him especially.”

In the midst of their final champagne-and-beer celebration, Friedman basically offered Kershaw a job with no strings attached to it — just one that ensured he’d be around from time to time. Kershaw has no interest in coaching, he said; at the moment, his focus is on being a father to what will soon be five children. But there is a curiosity within him that might not fade, one rooted in the current state of pitching.

“I think at the end of the day, everybody gets hurt,” Kershaw said. “Everybody throws harder, everybody gets hurt, and everybody’s not good for very long. And those are all questions that we all have about how to make the game better. It’s a billion-dollar answer if you can figure out how to keep guys healthy and keep guys good. So, yeah, I’m curious about that.”

Kershaw had long been at peace with retirement, a decision he felt more conviction about as his final year progressed. Having success during the regular season made him feel as if he were leaving on his own terms; looking around and seeing how much better everybody else’s stuff is let him know, in his words, that it was “time for me to be done.”

After the Dodgers lost Game 5 of the World Series last week, Kershaw lingered on the Dodger Stadium infield with his four kids, pregnant wife and other members of his extended family for several minutes, at one point snapping a photo with members of the grounds crew. He was saying goodbye, just in case. The Dodgers could have lost in Toronto, and Kershaw would have had his closure. That he returned days later for a more proper goodbye left him almost speechless.

“I don’t know what the right word is,” Kershaw said, “but I’m just grateful for it.”

SEATTLE — Mariners infielder Jorge Polanco became a free agent Thursday after declining a $6 million player option for 2026.

Polanco will receive a $750,000 buyout as part of a contract that paid a $7 million salary this year.

A 32-year-old second baseman and designated hitter, Polanco hit .265 with 26 homers and 78 RBIs for the Mariners, who reached the American League Championship Series before losing in seven games to the Toronto Blue Jays. He hit a three-run homer in Seattle’s Game 2 win.

He has a .263 career average with 154 home runs and 570 RBIs in 12 seasons with the Minnesota Twins (2014-23) and Mariners (2024-25). Polanco was an All-Star in 2019.