Prospect pool rankings for all 32 NHL teams; Leafs rank surprisingly low
With the 2023 NHL Entry Draft concluding almost a month ago, it's been high-time for draft-makers and analysts to post league-wide rankings in terms of prospects and team pipelines. The NHL Network posted their rankings a few days ago and had the Toronto Maple Leafs at 25th with division rivals in Buffalo standing at the top of pack.
Rankings, like many other topics, are largely subjective, so they need to be taken with a grain of salt. Trying to predict prospects is a total crapshoot. Teams who have been in the basement for years on end are still rebuilding, like Anaheim and Arizona, while a team like Buffalo is finally looking to take the leap - after failing to qualify for the post-season in 12 consecutive years.
The Maple Leafs have been contending for the last 6-7 years and in doing so, their pipeline is a little barren compared to the rest of the league. Since 2019, the Leafs have only had 2 first round picks and they used it on Rodion Amirov in 2020 and Easton Cowan in last month's draft. In fact, they only selected three times in both 2021 and 2023, yet for a team barren with picks and top-end talent in the pipeline, they've found some pretty good value in their later selections.
Matthew Knies, Topi Niemela and Fraser Minten stand at the top with Nicholas Moldenhauer, Roni Hirvonen, Dennis Hildeby, Ty Voit, Artur Akhtyamov and Easton Cowan rounding out the team's top prospects.
While the Sabres came in first due to their pipeline containing the likes of Zach Benson, Matthew Savoie, Isak Rosen and Devon Levi to name a few, fellow division rivals in Detroit and Montreal came in 8th and 10th place respectively.
The Pittsburgh Penguins finished 27th, the Boston Bruins came in 28th, the Edmonton Oilers in 30th, the Tampa Bay Lightning finished 31st, and the New York Islanders rounded out the group in dead last.
| POLL | ||
JUILLET 22 | 191 ANSWERS Prospect pool rankings for all 32 NHL teams; Leafs rank surprisingly low Do you think the Leafs actually have the 25th ranked prospect pool in the league? | ||
| No, it's that's too low | 66 | 34.6 % |
| Yes, that sounds about right | 78 | 40.8 % |
| They might even have worse prospect depth | 47 | 24.6 % |
| List of polls | ||
