Welcome to The Athletic’s 2023-24 edition of the NHL Pipeline Rankings, where we look at the future of the NHL, team by team.
Each team has a full ranking of the best young players in its organization, with a projection of what each player is expected to do. Then those core groups are ranked from 1 to 32, to show how each one compares to the rest of the league.
Player eligibility is determined by age. A player is eligible if they are 22 years of age or younger on Sept. 15, 2023. It contains nearly every prospect selected between the 2019 and 2023 NHL drafts. This is done to include top prospects on a team without aggressively ending players who have years of development ahead of them, even if they are already in the NHL. This has the effect of sometimes including star players in the NHL while leaving out players who are still minors and have a chance to make the league. There is no perfect way to determine player eligibility for a prospect ranking. This method turned out to be my preference after trying all other options.
Full individual evaluations of all players with tool grades and levels applicable to all teams can be found within each team’s own player rankings.
The rollout will be eight teams a day for four days, so check back here tomorrow for an update.
And now for the rankings:
25. Colorado Avalanche
26. Vegas Golden Knights