The Athletic Hockey Show - Who has the NHL’s bottom 8 prospect pipelines?

Episode Date: August 25, 2025

Max and Corey break down the bottom 8 teams in Corey’s annual NHL pipeline rankings including the Colorado Avalanche, the two-time defending Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers, and the Toronto Maple Leafs, and discuss the best prospects for each franchise in the group.We want to hear from you! Please fill out our listener survey: https://forms.gle/CDbF51vAPngm2ZYS6Hosts: Max Bultman and Corey PronmanExecutive Producer: Chris FlanneryProducer: Chris Flannery Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is the Athletic Hockey Show Prospect Series. Hey, everybody, Max Boltman here alongside the athletics, Corey Pronman for another episode of the Athletic Hockey Show Prospect Series. Actually, the first of what is a series within the Prospect Series. It's our annual look through Corey's pipeline rankings. We're going to be dropping these all week through Thursday. And today we start, it's a two-edge coin, really. These are the bottom eight of the pipeline rankings. That's the bad news.

The good news is for the most. part, these are the best teams in the NHL. So these fan bases have a lot to be happy about. So when I'd say, Corey, that the Colorado Avalanche have the worst pipeline in your rankings, I think they can dry their tears with the knowledge that they still have, Nathan McKinnon and Kale McCar and Valerian-Nachuskin and now Gabriel Landisgag again. But I guess to the point of the series, it's a thin system. And really the big prospect to know here is Gavin Brinley. Yeah. And, you know, that just comes, it's thin in part, just the way They've tried to win in recent years.

I mean, even look back to, like, their first round picks. Justin Barron gets traded. Bowen Byron has been traded. Alex Newhook has been traded. Oscar Ollison is gone now. 2002, they didn't pick till the sixth round. They just trade Callum Ritchie. And then this year, they have three draft picks.

It's not an unexpected result, I think, for us to say that this is a bottom-tier farm system. Actually, they were 32. to the clear 30-second ranked team when I was doing this exercise. To clarify for the listeners, how we go about this, this is an under-23 assessment in the NHL. That means all players in an organization who are under the age of 23. So that doesn't matter how many NHL games they've played. It's more about assessing the last, say, five draft classes typically for an NHL organization.

And, you know, they acquire Gavin Brindley here in the summer. And in my opinion, he is their top prospect. even though he didn't have an amazing first year in the American League, and he is small. He's legit, 5-8, 5-9. He's a great skater. He's a great competitor. I think the offense is going to come.

He's shown it in junior. He showed it, especially at college, world juniors. I think this has a guy who has a chance to be a really hardworking middle-six wing. It's a very thin system in that really the top two prospects is a 5-8 wing. and a 5-10 defenseman and Mikhail Gouyev, who's a good player, but you're kind of hoping he's probably going to, if they ever get rid of Sammy Gerard, he's probably a guy you're hoping to replace that role as a below-average

defending, great skating, puck-moving guy. And what he's shown in the KHL today, doesn't look like that's happening anytime soon. Yeah. And, you know, I think it's a similar story for the next team on your list. Number 31, that's Edmonton. And again, similar story, right? This is a team that's going for it.

They're not holding on to too many picks, not holding on to too many prospects. They did acquire a fairly notable prospect, though, this offseason. And that's the reigning Hobie Baker winner, Isaac Howard. Yeah. And, you know, Isaac's a very good player. He's very skilled, you know, good shot, good skater. I think despite his Hobie Baker season, I don't think around the league when he became available. I didn't get the impression there was mass interest in him, just small or not

super physical wings don't tend to fetch a premium, and that they actually got, you know, that Tampa was able to actually get Sam O'Reilly for him, I actually think was pretty decent for them, given the fact that everyone knew he wanted out. I think Howard's a slightly better hockey player, but I still think, you know, O'Reilly's a bigger centerman who was a late first year ago.

But, you know, Howard and Matt Savoy are the core of Edmonton system right now. And kind of like Colorado, small guys, two guys who you're probably not envisioning playing, you know, a big role for this team, but you're hoping can provide secondary scoring. And Edmonton needs that. I mean, this has been a team that has been at times plagued by a lack of secondary scoring. So you think you're hoping one of those two guys can step in and slot up, you know, next to a dry side or whatever and put up points this season. Who would you give, obviously Savoy closer to doing that, I think, who would you give the upside edge to between the two players at this point?

Man, they're like neck and neck for me. I think it's, and I think when I do my U23 list, they're going to be like right next to each other as well. So I think Savoy is a little grittier and better skater. Yeah, and Isaac might have. I think Isaac probably has like a little bit more offense,

but that's probably it. Yeah. All right. On to number 30, another top top team and another team that does not hold on, even when it does use its draft picks. They don't stay in that system long at all. And of course, that's Vegas. And the one guy that they have kept so far is Trevor Connolly. We'll get into more on this.

What did you think of Connolly's freshman season, though? I'm thinking of your providence. After all the hoopla that went into recruiting him, I guess they weren't thrilled with the outcome. What do they think he's called? like three or four goals this season. And he still, I think, looked good. Like his skating's tremendous, and he's a very skilled player. But he didn't really have a really impactful college season.

Kind of reminds you what happened, say, like with Oliver Walshstrom, for example, where he goes to college doesn't go well. And instead of trying to make it work for a second season, or going to go play junior, you know, he signs. And the message I've understood is they, Vegas thinks he's going to play in the American League all year next year. We'll see how that works out. And don't typically think pro hockey is easier than college hockey.

I think Connolly is a tremendous talent, but he's got to make better decisions. He has to compete a little bit more consistently at times. But we'll see how his year goes. He's probably going to be one of the most important players for the world junior team. But you mentioned in terms of the trade market, you know, at the end, how Vegas has tended to just a trade every first round pick they've made or yet to make. I don't know how big a trademarker there would be for Connolly, given the off-ice stuff that happened in the past, combined with, frankly, a so-so draft plus one season. And that's what I think makes it so interesting is what I think when I saw him sign after a, you know, it's not the kind of freshman season that usually prompts guys to go pro right away.

Usually this would be an obvious, yeah, go back, do it again. You'll be way more comfortable in year two. You'll put up big numbers. You know, one of my thoughts is, you know, does it make him more desirable as a trade chip? with college guys, they can always just wait it out and stay. He turns pro right away. Maybe it makes him a more valuable asset. But at the same time, to your point, there is the history and the backstory stuff.

And then you have this one year of data since the draft that isn't that inspiring. I would think they could still get a late first for Connolly, but maybe that's not true. I don't know. Maybe. I don't know. I think that would be a stretch, quite frankly. But it all takes us one, just like with Vegas, I think two, three. of the league wasn't going to draft him.

And there was one third or whatever, a quarter of the league that was interested in him. And there might still be those teams out there. They just want to draft a or not draft. Go trade for a high-end skater and podkendler and see if they make it work. And I still think he's going to play in the NHL. Right. And I guess in Vegas case, they're not trying to trade him for a late first. They're trying to use him as an equivalent of a late first to trade for a player.

And so if there's the right team that wants a guy who's maybe a little closer to the league, then your 28th overall pick is going to be, maybe that's a scenario to consider. I mean, when did Tampa traded Tony DeAngelo, what, within like two years of drafting him? And they got, I think, like, a high second in Levor Hayek, who was a prospect of time for him. So, like, you could kind of, I could, that doesn't seem like an unreasonable haul for Connolly, given the circumstances. And if you turn that into a roster player, that could be maybe like a third line wing or like a five or six defenseman. Yeah. All right.

We said this is the tier of the best teams in the league. Let's get to the best team in the league right now, the two-time reigning Stanley Cup champion, Florida Panthers. And at the top of their system, again, another one that they haven't made a lot of picks, they haven't kept a lot of prospects. But in Mackie Samiskevich, who was their first rounder in 2021, I do think, Corey, that they have a legit bottom six contributor here. You started to see that. And it's the kind of piece that you need if you're going to keep this going.

You need cheap guys with all the contracts they've given out. Maybe even middle six. He got kind of healthy scratch there towards the end of the year. And the end of the playoffs, after Chuck came back. But no, he looked quite good when he played this year. He looks like a guy who belongs in the NHL, competed hard. and more consistently than I remember seeing from him when he was an amateur, to go along with the excellent skating, the skill, the shot.

We'll see whether they keep him or not. Because, you know, you look at some of the other guys, everyone else has seemed to go, including Spencer Knight of late. But if he looks like he's got a chance to actually provide some value for them on a team that's traded a lot of picks and has done some interesting cap gymnastics, to try and keep the team together. There's two more players that you have in your,

projected to play NHL games tier in Florida. And I think they're a similar profile. Simon Zethe has more size than Linus Erickson, but both of them are kind of checking centers. Which one would you give the better chance to contribute to Florida down the line? I mean, they're pretty close. I think they're, but that being said,

they're probably both a few years away. I think you're still waiting for, I think Zethe's probably a little closer. He's probably shown a little bit more against men to, to date, but they're both, I think, several years away from playing NHL games. And with the way this team is built, again, you do just kind of expect that for as long as they're a contender, they're going to keep finding cheap veteran options to fill the kind of roles that these guys are in.

So you wonder what the ultimate trajectory is going to be. Let's take a quick break right there. We'll come back with the next four teams in Corey's Pipeline Ranking. All right, we're back. And before we get to the next four in Corey's Pipeline Rankings, listeners, we want to hear from you, check out the link in the description of this episode and give us your feedback on the show, what you've enjoyed most, what you'd like us to do differently next season. We really appreciate your continued support. Now let's go to the Tampa Bay Lightning, where Corey, the Lightning probably

have the best prospect that we've discussed so far on this episode. It's a guy they acquired in a trade a summer ago with Utah, and that would be, of course, Connor Geeky. And I'm a big fan of Connor Geeky, and I know his season in the NHL this year was fine. It wasn't anything special went down in the American League for stretches, but considered that Tampa had one of the deepest offenses in the NHL this year. In Geekies needed some time to adjust the NHL pace with his skating. But I think when he becomes an integral part of this team, he's got a chance to be a legit top six forward,

maybe even a second line center in the NHL. He's just a guy with tremendous skill for a big man. He's got a good shot. He's got some heaviness in his game. I think there's a lot of things there to like. and it's hard to say whether Tampa is going to say can stay consistently competitive over the next few years. You know, obviously they were a very good team this past year, but with the age of their

core players, it feels like, you know, every season they're testing father time. But if Geeky can become a really important player for them this year, which I think he could, he could potentially help them stretch out that window in an extra couple of years. geeky is doing a lot of lifting for this system i mean this is where you kind of see with the waiting that the way you do this a top prospect will boost you even if the system is thin and this is an example especially after losing isaac howard although you do get sam o'reilly in that the system is pretty thin you know o'reilly can play a nice role for them somewhere down the line but after that you have a guy who i did like at u18s and in ethan chata who can i think

play a nice checking role and then in true tampa form corey there's a couple of of seventh rounders you've got kicking around here that, you know, this is what Tampa seems to do. They find these guys in the late rounds. What do you like about Kloves Weinbergs and Nico Houtinen? Houtinen is just a really skilled big man, big shot, heavy game. This skating is kind of poor, so I don't know whether he's going to be a full-time NHLer, but I think this is a guy who can come up and play like a third-line role if you're, if you're hurt, and I think he's shown versus pros that he can score. Vinebergs, I think has more of a projectable NHLer. HL game, big, good skater, physical player, showed a little bit of offenses here in college,

playing on Carrot College. I don't think his sense or his puck touches anything special. And his skating isn't tremendous, but it's good enough for his size. And I think he has a legit chance to be a bottom six forward. All right. The next team on your list is the Ottawa Senators. And they're the one of these is not like the others, right? The Senators made the playoffs last season.

But every other team that we've talked about so far has either won the Stanley Cup or been to the Stanley Cup final in the last few seasons. Ottawa is still trying to get there. So Senators fans probably a little bit concerned to be coming up this early on the board. They do have, for you, a top top prospect in Carter Yakumchuk. He was a top 10 pick. He is the gem of their system for sure. But again, like we just talked about, those guys prop up.

So the fact that Yakim Chuck is in the system and they're still in this bottom six, how worried should Senators fans be about that? Well, keep in mind that this, I think. I had their organization, what, top five, top six this time last year. So, I mean, it's part of the drop is just the dramatic drop, quite frankly, is just due, well, due to two reasons. One, Yakimchuk is a player I rated high. Still rate high, but I have lowered his rating a little bit after his season

wasn't tremendous in the Western League. And second, Jake Sto, Jim Stutzel, Jake Sanderson, and Ridley Gray. They'd love as many Jakes and as many Stuttle as possible, right now. Yes. You know, they all graduate. They were considered U23 this time last year. They, they graduate and, you know, true impact, impact guys. So the, you see the magnitude of those kind of players and how much they, they mean to a pipeline. And then there's other factors. You know, you have the Tyler Boucher pick, the 10th overall pick that is just quite frankly, aged poorly. You've had, you know, they've traded away picks. And so there's, there's some

combining factors there. And I think with Ottawa, what you're really looking at is, other than Yakimchuk, they have a really exciting young group of players in the NHL right now. I mean, they go out and inquire Dylan Cousins, who I'm a big fan of in the Josh Norse trade. You have Studeau, you have Sanders, and now you're, and Jack's going to probably come up and play in the next year or two. But I really think, like, this is it. This is the group. There's nothing really much more coming other than that one player. So I think if you're Ottawa fans, you're really hoping that your management has done the right stuff in terms of

of building a proper core, because I'm not really sure other than some complementary pieces, there's really much else that's going to be coming in the next few years. I mean, at one point, we thought Logan Hensler had the potential to be like a top 10 pick, and that's not where he goes, but he was still a solid first round pick. And I think there's still that upside in there. So you're really hoping you can develop those guys like Yakum, Chuck and Hensler. And he could be like a four or five defenseman, I think. Yeah, yeah.

All right. On to the next one at number 26 is the Toronto Maple Leafs. And Toronto's at an interesting point, right? You lose Mitch Marner. This is the time where you're looking for who's going to step up. You can argue, though, that the guy who's ultimately going to be counted on to replace Mitch Marner is already there and is already stepping up. And that's Matthew Nyes, who would not shock me if he makes a decent push for the Olympic team, Corey.

Yeah, just the way he plays is so easy to like with just how competitive and big and strong he is. I'm not quite sure he's filling Warner's shoes on the offense front. I don't exactly think that he has that kind of level of skill. It depends what time a year. I mean, in the playoffs, you can, I mean, Marner's pure production was good, but in those big games, you like Nyes's style to translate to those. Oh, absolutely. And I love Matt Nyes. And I think he's a legit top line wing in the NHL.

I just mean in terms of the level of offense that he's going to be asked to reproduce. You know, he's more of a, in terms of how he plays, he's more of a net front guy than a power play flank type of guy who's going to, you know, run your team's offense. but he's been one of the best draft picks of the last decade, getting him in the late second in that COVID season. Without him, it's really tough to see where Toronto would be with this forward group right now, quite honestly. There are other players, though, here. And one of the ones to know is a guy who was getting a lot of buzz at this time last year, Easton Cowan, Ben Danford was their first round pick in 2024.

What does Toronto have in those two players? I think in Danford, they have like a, you know, five, six, maybe a four. If things could really go well, just, you know, know, really hardworking physical, highly competitive defenseman. He'll kill penalties. He'll be out there for a lot of D-Zone draws. He's a good enough skater. Offense in his game, though, is limited.

It's okay, but it's not what's going to get you excited. He's not a natural puck mover by any means. Cowan's interesting. Obviously, you know, has a monster year in his draft plus one. You know, OHL player of the year, OHL playoffs MVP. Still has a very nice year in the OHL this year, although the scoring wasn't quite as prolific.

And I think, you know, we've, we've, bounced around a little bit on Cowan, where going into his draft wasn't completely convinced the score would translate. Then the last year happens and I'm, you know, people are getting really excited, but I had some mild questions. And then this, I feel like this past year was kind of like him finding his level there a little bit where, you know, I think this is kind of what he is. He's a really hardworking, really intelligent player, good skater, good hands, but probably

projects as like a middle six, you know, competitive wing in the NHL. I don't know if the offense is going to be amazing, although I do think he is going to get some get his points at the next level. And then I guess to wrap this first quadrant, these bottom eight, is the Winnipeg Jats. And this is a really different looking system from the others we've talked about today. Most of the teams we've talked about so far

are either completely empty, basically, or they're being propped up by one, maybe two big names. Winnipeg is different. I don't know if there's a huge name in this pool, but there's a good amount of quality, Sasha Bumadien, Braden, Jager, Colby Barlow. You could look at Brad Lambert as a guy, like that. Nikita Chibrakov is a guy who at the time of his draft had some buzz around him.

It's a little more of the depth over the top end. Yeah, and I think there's some excitement about Elias Salaminson too. The, you know, there's been good versus men. I don't know how much offense there is in his game, but he's a good skater. He plays hard. It's a good shot. I think he's got, he's a guy who could be a third pair defenseman in the NHL, maybe like a four or five if it really goes well. I think probably more as a five six. Boobadee, and I'm really excited about a, you know, I think he's just a really exciting athlete. Hockey sense is average, but I think there's enough there that he could play in the NHL and help a team.

Colby Barlow was one of the more interesting prospects this year. I mean, when he came to start the year in Oshawa, it couldn't have gone worse. It was an absolute disaster. And I end up not even getting invited to the World Junior camp, if it reminds not making the team, which is highly unusual for a first-round NHL draft pick. And then as the year goes on,

he starts to score as you expect has a good playoff there for Oscewa. I think, you know, I was questioning at times in the beginning of the year, if he'll even look like an NHL player, I think now you're kind of still thinking, like, okay, he could be a hardworking middle six winger, even though I don't think the scoring is going to be electric at the next level. And they could kind of use a little more of that flavor on their blue lines as things. They've done a good job, you know, Dylan Sandberg, you know, de Mello's on the older side, so I don't know if you're really factoring him

into your long-term picture. Logan Stanley has some of this, but their top defensemen are of the smaller variety in Josh Morrissey and obviously Neil Pionk. So they could use a player like Salamanson to really hit. And as well as obviously you want Bumadien to be your next, you know, mid-sized puck mover. Especially as with, you know,

they need something to come from the blue line after Ville, Hanola really didn't work out. Yeah, definitely. What's your thoughts on Braden Yeager? He was obviously at the center of this big trade last summer for Rucker McGroity. I don't know that either of those guys had a year that makes that deal looked lopsided. It's just probably not even in the way either team was hoping for at the time they made it. I think there's a reason both of them got traded quite frankly is that there's,

they're both good players, but I think they're, it can be vanilla players at times too. I think with Yeager, you like the skating, you like the work ethic. But for a 5-11 guy, there is a lack of high-end offensive traits there. You see flashes of it with his skill and it's shot, but I think you're probably thinking he's a bottom six forward when it's all said and done. I have to say, like, whenever I think about the winner, The Winnipeg system or the Winnipeg organization, like I just think about the pressure that their scouts must be under when you're not this huge big free agent destination. You can't always even convince guys to stay. They might have as much pressure on them as any scouting department in the NHL to just consistently produce, produce, produce.

You can't really have many down years in Winnipeg as a scout. I agree with that. That being said, I feel like despite the fact that people, there's always like these organizations worry about signing college kids and signing American kids. Winnipeg's done a phenomenal job. convincing all the Americans they've drafted over the last decade to not just stay, but sign major extensions. So I feel like that's part of, I agree with you, but I also feel like if you build a culture, which can, that could be another way of just saying you win a lot of games, which they've done

which they have, that it's that you can, you know, get these guys to stay and not feel like you're always under pressure to hit it out of the park every year at the draft. Yeah. All right. Well, that's going to do it for today. those are the bottom eight in Corey's pipeline rankings. I know not where anyone wants to be, but again, you're watching hockey in basically May for almost all of these teams this year. So there's something to that. We'll be back tomorrow with numbers 24 through 17. We'll talk to you then.