Welcome to Scott Wheeler’s 2025 rankings of every NHL organization’s prospects. You can find the complete ranking and more information on the project and its criteria here, as we count down daily from No. 32 to No. 1. The series, which includes in-depth evaluations and insight from sources on nearly 500 prospects, runs from Jan. 8 to Feb. 7.
After graduating Matvei Michkov and Bobby Brink, and aging out Massimo Rizzo and Elliot Desnoyers, the Flyers, driven primarily by the loss of Michkov, are one of the bigger year-to-year fallers in the countdown. The addition of a good prospect in Jett Luchanko and the progress of some others internally helps to soften the blow but not enough to prevent their pool from now looking like a middle-of-the-pack one that lacks a high-end talent.
2024 prospect pool rank: No. 6 (change: -12)
GO DEEPER
NHL prospect pool rankings 2025: Scott Wheeler evaluates all 32 farm systems
1. Oliver Bonk, RHD, 19 (London Knights)
Bonk’s smarts are his game’s defining quality but he also possesses good overall skill, has an impressive feel for coverage and timing, and escapes pressure well despite having average feet (they were once an issue but no longer are, even though they won’t be an asset at NHL speed of play). He influences the game through his effectiveness, his reads, his anticipation, his play-calling and the consistency of his habits. He knows where to be and how to play within the flow of a game. He sees the ice at an advanced level both with the puck but maybe especially so before he gets it so that he knows where to go with it. He’s not a high-end skill guy who plays the game offensively with a ton of ambition, but he moves play along, his outlets are clean, he manages the puck, he keeps the chain going and he has some unique utility/attributes (including his talked about proficiency playing the bumper on the power play).
He just looks like he’s going to be a solid two-way defenseman who can influence play and potentially help out on both special teams even if he’s not a natural power-play quarterback or your prototypical penalty killer. He projects as a No. 3-5 defenseman.
Bonk was an important player on a strong London team in his draft year, which isn’t always the case for defensemen his age under the Hunter brothers with the Knights and spoke to the maturity of his game in advance of the draft. That maturity helped him make Team Canada for the World Juniors as one of only two 18-year-old D to do so (along with the injured Tanner Molendyk, who was selected two slots after him in the first round of the 2023 NHL Draft). After returning from Sweden last year, I thought he was one of the top defensemen in junior hockey and found another level offensively for a Knights team that went on to win the OHL title. This year, he has again been a top player for the Knights and was Canada’s ice time leader (about 22 minutes per game) as a returnee at the World Juniors in Ottawa. I thought he fought the puck a little in that role but he was asked to do a lot and there was a lot around him that was out of sorts on that team as well (he also finished with a Canada-best plus-4 goal differential at five-on-five).
I expect him to play in the NHL in 2025-26, if not full-time then at least to start.
2. Jett Luchanko, C, 18 (Guelph Storm)
After registering just 14 points in his rookie season in the OHL, Luchanko got off to a good enough start to earn a “B” rating from NHL Central Scouting last fall (which “indicates a 2nd/3rd round candidate”) and then rose all the way to No. 21 among North American skaters on their midseason list and No. 20 on their final list after emerging as Guelph’s leading scorer (74 points in 68 games). He was then Canada’s second-line center at U18s continuing to impress scouts in Finland ahead of his selection with the 13th pick in the draft. I never quite got there, though, viewing him as more of a mid-to-late first. And while his earning games with the Flyers to start the year is notable, his season since has been fine but hasn’t followed the same upward trajectory that last year’s campaign did (I thought he was impressive on the PK for Canada but he was their fourth center in usage and didn’t generate much offense from selection camp right through pre-tournament and the tournament and he has been Guelph’s best player but hasn’t been a force).
Luchanko’s a standout athlete (he performs exceedingly well in fitness testing and is very strong for a 5-foot-11/6-foot player) with average to above-average skill, impressive skating ability and standout on-ice intelligence. He understands timing, spacing and puck movement at a very advanced level, always finding his way into good spots. He’s got good instincts on the PK and can really apply pressure with his skating. And then there are other complementary tools which come second. He protects pucks well with a wide gait. He’s got really good balance, posture and mechanics and while I wouldn’t call his upper-echelon skating elite, it’s a definite asset and he’s got some pull-away speed. He plays in and out of give-and-gos. But it’s the consistency of his reads, paths and decisions that define his game. He makes the right play with the puck almost always and he’s extremely unselfish. (There are, however, times when I’d like to see him hold onto pucks and attack so that I can evaluate his skill better, but he just always gives it to the open man and then gets back open.) I would have liked to see him score more (he finished last season with 20 goals and played a more aggressive style this year on a low-talent Guelph team but can still be too deferential) as well but when there’s a play to be made, he won’t hesitate to make it.
He’s got a chance to be a reliable, fast, intelligent all-situations center but I don’t see a ton of offense in his game in terms of a top-of-the-lineup NHL outlook and expect him to become more of a middle-sixer than a true top-sixer. He’s got quieter tools and habits that should help him (the routes, the pressure points, the penalty killing upside, the strength, the skating, good poise on the puck and vision) but he doesn’t have loud elements that really scream NHL skill player.
3. Emil Andrae, LHD, 22 (Lehigh Valley Phantoms/Philadelphia Flyers)
Andrae is a short but stocky 5-foot-9, 189-pound defenseman who plays an aggressive yet calculating game. After taking charge of games at the second-tier HockeyAllsvenskan level three years ago, Andrae helped HV71 to a promotion and played big minutes as one of the league’s more productive defensemen — and HV71’s No. 1 defenseman — two years ago following a star-making performance at the summer World Juniors. After making the jump to North America at the end of the 2022-23 season, he then quickly established himself as big-minutes defenseman for the Phantoms and driving offense. This season, splitting time between the NHL and AHL, Andrae has looked like an NHLer to me.
He manages pressure well in all three zones, out-waiting players in the offensive zone, side-stepping forecheckers in the defensive zone and keeping his head up through neutral ice to create entries. He’s got good four-way mobility through his crossovers and footwork (without being the quickest player from a standstill, though I think that has been overstated even if it can limit his rush defense or pull him out of position when he gets caught up ice). I like his sturdiness, competitiveness and physicality for his size. He holds his own in battles, boxes out well for a smaller player and can step up to rub players out along the wall. Improved feet from a standstill have gone a long way to ensuring he can hold his own defensively.
He’s got great touch and weight on his passes. He usually makes the right decisions on when to attack off the line into his shot or when to distribute. His shot pops and he does such a good job adjusting his angles to get it through. He’s always shoulder-checking going back for pucks, even under pressure (when some players lose those habits), so that even when he’s forced into quick decisions they’re still planned out.
And the offensive-zone skill is there, even if it’s more likely to beat one layer of pressure and make a quick play than to try to break down multiple defenders. He creates in short, decisive sequences with his ability to attack the high slot and play through lanes (whether that’s with a seam pass to the backside of coverage out of a quick few strides into space or a hard shot from an attack into the high slot/across the line).
There’s always a risk with players his size that they don’t fully establish themselves at the NHL level, where teams still think (rightly or wrongly) that they have to have a limit on the number of smaller defensemen they can have, but I believe in Andrae becoming a top-six D.
4. Yegor Zavragin, G, 19 (SKA St. Petersburg/HK Sochi)
There can be a big disparity between the MHL teams in Russia’s major urban city centers and some of the more far-reaching locales, but the two best 2005-born goalies I saw play in the MHL two years ago both played in Western Siberia’s Khanty-Mansiysk and both were picked (Zavragin in the third round and Yevgeni Volokhin to the Habs in the fifth round). I was partial to Zavragin (who was one of the last cuts for my top 100), even though he played fewer games than Volokhin. Two years later, it’s Zavragin who has risen to KHL prominence as a teenager after playing absolutely superbly at lower levels, emerging as one of the better young goalies in Russia.
Zavragin’s athleticism really stands out. He’s got an impressive ability to go post-to-post and low-to-high, and good reflexes and hands even when he’s moving. Where most young goalies who really move to pucks can lose their posts and pull themselves out of position, he also has good control of his game and a willingness to battle when he does get scrambled. He’s got great hands and reflexes. He sticks with shooters one-on-one and excels on breakaways/penalty shots. The Flyers will have to wait for him to continue to establish himself in Russia before he’s likely to come over but he has really impressed in time split between Sochi and now St. Petersburg this season and his August birthday gives him plenty of time to hit those checkpoints. The talent is there with Zavragin and his ascension has happened on a steep curve already.
5. Denver Barkey, C/LW/RW, 19 (London Knights)
Barkey is on the small (5-foot-10 and a lean 171 pounds) side but he’s one of the hardest-working prospects in the sport and has been a top player in the OHL the last two seasons, registering 100-plus points and helping them to an OHL title last year before being named captain this season. He was also one of the final cuts for Team Canada in back-to-back years for the World Juniors (I think they could have used him this year). This season, after a bit of a slow start by his standards, Barkey has been one of the hottest players in junior hockey over the last couple of months.
He’s a competitive, energizing player who empties the tank shift to shift, wins more battles than a player his size should and then has the skill required to make plays out of all of that effort. Despite his size, Barkey can play center as well as the wing and wins his fair share of battles through his skating, motor and pure determination. He can play in all situations, is a highly effective penalty killer and has a way of setting the tone on his line and dragging everyone else into the fight. He’s got hustle, jump and skill in between. I think he’s got a chance to surprise some people and make it as an up-and-down-the-lineup NHLer as a smaller player. He’ll be a fan favorite if he does, too. He’s an incredibly likable player.
6. Carson Bjarnason, G, 19 (Brandon Wheat Kings)
Bjarnason checks a lot of boxes at a glance. He’s got good size and athleticism, he reads and anticipates the play fairly well, he covers the bottom of the net into his butterfly and he battles. I’ve had issues with his tracking and focus at times and he seems to drop a lot of pucks in his glove hand, each of which can result in some bad goals, but he’s a toolsy 6-foot-3 goalie. He’s strong going post-to-post and makes his fair share of lateral stretch saves through his athleticism and the efficiency of his movements, but there’s work to do to tighten up his game on the whole. He has been more consistent the last year and a half and seems to have tightened up some of his habits (sealing the post, holding his outside edges, etc.), but after an excellent start in Brandon this season saw his save percentage up to .920 in the first half, he has come back down to earth a little since returning from the World Juniors (where he was Canada’s No. 3 goalie). Some scouts believe he’s got NHL upside. I think he’s got a chance too but would probably set the likelihood a little lower than most. He’s already signed, so he’s going to get an opportunity to climb through the AHL and work on his game at the pro level. He has progressed slowly and surely in the last 18 months, which is positive. He’s got some potential.
7. Alexei Kolosov, G, 23 (Lehigh Valley Phantom/Philadelphia Flyers)
Though Kolosov didn’t quite make my 2021 draft board, I wrote in advance of it that he would have been my third-ranked goalie (after the big two of Jesper Wallstedt and Sebastian Cossa). He then followed that up with three strong seasons in the KHL with a Dinamo Minsk team that wasn’t strong but got good goaltending from him before making the jump to North America, where the results have been mixed in time split between the NHL and AHL. Before Belarus was sanctioned by the IIHF, he’d also backstopped them to promotion into the World Juniors’ top flight with a 5-0 run of play and a .932 save percentage in the Division 1A tournament in Denmark. Had they been eligible to play internationally, he probably would have played for the senior team at men’s world championships, too.
Kolosov is a little on the smaller side by today’s goalie standards (I got the sense from watching him that he was generously listed at 6-foot-2 in the KHL and that has now been updated to 6-foot-1 by the Flyers) but he makes up for it with his athleticism and hands in the net. He’s both quick and powerful in the net, with the strength to go post-to-post or low-to-high in one aggressive push and the feet to adjust to dekes, passes and scrambles. He’s got a good glove and blocker. He’s competitive and tracks pucks well. His game isn’t as refined as you’d hope for it to be after all of his pro experience though, and his technique (sealing posts, for example) and control can let him down. I view him as organizational depth at the moment (more of a No. 3/4 projection than a No. 2 one). But work to better control his movements in the net could help elevate that.
8. Jack Berglund, C, 18 (Farjestad BK)
Berglund finished his draft year with a strong showing at U18 worlds in Finland for Sweden, built on that with a strong showing at the World Junior Summer Showcase in Plymouth and was going to be on Sweden’s World Junior team in Ottawa before being sidelined due to injury. Before the injury, he was a top player at the J20 level in the fall and had begun to establish himself in the pro game.
Berglund can make some plays in the offensive zone and off the cycle, holds onto and protects pucks well and is generally impactful along the wall. He’s got size (6-foot-4, over 200 pounds), can play the middle or the wing, controls pucks off his hips quite well and has shown some offensive zone instincts over the last two seasons. His skating is quite unnatural, though, and was enough for me to exclude him from my top 100 pre-draft. He’ll need to work on his acceleration and stride in order to play in the NHL. Otherwise, there’s a lot of pro quality in his game as a potential bottom-sixer.
9. Spencer Gill, RHD, 18 (Rimouski Oceanic)
Gill had a very productive season for Rimouski in his draft year last year, registering a combined 51 points in 70 regular-season and playoff games and playing for Canada at U18 worlds. But in a group of seven D that was largely impressive, I thought he was the weak link and struggled a little with the pace of play in Finland. This year, he has been a top D for the Memorial Cup hosts in Rimouski but I wouldn’t call him dominant quite yet at the QMJHL level.
He’s not a strong athlete or skater and needs to get stronger, which is where the development will start. He relies on his offensive smarts and calm. He does have a lanky, long 6-foot-4 frame to fill out, though, and some puck skill and offensive intuition (he’s also an August birthday who will have the benefit of time on his side). He sees the ice well, shapes passes and shots through coverage, manages the umbrella really well and plays hard defensively (including on the penalty kill) for the Oceanic despite still having work to do on his skating. He’s a very good two-way D at the junior level already and it feels like he’s got some real development in front of him still.
His brother, Dyllan, did work his way into an NHL deal with the Lightning after they took him in the seventh round and Spencer has shown more offense at the same age.
10. Noah Powell, RW, 19 (Oshawa Generals)
Powell was one of the stories of the draft last year, scoring 43 goals in the USHL and basically a goal per game in the second half to get drafted as an overager and earn an invite to Team USA’s World Junior Summer Showcase, where he impressed and looked like he was in the mix to to make the team before a slow start at OSU took him out of the conversation. He has now joined the Generals in the OHL and has looked really good early on. He’s a big, strong, extremely fit winger with a heavy shot who forechecks hard, finishes his checks, can play off the cycle and is a threat to score when he pops loose into the slot or wins a battle for a rebound in front. He’s not the quickest player through his first couple of steps and will need to work on his acceleration but he can get going with some power once he builds a head of steam. And while he’s not the most cerebral playmaker, he plays a pro style. He’s got fourth-line potential with the right development.
11. Helge Grans, RHD, 22 (Lehigh Valley Phantoms/Philadelphia Flyers)
Grans’ development in the AHL came with some challenges early on but he always had the potential to figure it out and become an NHLer or at least an option and that’s slowly what he has done.
The appeal of Grans in his early years was anchored in the legitimacy of his individual tools more than the sum of his parts. He’s a 6-foot-4, right-shot defenseman who is both mobile and fairly talented (though the production at the pro level hasn’t yet been there to reflect that). He’s decently comfortable with the puck. He has good hands for his size. He’s a good passer on outlets and through offensive-zone lanes. And he’s at his best when he’s playing an aggressive style and taking risks to make things happen. I think some of that has been coached out of him, resulting in a shift in style that has taken some time for him to fully adapt to, but he’s getting there.
There’s still some rawness to his even-strength play and he can look a little stilted on his pivots, but his game has some form defensively. He has driven results at times in the AHL (with the Reign and Phantoms) and despite having played parts of seven seasons at various pro levels, he’s just 22. Grans has the potential to be a bottom-pairing defenseman with some two-way value and size. There’s less of a balance that needs to be struck now, he has cut down on some of his mistakes and some of that just came with continued reps. I hope the Phantoms and Flyers can in time begin to encourage him to play a more involved game, too, because it would be nice to see him get back to his roots eventually. I’d rather see him looking to make things happen than playing passively, though there have been some benefits to a shift towards the latter. He’s not a perfect player but he’s an option and I think he’s got more to give and should continue to figure out who he is.
12. Hunter McDonald, LHD, 22 (Lehigh Valley Phantoms)
McDonald is a big (6-foot-4, over 200 pounds) and strong left-shot defenseman who played tough minutes at Northeastern and endeared himself to Flyers brass for his length and defensive ability/competitiveness. He plays hard, defends firmly and confidently, skates well, has a good stick and brings a physical element. His upside will be limited by his puck play but he has a good first pass and has contributed more as a rookie in the AHL than I expected he would, moving pucks in the flow of play just fine. He’s more of a hit-the-first-stick-I-see guy than a thinker with the puck but the pace of play in the AHL hasn’t been too much for his puck game and he’s got the utility/shot-blocking/penalty-killing role down and knows who he is. He could become a No. 6-8 D for them.
13. Alex Bump, LW, 21 (Western Michigan University)
When the Flyers drafted Bump in the fifth round in 2022, he wasn’t on my board but he was a kid that a lot of folks in Minnesota talked about as a complete force in that league and there were people who thought he was going to take off with some seasoning. He was raw then but he could rip it, he has always been well-built and he showed some real skill between battles. He took a longer road from high school hockey and through the USHL to the NCAA but he has been one of Western Michigan’s top players in each of his two seasons there as a freshman and sophomore. Last year, he was fourth on Western Michigan in scoring as a freshman with 36 points in 38 games and this season, after they graduated some of their top players, he’s been a go-to-guy and their leading scorer for much of the season. He’s not a penalty killer or a go-to defensive guy in college and that could limit the number of possible jobs for him to win in the NHL but Bump’s a strong, 6-foot-2, 200-pound winger with a natural release and skill who can make plays and who is owed more in the goal column than his stats indicate this year, with a single-digit shooting percentage that isn’t reflective of the quality of his looks. He needs to work to add more speed and pace to his game as well but he’s a good athlete who is strong on his feet. If he can round out his game and improve his skating, he’ll have a chance. If he doesn’t, he’s probably still good organizational depth to have in the AHL.
14. Samu Tuomaala, RW, 22 (Lehigh Valley Phantoms)
After a tough couple of seasons for Tuomaala after the Flyers used their first pick in the 2021 draft on him (which included stretches where he looked completely broken/lost and playing himself out of consideration for the Finnish World Junior team in Halifax), he really started to put it back together and look more like himself in Finland’s second-tier Mestis two seasons ago, scoring 33 goals and 65 points in a combined 46 regular-season and playoff games. He has been one of the Phantoms’ leading scorers in both of the last two seasons in the AHL as well, most importantly looking more sure of himself and confident on the puck again.
There’s talent there. Tuomaala’s a 5-foot-10, 180ish-pound shoot-first winger who plays a fast game built upon good skating, good hands and a dangerous mid-range shot. I’ve seen him score some really pretty goals. I’ve also watched him force his looks, take too many low-percentage shots from the outside and look like he doesn’t know what he’s doing out there/doesn’t have the brain for the next level. Still, when he plays an uptempo, more energizing game, he can be effective even if the IQ piece isn’t always there. His skill can make him fun to watch when he’s surrounded by talented players and getting touches. But when he lacks confidence and he goes hero mode, it can be tough to watch. I have concerns about his processing power (i.e., his choices with the puck under duress). It has been nice to see him rebuild his confidence toward more consistency. I’m still not sure whether there’s a natural role for him in an NHL lineup long-term, though. He’s not a checker or reliable defensive player, and he might not have a dynamic enough profile to fit into an offensive/sheltered role a little higher in a lineup. As a result, I wonder if he just becomes a AAAA high-offense AHL type.
15. Cole Knuble, C, 20 (University of Notre Dame)
Drafted as an overager after registering 36 goals and 75 points in 66 combined regular season and playoff games with the Fargo Force, Knuble was a player that USHL folks vouched for even the year before that as a worthwhile pick and he has had two really strong season at Notre Dame since the Flyers used their 2023 fourth-rounder on him. This season, he’s been Notre Dame’s leading scorer, playing to above a point per game while contributing in all situations. Knuble’s a stocky and strong 5-foot-11 forward whose game is defined by its pro habits, work ethic, drive and instincts on and off the puck. He works, involves himself in all three zones and has proven he can drive play and results at two different levels now. There are some who wonder if he’ll just end up as a third-line AHLer but I wouldn’t be surprised to see him work his way into call-up territory or find a niche as a hardworking fourth-liner. He plays to the Flyers’ identity.
The Tiers
As always, each prospect pool ranking is broken down into team-specific tiers in order to give you a better sense of the proximity from one player — or group of players — to the next.
The Flyers’ pool is divided into three tiers: 1-2, 3-4, 5-15+.
Also considered but not ranked were Lehigh Valley forwards Alexis Gendron, Jon-Randall Avon and Zayde Wisdom as well as Slovak HockeyAllsvenskan winger Alex Ciernik (the final cut and someone who I’ve long held is underrated and I’d sign and bring over to the AHL), BU winger Devin Kaplan, Portland Winterhawks D Carter Sotheran and Finnish forward Heikki Ruohonen.
Rank
|
Player
|
Pos.
|
Age
|
Team
|
---|---|---|---|---|
1 |
Oliver Bonk |
RHD |
19 |
London |
2 |
Jett Luchanko |
C |
18 |
Guelph |
3 |
Emil Andrae |
LHD |
22 |
Lehigh Valley/Philadelphia |
4 |
Yegor Zavragin |
G |
19 |
SKA |
5 |
Denver Barkey |
C/LW/RW |
19 |
London |
6 |
Carson Bjarnason |
G |
19 |
Brandon |
7 |
Alexei Kolosov |
G |
23 |
Lehigh Valley/Philadelphia |
8 |
Jack Berglund |
LW |
18 |
Farjestad |
9 |
Spencer Gill |
RHD |
18 |
Rimouski |
10 |
Noah Powell |
RW |
19 |
Ohio State |
11 |
Helge Grans |
RHD |
22 |
Lehigh Valley/Philadelphia |
12 |
Hunter McDonald |
LHD |
22 |
Lehigh Valley |
13 |
Alex Bump |
LW |
21 |
Western Michigan |
14 |
Samu Tuomaala |
RW |
22 |
Lehigh Valley |
15 |
Cole Knuble |
C |
20 |
Notre Dame |
(Photo of Jett Luchanko: Eric Hartline / Imagn Images)