NHL Power Rankings: Young guns who could be part of trade-deadline moves

It’s a perfect paring: The trade board and the prospect cupboard.

Swap talk dominates the NHL these days, with the March 8 deadline two weeks away. Most of the conversations centre on buyers acquiring established NHLers, but the flip side to that are the futures going the other way.

With that in mind — and even if the majority of the league is in no way contemplating moving out top prospects — we still thought trade deadline season was a good time to highlight a highly regarded young gun or two for each of the 32 teams.

Who knows, maybe some of the names listed below will yet be on the move in the next 15 days.

Connor McDavid Auston Matthews

NHL on Sportsnet

Livestream Hockey Night in Canada, Scotiabank Wednesday Night Hockey, the Oilers, Flames, Canucks, Leafs, out-of-market matchups, the Stanley Cup Playoffs and the NHL Draft.

Broadcast Schedule

1. Florida Panthers (37-15-4) It’s hard not to root for Spencer Knight, the goalie who enter the NHLPA player assistance program last winter to combat his struggles with obsessive-compulsive disorder. The 22-year-old was the 13^th-overall pick in the 2019 draft and although things are obviously not exactly where he or the franchise envisioned nearly five years ago, Knight — currently playing for the AHL’s Charlotte Checkers — remains relatively young by NHL goalie standards and still has the tools and six-foot-three frame to push into the league.

2. New York Rangers (37-16-3) Gabe Perreault, son of former NHLer Yanic Perreault, seemed like he could be a steal when the Rangers nabbed him 23^rd overall in June. Well, the left winger is having an awesome freshman season at Boston College, where he leads the team with 48 points.

3. Boston Bruins (34-12-11) Right winger Fabian Lysell, the 21^st-overall pick in 2021, is taking a step forward as a second-year AHLer, recording 40 points in 46 games with the Providence Bruins. And the Swede has been picking up steam lately, notching 10 points in his past 10 games.

4. Vancouver Canucks (37-15-6) Naturally, the team that brought us Markus Naslund, the Sedin twins and Elias Pettersson has a couple of intriguing Swedish prospects. Winger Jonathan Lekkerimaki — who had his struggles the season after Vancouver nabbed him in 2022’s first round — is having a good draft-plus-2 year, firing 14 goals in 37 games with Orebro HK in Sweden’s top league. Meanwhile, defenceman Tom Willander — the 11^th-overall selection in June — is adapting well to North America as a Boston University freshman.

5. Dallas Stars (34-15-8) Dallas is already being propelled by a couple second-round gems in Roope Hintz and Jason Roberston. Well, it looks like the Stars struck oil again in Round 2 with 2021’s 47^th-overall pick Logan Stankoven. The five-foot-eight centre was leading the AHL in scoring as a rookie when he was called up earlier in the week to Big D. Mavrik Bourque, another Texas Star, is right behind his teammate in AHL scoring as a second-year pro.

6. Edmonton Oilers (33-18-2) Expectations were understandably high when the Oilers tabbed Philip Broberg with the eighth-overall selection in 2019. It’s been a long road for the Swede, but his recent results in the AHL — where he has 14 points in 15 games since the calendar flipped to 2024 — might be a sign the six-foot-three 22-year-old is finding his way.

7. Carolina Hurricanes (33-17-5) There might not be a prospect whose profile-to-projection ratio is more out of whack than that of Alexander Nikishin. The 22-year-old Russian was a third-rounder in 2020 and, in a league that’s rarely generous to young players, Nikishin has been given the ‘C’ in St. Petersburg and is one of the top blue-liners in the league.

8. Winnipeg Jets (34-15-5) Brad Lambert fell to the Jets at No. 30 in 2022 and, for a while, it felt like his downward trajectory might continue. But he’s showing well as an AHL rookie with 15 goals in 41 games. Forward Rutger McGroarty was captain of the American team that claimed gold at the 2024 World Junior Championship and figures to be a Jets fixture for a long time to come.

9. Toronto Maple Leafs (31-16-8) From his strong training camp to making Canada’s WJC squad to his scoring exploits in the OHL, Easton Cowan’s stock has been rapidly rising since Toronto called his name last June. He’s on a 24-game point streak with the London Knights and leads the league with 1.79 points per game.

10. Colorado Avalanche (35-18-4) The Avs wound up making two first-round picks last year after trading Alex Newhook to the Montreal Canadiens. So far, forward Calum Ritchie (27^th overall) and D-man Mikhail Gulyayev (31^st) both look like solid calls.

11. Vegas Golden Knights (32-18-6) Henderson Silver Knight Lukas Cormier seems like he’s going to wind up being a third-round find, showing lots of potential as an offence-driving blue-liner. The 21-year-old got his first taste of NHL action in January, suiting up for a couple games with Vegas.

12. Los Angeles Kings (28-16-10) The Kings have swung some major deals in the past couple years — acquiring Kevin Fiala from Minny and Pierre-Luc Dubois from the Jets — and you can bet Brandt Clarke’s name came up in the initial ask from any squad looking to business with L.A. Not going to happen. The 21-year-old — who happens to be six-foot-two and a right shot — has 33 points in 32 games as an AHL freshman this year.

13. Detroit Red Wings (29-20-6) Simon Edvinsson had to deal with off-season shoulder surgery, but it’s still easy to envision a day very soon where one Detroit pair is anchored by six-foot-three righty Moritz Seider and the other by the six-foot-six lefty Edvinsson. Both players were sixth-overall picks by GM Steve Yzerman.

14. Philadelphia Flyers (29-20-7) The big intrigue at last year’s draft surrounded when a team would step up and snag Matvei Mitchkov, who is expected to be a KHLer through at least 2025-26. The Flyers were that squad with the seventh pick and Mitchkov — who was once again loaned to Sochi from St. Petersburg — started the year quite strong and still has 17 goals in 45 games with Sochi as a 19-year-old.

SN_Podcast_KYPERBOURNE_1280x720

Real Kyper and Bourne

Nick Kypreos and Justin Bourne talk all things NHL, all season long. Watch live every weekday on Sportsnet and Sportsnet+ — or listen live on Sportsnet 590 The Fan — from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. ET.

Find latest episodes

15. New Jersey Devils (28-23-4) With Luke Hughes already showing enormous potential as a rookie defenceman, the Devils called up blue-liner Simon Nemec — the second-overall pick in 2022 — from the AHL at the beginning of December and he’s looked like an NHLer since his first shift. Given they’d be dealing from such a position of strength, perhaps right-shot defenceman Seamus Casey — currently looking awesome as an NCAA sophomore with the Michigan Wolverines — is somebody Jersey would consider moving in a deal to help in other areas.

16. Tampa Bay Lightning (30-22-5) Forward Isaac Howard led Team USA with seven goals at the WJC and netted two in the gold-medal-clinching game versus Sweden. Small sample size or not, that’s the kind of thing that will raise your prospect profile in a big way.

17. New York Islanders (23-18-4) Things haven’t been smooth for William Dufour in his second AHL season, but the hulking winger still stands a good chance to be a fantastic find as a 2020 fifth-rounder.

18. St. Louis Blues (29-24-2) Winger Jimmy Snuggerud has put himself on the map in a big way with his goal-scoring ability since the Blues took him 23^rd overall in 2022.

19. Minnesota Wild (26-24-2) With 39-year-old Marc-Andre Fleury coming to the end of the line and Filip Gustavsson struggling to find consistency this season, it’s easy to wonder if 21-year-old Swede Jesper Wallstedt will be a mainstay in the Wild crease as early as next October.

20. Nashville Predators (29-25-2) Part of the reason we’ve seen Juuse Saros’ name in trade rumours is because the future looks so bright for 21-year-old Russian goalie Yaroslav Askarov. Could you imagine if Askarov develops into a Vezina contender and the Preds just stacked up Pekke Rinne, Saros and Askarov for 25 years?

21. Pittsburgh Penguins (24-21-8) Brayden Yager was the 14^th-overall pick in the 2023 draft, and if the Pens are going to try to build one last competitive team around their old core (have they fully vetted that plan?), they’ll need the Moose Jaw Warrior to bring his goal-scoring ways to the NHL sooner rather than later. In all likelihood, the Penguins will be adding to their barren prospect cupboard by selling ahead of the trade deadline.

22. Seattle Kraken (23-21-11) Shane Wright has had his moments as an AHL rookie, but he’s in a bit of a drought right now (two points in his past six games) and it’s fair to wonder exactly how offensively potent 2022’s fourth-overall pick will be in the NHL. Meanwhile, David Goyette — the 61^st selection that June — is the OHL’s leading scorer with 90 points in 54 outings.

23. Washington Capitals (25-21-8) Ryan Leonard, the eighth-overall pick in June, is the kind of player whose sweater will be worn all over the home-rink stands. He’s skilled, fearless and fun.

24. Calgary Flames (26-25-5) If Jacob Markstom is actually traded in the next couple of weeks, it will be fascinating to see what Dustin Wolf — long viewed as the future stopper in Calgary — can do with a decent number of games between now and the end of the season.

25. Buffalo Sabres (25-27-4) Zach Benson is the only player drafted outside the top three of the 2023 draft who is already an NHLer. Two first-rounders from 2022 — Matthew Savoie and Jiri Kulich — look like serious keepers. It’s the last thing Western New Yorkers want to hear in the middle of another lost winter, but this team’s future can still be so bright.

26. Ottawa Senators (23-27-3) Given how bleak the crease situation has been in Ottawa this year, Sens fans have to be praying six-foot-seven Dane Mads Sogaard, currently an AHLer, one day becomes the real deal.

27. Montreal Canadiens (22-26-8) Defenceman Lane Hutson’s stock has been spiking since the Habs took him 62^nd overall in 2022. Odds are, at the end of his sophomore season at Boston University this spring, he’ll ink a deal with Montreal and start trying to prove his slight frame can still make magic at the highest level.

28. Columbus Blue Jackets (18-27-10) David Jiricek expressed his frustration for his demotion to the AHL earlier this year, but his stock remains high and whoever winds up replacing deposed GM Jarmo Kekalainen should still benefit from having the big, right-shooting Czech on the blue line. Denton Mateychuk, taken six slots after Jiricek at 12^th overall in 2022, is one of the top-producing defencemen in the WHL.

29. Anaheim Ducks (20-34-2) One of the more genuinely surprising bits of news during this hockey season was learning the Ducks had acquired Cutter Gauthier — the fifth-overall pick in 2022 — from the Philadelphia Flyers for young defenceman Jamie Drysdale. Good on the Ducks for making Anaheim the landing spot once Gauthier — for whatever reason — made it clear to Philly he wasn’t signing with the Flyers. With Mason McTavish and Leo Carlsson already in the fold, it’s exciting for Ducks fans to anticipate adding a sniper in Gauthier, who has 26 goals in 29 games with Boston College this season.

30. San Jose Sharks (15-35-5) Will Smith, the fourth-overall pick in 2023, could join the Sharks after his freshman year at Boston College and a couple other selections from June are already looking like wise calls. Quentin Musty, the 26^th pick, is second in the OHL with 1.77 points per game and fourth-rounder Luca Cagnoni is the top-scoring D-man in the WHL with 70 points.

31. Arizona Coyotes (23-29-4) Conor Geekie, taken 11^th-overall in 2022, is a drool-worthy power forward who will be improving the Coyotes sooner rather than later.

32. Chicago Blackhawks (15-39-3) Frank Nazar battled injuries last year as a member of the Michigan Wolverines, but the right-shot centre — taken 13^th overall in 2022 — is showing what he can do this year with 35 points in 30 games.

More from Sportsnet

Mistake-filled matchup sees Oilers rally to salvage point: ‘All that matters’

‘He means everything’: Auston Matthews hits 50 at record-breaking speed in Arizona