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Future Watch 2023
It's our annual Future Watch edition, examining the pipeline for each NHL club and laying out the top 100 prospects in the game. The meat of the issue is our NHL Team Reports, where you'll find scouting reports for the top 10 prospects for each organization. But we also have features on several of the game's best youngsters: Logan Cooley, Shane Wright, Simon Edvinsson, Brandt Clarke and many more.
PITTSBURGH PENGUINS
AS THE PENGUINS BEGIN to enter the twilight years of the Sidney Crosby era, they could use an infusion of youth. After years of trading away picks and prospects in pursuit of the Stanley Cup, the pipeline isn’t overflowing with options, especially up front. But take fresh-faced NHLers Pierre-Olivier Joseph and Ty Smith and add top prospect Owen Pickering and the possibility of a vibrant, swift-skating blueline backing the seasoned superstar exists. The Pens also count three goalies among their top six prospects, which is something to think about as Tristan Jarry plays out the final year of his contract. D+ | RANK: 31ST 1. OWEN PICKERING D, 19, 6-4, 185 Swift Current (WHL) 46–8–24–32–16 2022 draft, 21st overall The smooth-skating Pickering isn’t afraid to put his high-end offensive instincts on display. “If you let him, he’d…
MIND GAMES
KNOWN FOR HIS sharp hands, quick feet and diligent work ethic, Calgary Flames prospect Matt Coronato is now raising his mental game. The Harvard sophomore is a psychology major and says his studies are offering valuable insights. “It relates to every aspect of life, and it definitely relates to hockey, too, looking at different ways to get yourself in the right mindset,” Coronato said. “It’s been very interesting, some of the classes I’ve been able to take.” As well as the top-tier academics, Harvard’s hockey program was a major attractant for Coronato, a 20-year-old right winger. Coach Ted Donato is now in his 19th season at the helm. His long list of achievements includes a fourth Whitelaw Cup as ECAC Hockey tournament champions in 2022, along with seven NCAA tournament berths and…
2023 TOP 100 PROSPECTS
THIS LIST OF THE top 100 NHL-affiliated players is made possible only with the help of NHL head scouts. They’re the people who collate all the latest intelligence on prospects. The ink is still wet on assessments from the World Junior Championship when they share the information with us. We ask a scout or director of player personnel from each team to study a master list of 320 names (32 teams of 10 prospects apiece) in order to create their own list of the top 60 players in development leagues. Our mandated criteria is that they project these prospects five to 10 years down the road in determining best-case scenarios. The names near the top of these top-60 ballots are remarkably similar in most cases. The further down you go, the…
MONTREAL CANADIENS
PLAYER DEVELOPMENT HAS BEEN the No. 1 focus for the new Canadiens management team – executive VP of hockey operations Jeff Gorton, GM Kent Hughes and coach Martin St-Louis. Gorton, who was hired after Marc Bergevin’s firing in November 2021, has since made important adds by hiring Adam Nicholas as director of hockey development and Christopher Boucher as director of analytics. “Drafting, developing, acquiring as many good players as you can and hopefully, aggressively, turn this thing around,” said Gorton about rebuilding a team coming off a last-place finish in 2021-22. “That’s the focus.” B+ | RANK: 11TH 1. FILIP MESAR RW, 19, 5-10, 168 Kitchener (OHL) 38–16–21–37–8 2022 draft, 26th overall Montreal chose to send Mesar to the OHL (rather than the AHL) so he could keep developing his offensive game without worrying so much about…
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