Craig Button recently ranked the
top 30 NHL prospects.
1. Justin Schultz
2. Evgeny Kuznetsov
3. Vladimir Tarasenko
4. Morgan Rielly
5. Nail Yakupov
6. Alex Galchenyuk
7. Mark Scheifele
8. Sven Baertschi
9. Jonathan Huberdeau
10. Ryan Strome
11. Brett Ritchie
12. Dougie Hamilton
13. Mikael Granlund
14. Nick Bjugstad
15. Malcolm Subban
16. Jakob Silfverberg
17. Jonas Brodin
18. Oscar Klefbom
19. Calle Jarnkrok
20. John Gaudreau
21. Jacob Trouba
22. Austin Watson
23. Mika Zibanejad
24. Andrei Vasilevski
25. Hampus Lindholm
26. Ryan Murray
27. Filip Forsberg
28. Mikhail Grigorenko
29. Jaden Schwartz
30. Boone Jenner
It doesn't
really mean anything but Gaudreau's presence on the list (especially ahead of top 15 picks like Murray, Trouba, Zibanejad, Lindholm, Forsberg, Grigorenko, and Schwartz) is quite surprising to say the least. Even Bartschi is ahead of guys like Huberdeau, Hamilton, and Granlund. Perhaps Flames prospects are gaining a little more league-wide recognition (keeping in mind the Friedman post above as well)?