2023 NHL draft prospects

[JeffreyLFC]

2023 has early 2003 vibes. I don't want to jinx it but the number of large sized talented forward is quite something.

 

[NotProkofievian]

Huge year full of talented forwards coming up. Good year to be bad.

 

[Sasha Orlov]

Don't forget he is Russian

Right I forgot
I’d definitely take him 1st OA

 

[Lavar Ball]

I made my first 2023 List in March. Next one I'm going to make is after the end of this season. I still don't know that much about a lot of these players and a few of them I haven't even seen play, so if I have any positions wrong, please correct me.

Spoiler: Top 64

2023 Draft List:

1. Matvei Michkov-W
2. Connor Bedard-W
3. Charlie Stramel-C
4. Dalibor Dvorsky-C
5. Brayden Yager-C
6. Calum Ritchie-C
7. Adam Fantilli-C
8. Quentin Musty-W
9. Otto Stenberg-C
10. Gavin McCarthy-RD
11. Zach Benson-W
12. Eduard Sale-W
13. Theo Lindstein-LD
14. Jayson Shaugabay-C
15. Riley Heidt-C
16. Matthew Wood-W
17. Leo Carlsson-C
18. Gavin Brindley-C
19. Lukas Dragacevic-LD
20. Daniil But-W
21. Will Smith-C
22. Kasper Halttunen-W
23. Cameron Allen-RD
24. Hunter Brzustewicz-RD
25. Ethan Miedema-W
26. Alex Ciernik-W
27. Ryan Leonard-W
28. Nate Danielson-C
29. Mikhail Gulyayev-LD
30. Tyler Peddle-W
31. Danny Nelson-W
32. Gracyn Sawchyn-C
33. Colby Barlow-C
34. Trey Augustine-G
35. Ivan Remezovsky-LD
36. Connor Levis-C
37. Aram Minnetian-RD
38. Kalen Lind-W
39. Koehn Ziemmer-W
40. Maxim Strbak-RD
41. Oliver Moore-W
42. Beckett Hendrickson-C
43. Kalle Carlsson-C
44. Emil Pieniemi-LD
45. Emil Kuusla-W
46. Mazden Leslie-RD
47. Carey Terrance-C
48. Yegor Zavragin-G
49. Michael Chambre-G
50. Noah Dower Nilsson-C
51. Hugo Hell-LD
52. Andrew Strathmann-LD
53. Dmitri Simashev-LD
54. Dominik Petr-C
55. Arttu Karki-LD
56. Tom Leppa-C
57. Donovan McCoy-RD
58. Cam Squires-W
59. Will McDonough-C
60. Niko Minkkinen-RD
61. Roman Kantserov-W
62. Martin Misiak-C
63. Jayden Perron-W
64. William Whitelaw-W

Update soon?

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

Update soon?

Yes, within a week.

 

[MBrodeur]

Any interesting goalies in this draft? The 2022 draft projects to be disappointing as far goalies go, mostly because we've been spoiled by the Knight, Askarov, Wallstedt and Cossa hype.

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

Any interesting goalies in this draft? The 2022 draft projects to be disappointing as far goalies go, mostly because we've been spoiled by the Knight, Askarov, Wallstedt and Cossa hype.

Trey Augustine could be a first rounder.

 

[Ovechkin962]

Any interesting goalies in this draft? The 2022 draft projects to be disappointing as far goalies go, mostly because we've been spoiled by the Knight, Askarov, Wallstedt and Cossa hype.

USA

Trey Augustine - Stats, Contract, Salary & More

Eliteprospects.com hockey player profile of Trey Augustine, 2005-02-23 South Lyon, MI, USA USA. Most recently in the NCAA with Michigan State Univ.. Complete player biography and stats.

www.eliteprospects.com

Jacob Fowler - Stats, Contract, Salary & More

Eliteprospects.com hockey player profile of Jacob Fowler, 2004-11-24 Melbourne, FL, USA USA. Most recently in the NCAA with Boston College. Complete player biography and stats.

www.eliteprospects.com

Canada

Scott Ratzlaff - Stats, Contract, Salary & More

Eliteprospects.com hockey player profile of Scott Ratzlaff, 2005-03-09 Irma, AB, CAN Canada. Most recently in the WHL with Seattle Thunderbirds. Complete player biography and stats.

www.eliteprospects.com

Kelton Pyne - Stats, Contract, Salary & More

Eliteprospects.com hockey player profile of Kelton Pyne, 2005-09-03 White City, SK, CAN Canada. Most recently in the WHL with Regina Pats. Complete player biography and stats.

www.eliteprospects.com

Europe

Michael Hrabal - Stats, Contract, Salary & More

Eliteprospects.com hockey player profile of Michael Hrabal, 2005-01-20 Praha, CZE Czechia. Most recently in the NCAA with Univ. of Massachusetts. Complete player biography and stats.

www.eliteprospects.com

Yegor Zavragin at eliteprospects.com

Eliteprospects.com hockey player profile of Yegor Zavragin, 2005-08-23 Novosibirsk, RUS Russia. Most recently in the MHL with Mamonty Yugry. Complete player biography and stats.

www.eliteprospects.com

Gustaf Albihn - Stats, Contract, Salary & More

Eliteprospects.com hockey player profile of Gustaf Albihn, 2004-11-10 Stockholm, SWE Sweden. Most recently in the J20 Nationell with Leksands IF J20. Complete player biography and stats.

www.eliteprospects.com

Damian Clara - Stats, Contract, Salary & More

Eliteprospects.com hockey player profile of Damian Clara, 2005-01-13 Brunico, ITA Italy. Most recently in the SHL with Färjestad BK. Complete player biography and stats.

www.eliteprospects.com

Adam Dybal - Stats, Contract, Salary & More

Eliteprospects.com hockey player profile of Adam Dybal, 2005-09-02 Ostrava, CZE Czechia. Most recently in the USHL with Tri-City Storm. Complete player biography and stats.

www.eliteprospects.com

 

[Antiillafire]

Slovakia draft class is again going to be pretty good this year dvorsky is top 5 prospect ciernik is top 20, honzek,strbak,molnar,misiak all 2-3 round prospects right now,if we continue like this we might just have another golden era in few years

Dvorsky and Ciernik are neck and neck for me. Ciernik has made huge strides in the past few months. Also I like Jencko too, watching him in games vs Czech u18s back in April, he took Sale completely out of both games.

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

USA

Trey Augustine - Stats, Contract, Salary & More

Eliteprospects.com hockey player profile of Trey Augustine, 2005-02-23 South Lyon, MI, USA USA. Most recently in the NCAA with Michigan State Univ.. Complete player biography and stats.

www.eliteprospects.com

Jacob Fowler - Stats, Contract, Salary & More

Eliteprospects.com hockey player profile of Jacob Fowler, 2004-11-24 Melbourne, FL, USA USA. Most recently in the NCAA with Boston College. Complete player biography and stats.

www.eliteprospects.com

Canada

Scott Ratzlaff - Stats, Contract, Salary & More

Eliteprospects.com hockey player profile of Scott Ratzlaff, 2005-03-09 Irma, AB, CAN Canada. Most recently in the WHL with Seattle Thunderbirds. Complete player biography and stats.

www.eliteprospects.com

Kelton Pyne - Stats, Contract, Salary & More

Eliteprospects.com hockey player profile of Kelton Pyne, 2005-09-03 White City, SK, CAN Canada. Most recently in the WHL with Regina Pats. Complete player biography and stats.

www.eliteprospects.com

Europe

Michael Hrabal - Stats, Contract, Salary & More

Eliteprospects.com hockey player profile of Michael Hrabal, 2005-01-20 Praha, CZE Czechia. Most recently in the NCAA with Univ. of Massachusetts. Complete player biography and stats.

www.eliteprospects.com

Yegor Zavragin at eliteprospects.com

Eliteprospects.com hockey player profile of Yegor Zavragin, 2005-08-23 Novosibirsk, RUS Russia. Most recently in the MHL with Mamonty Yugry. Complete player biography and stats.

www.eliteprospects.com

Gustaf Albihn - Stats, Contract, Salary & More

Eliteprospects.com hockey player profile of Gustaf Albihn, 2004-11-10 Stockholm, SWE Sweden. Most recently in the J20 Nationell with Leksands IF J20. Complete player biography and stats.

www.eliteprospects.com

Damian Clara - Stats, Contract, Salary & More

Eliteprospects.com hockey player profile of Damian Clara, 2005-01-13 Brunico, ITA Italy. Most recently in the SHL with Färjestad BK. Complete player biography and stats.

www.eliteprospects.com

Adam Dybal - Stats, Contract, Salary & More

Eliteprospects.com hockey player profile of Adam Dybal, 2005-09-02 Ostrava, CZE Czechia. Most recently in the USHL with Tri-City Storm. Complete player biography and stats.

www.eliteprospects.com

I also like Michael Chambre. He has some really good games, but then also some when he can't stop the puck. He has really good hockey sense for a goalie and he moves well. He's also at least 6'1 going into his draft year. May be taller than that. If he can eliminate those games he can't stop the puck, he'll be a 2nd or 3rd rounder.

 

[TPM4020]

Trying to make a top draft in the world is hard. Top five maybe a bit easier. But for the head coach of Swedens U18 team it seams impossible. 46 guys in a Swedish U18 Elite camp and they still have a lot of players that should not be there. Players like Filip Karlsson, Joel Svensson (both Växjö), Wille Johansson and Hugo Hell (both Färjestad) on the preliminary rooster for Hlinka. And i could go on. What is that? The nepotism is still there. This needs to stop, or Swedish hockey will end up in a family party.
I have probably watched more games than anyone of the 2005 class through the years. A really strong group. Much stronger than the next one coming. For an example i watched all the games in the U18 play offs and Hugo Hell had a really tough time. Not close to be one of the top defenders born 2005 even in Färjestad. Victor Westh, Noel Styrenius and Noel Fransén (Albert Wikman had a strong stint through the season but a pretty weak play off against Mora) was better than him. And Joel Svensson looked slow and heavy in Växjö. Elis Rix much better for an example. Johansson in Färjestad was nowhere. Nice do to see Elliot Ståhlberg (best FW in Färjestad born 2005 this season, but not in the play offs ..) for the first time on this scene. Also nice to see some more new names like Hugo Bergendahl (Timrå), Dennis Altörn (Leksand). But did they play well? Ah not top level even here. Best forward of the play offs in Leksand was Liam Persson. He has not even been to one camp ... New names do. But a lot of names are still missing. And i could go on and on. But it is all about the nepotism. Maybe someone should check the connections between the leadership and the players fathers? If you are head coach of a national team, you have to watch the games. You can not trust the coaches and the managers. They are in the same gravel of nepotism.

Spot on!

 

[Thomas Chathoot]

Any interesting goalies in this draft? The 2022 draft projects to be disappointing as far goalies go, mostly because we've been spoiled by the Knight, Askarov, Wallstedt and Cossa hype.

The best goalie is probably a fin named Noa Vali

 

[Thomas Chathoot]

Some underrated guys I feel like do not get enough hype are
Will Smith
Zach Benson
Cam Allen
Calum Ritchie
Gabe Perreault
Tanner Molendyk maybe (Heard from a friend who scouts unprofessionally but loves to scout prospects and has been doing it for 2 drafts now)
Luca Cagnoni
Nate Danielson
Kasper Haltunnen

Jayden Perron is a really fun player I heard but I dont know if he is underrated

Some overrated players I will say are
Mikhail Gulyayev
Dalibor Dvorsky
Matthew Wood possibly
Quintin Musty
Jesse Nurmi '

Dvorsky is not a top five player this draft and might not even be a top 10. He is very talented but only put 3 points in 17 ALLSVENSKAN games which I find a little concering. Alex Ciernik could possibly be the best Slovak in this draft. I still think he can be a first rounder but 3 in 17 Allsvenskan games is concering

Mikhail Gulyayev is good but I dont think he will be an elite dman, maybe not even top two. I think saying Gulyayev to be a top four OFD is probably one of the most accurate things we can say at the moment. All though he was pretty good in the MHL (7-28-35 in 53 MHL Games) I still do not know if he is elite however.

Matthew Wood is very talented, his game might just not be the most translatable to the NHL which is why I am saying hes overrated a little.

Musty is overrated for me because he might just not be a first rounder for me tbh. Yes he went first overall in the OHL draft but I think Allen, Ritchie and Barlow are all better players then Musty is. Along with a lot of other players. Musty could go first round but I think as of rn, I would have him projected at late first and middle second.

Jesse Nurmi is just simply not all that good, did not impress me at the Hlinka Gretzky and probably isnt even gonna be a top 2 rounder for me. Hope he proves me wrong but he has been pretty bad at the Hlinka.

 

[The Swede]

Spot on!

Thanks! I´ve seen this group plenty of times through the years. Probably more than Eriksén (The coach) ... And i think every one that followed Hlinka can se that for an example that Wille Johansson has nothing there to do. One interesting thing is that the team who played Hlinka for Sweden played against the players who did not make the roster the last day of the camp. The players who did not make the roster won the game 6-0 ... Ok, i know. i doesn´t say everything. But something it says. Off course Otto Stenberg, Axel Sandlin-Pelikka, Noel Nordh, Theo Lindstein, goalie Erliden are top players in this group and should be on the team. A bit disappointed with the Örebro duo Kalle Carlsson and Lucas Sagranden in Hlinka. struggling. I also attended Frölundaborg both friday and saturday to watch the J20 and J18 games between Frölunda and Färjestad. Frölunda lost both with 2-3. I can say that Färjestad have found a goalie in Damian Clara. But Frölunda was the better team in the J20 game. And notice that I kept one eye on Hugo Hell. Struggling. I don´t understand why Färjestad is promoting him (and Wille Johanson) so hard? Of the 2005 born players in this game it was Damian Clara that stod out and Albert Wikman played a solid game. In the J18 game Frölunda started the game on a high. But after ten minutes Färjestad took over and won quite easy. Hugo Laring (goalie born 2006 in Frölunda), Felix Granath (2005 Norwegian in Frölunda), Elias Vattne (2006, Norwegian in Färjestad) Johannes Sidebäck (Färjestad), Gustav Ling (Färjestad) and Victor Westh (Färjestad) played a quite strong game. The big guy born in 2006 in Frölunda Karl Sterner had a shy game.

 

[shotvalley]

"...but only put 3 points in 17 ALLSVENSKAN games which I find a little concering."

As 16 years old in mens league and a season before his draft year.

Trust me when I say; there is no need to be worried.

 

[The Swede]

Watched a lot of hockey last week. Svenskhockey.tv worked fine! First thing first, Leo Carlsson (late 2004 in Örebro HK) will definitely be among top ten in the draft and the highest picked Swede i guess at the moment. Competing with Otto Stenberg. Leo had three strong games with juniorkronorna. Scoring four goals and six points in three games. I also watched Brynäs - Leksand (U18). No one really stood out but interesting to watch Michal Svrcek born 2007. The game ended 3-1 to Brynäs. A bit surprising because Leksand had more of their 2005 born top players in the line-up (Viggo Aspling, Hugo Hedvall, Noah Wolf etc). Brynäs U20 beat Mora with 9-2 (!) and Noel Nordh and Theo Lindstein played well and scored each a goal. Linus Lindblom (2003) in Brynäs best player on the ice. Mora U20 is not looking as good this year, as last year when they had a really good run. I also watched Färjestad - Frölunda U18. Färjestad played well and won comfortably 5-2. Joseph Zieba (goalie) and Dennis Carlsson the best players in Frölunda. No Otto Stenberg in the line-up. In Färjestad Elias Ivansson and Gustav Ling dominated the game. Elliot Ståhlberg and Lucas Kling not that strong. Noel Fransen and Hugo Hell had a decent game. No Albert Wikman on the ice.

 

[DinosaurBones]

Don't forget he is Russian

Also dont forget or simply realize how good Fantilli is

 

[macbowes]

Bedard/Michkov are a lock for 1/2, short of politics or injuries getting in the way, they're clearly the two best players and are both can't-miss prospects.

This is going to be such an awesome season of hockey, I feel like players last season were shaking off the rust from the missed seasons. I think Yager is going to end up going 3OA, but maybe I'm crazy, haha.

 

[Lockin17]

Top 5
1- Bedard
2- Fantilli
3- Michkov (signed until 2026 in the KHL)
4- Yager
5- Stramel / Dvorsky

 

[Martinez89]

My pre-season top-10 so far :

1. Bedard C.
2. Michkov M.
3. Carlsson L.
4. Fantilli A.
5. Yager B.
6. Dvorsky D.
7. Musty Q.
8. Sale E.
9. Ritchie C.
10. Wood M.

Well, unfortunately, if players like Stramel, Benson or Cameron Allen are outside of my top-10 it means only one thing, this draft is sooo stacked.
For the complete first round I need to see more from other players when the season begins...

 

[wetcoast]

2023 has early 2003 vibes. I don't want to jinx it but the number of large sized talented forward is quite something.

I keep hearing this 2003 vibes but just don't see it.

there were some really good solid prospects who went on to have solid NHL careers but noting like Bedard or Michov in 2003.

To me it seems more like 2015 vibes really.

 

[Thomas Chathoot]

My pre-season top-10 so far :

1. Bedard C.
2. Michkov M.
3. Carlsson L.
4. Fantilli A.
5. Yager B.
6. Dvorsky D.
7. Musty Q.
8. Sale E.
9. Ritchie C.
10. Wood M.

Well, unfortunately, if players like Stramel, Benson or Cameron Allen are outside of my top-10 it means only one thing, this draft is sooo stacked.
For the complete first round I need to see more from other players when the season begins...

For me, Wood and Musty dont touch my top 15. Dvorsky isn't in my top 10 rn either and I think he is really overrated because he is viewed as the next gen of top tier Slovak prospects when imo, Him and Ciernik are similar in potential

Top 5
1- Bedard
2- Fantilli
3- Michkov (signed until 2026 in the KHL)
4- Yager
5- Stramel / Dvorsky

Stramel isnt close to the top 15 maybe even 20. Michkov is cearly 2 as well but if you have him at 2 because of hes russian then I understand.

 

[Lavar Ball]

Stramel isnt close to the top 15 maybe even 20.

What makes you say something like this?

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

What makes you say something like this?

He'll go top 5 for the same reasons Fantilli will, and the same reasons Gauthier did.

 

[Xirik]

here's a question to the guys who've already done lots of homework on the 2023 draft eligble players.

I played around with a draft simulator for 2023 for funsies and a lot of the players are listed with "Power Forward". Are there really a lot of power forwards or potential ones in the draft?