Predators Prospect Rankings Summer 2024

[herzausstein]

Surin has a more NHL ready size/frame. If Stiga can add some more muscle, i think he will be pretty comparable to Surin. They seem like theyd have some really complimentary skills that could make them a good combination with a guy like Kemell at RW.

Prospects without much NHL games:

L'Heureux Svechkov Wood
Stiga Surin Kemell
Lind Ingram Fink
Norringer Nilsson Gojsic/Marques

Molendyk Gibson
Chystyakov Ufko
Gustafsson Matier

Askarov
Milota

Not mentioned: Stastney, Del Gaizo, Tomasino, Evangelista, Pärssinen.

I expect Stastney and Del Gaizo to have ceilings around Carrier level at a peak. Evangelista, Pärssinen, and Tomasino will either be at the NHL level, traded, or lost to waivers this season.

 

[Kat Predator]

I like Erik Påhlsson's dark horse potential. Sort of reminds me of Pärssinen.

 

[Predsanddead24]

mostly everyone ranked him higher.

Except for the actual NHL teams I guess.

 

[Flgatorguy87]

Forgot about Chistyakov...that guy could still be a real steal for us. He won't be in Nashville until 2026 if ever, so maybe it's best he is forgotten about, but he is still young and could plug in as NHL ready at 25/26.

 

[maplepred]

Except for the actual NHL teams I guess.

Well one team anyways lol

 

[herzausstein]

Forgot about Chistyakov...that guy could still be a real steal for us. He won't be in Nashville until 2026 if ever, so maybe it's best he is forgotten about, but he is still young and could plug in as NHL ready at 25/26.

In 2026, if he does decide to come over... he should be able to slide right into the NHL. He looks good but who knows what he will do. Lauzon expires that season as well but with Molendyk not sure if we will have a spot for him and i doubt he will come over unless he is coming for a NHL job

 

[Predsanddead24]

Well one team anyways lol

True enough although Trotz said we tried to trade up to get Surin which suggests they thought other teams were going to take him around the time we did. I'd be surprised if we had him ranked 30 positions higher than any other team but we do know that Stiga was passed up that long. Either way I think they are both interesting prospects with good upside but also the potential to crash and burn.

 

[triggrman]

Well one team anyways lol

Well since Stiga wasn't drafted were the media experts expected, seems like more than one team.

 

[Porter Stoutheart]

Maybe another idea for doing this year's rankings is instead of the Poll method, all the regulars just give their list... but say #1 to #20... and the final result is just the average ranking from amongst the posters?

Or if Scoresberg is still willing to run the polls, that'd probably be better than me starting them up.

 

[maplepred]

Well since Stiga wasn't drafted were the media experts expected, seems like more than one team.

I’m just saying the general consensus has stiga ranked higher. Gosh!
Remember ff9 dropped too lol
Sorry to trigger you man lol

 

[Flgatorguy87]

I’m just saying the general consensus has stiga ranked higher. Gosh!
Remember ff9 dropped too lol
Sorry to trigger you man lol

Stiga seems fine, but there are a lot of that type drafted every year in his area that never turn into anything. He has some flair to his game, but I compared him to Evangelista when I watched him early in camps. He was trying to do too much. Hopefully he follows the same path as Evangelista, but I don't think he's superiour to Surin based on the snippet of observation I have had. Surin was playing at a different pace and level than everyone else at camp.

 

[glenngineer]

Hi surin, but yeah stiga has much more hype and mostly everyone ranked him higher. Just because we reached on surin a bit doesn’t mean he’s better. He may end up better no doubt but right now stiga is ranked the better prospect by mostly all credible sources.

Yet how many teams passed on Stigs, twice?

Stiga seems fine, but there are a lot of that type drafted every year in his area that never turn into anything. He has some flair to his game, but I compared him to Evangelista when I watched him early in camps. He was trying to do too much. Hopefully he follows the same path as Evangelista, but I don't think his superiour to Surin based on the snippet of observation I have had. Surin was playing at a different pace and level than everyone else at camp.

And Surin had to tone it down because it was camp. Imagine him when he’s able to be physical.

 

[Flgatorguy87]

Yet how many teams passed on Stigs, twice?


And Surin had to tone it down because it was camp. Imagine him when he’s able to be physical.

You mentioned you watched camp. What were your thoughts on Surin? I have tried to tamper my thoughts on him based on that one showing, but I have a hard time not being excited from it.

 

[maplepred]

Stiga seems fine, but there are a lot of that type drafted every year in his area that never turn into anything. He has some flair to his game, but I compared him to Evangelista when I watched him early in camps. He was trying to do too much. Hopefully he follows the same path as Evangelista, but I don't think he's superiour to Surin based on the snippet of observation I have had. Surin was playing at a different pace and level than everyone else at camp.

That’s a good analogy. Thanks for sharing. Either way, I hope one of them or both pan out. I think surin is a more sure bet based on his game but stiga has a higher ceiling I feel.

 

[herzausstein]

Maybe another idea for doing this year's rankings is instead of the Poll method, all the regulars just give their list... but say #1 to #20... and the final result is just the average ranking from amongst the posters?

Or if Scoresberg is still willing to run the polls, that'd probably be better than me starting them up.

Thats an intriguing setup. Someone might need to post a list of all the people for consideration so everyone is working from the same list instead of some including Pärssinen, Tomasino, Evangelista and some considering then graduated from prospect status. Also making sure we dont have some fall through the cracks like Weisblatt, gibson, and Ingram since we have some newly acquired and some of the mid round picks from a couple years ago in NCAA or overseas may fall through the cracks

 

[Predsanddead24]

Maybe another idea for doing this year's rankings is instead of the Poll method, all the regulars just give their list... but say #1 to #20... and the final result is just the average ranking from amongst the posters?

Or if Scoresberg is still willing to run the polls, that'd probably be better than me starting them up.

That would probably be the more accurate way of figuring out the board consensus on prospect rankings but I do think the individual posts are more fun and generate discussion in the offseason dead period.

 

[Porter Stoutheart]

That would probably be the more accurate way of figuring out the board consensus on prospect rankings but I do think the individual posts are more fun and generate discussion in the offseason dead period.

I'm not sure of "accurate" vs. "expedient" really... I was going for "expedient".

 

[PredsV82]

I like it right up till del gaizo. Dude is gonna be 25 when next season starts and hasn’t done really much. He may possibly end up a rotational guy but not much more than that.
Don’t sleep on stiga, he’s easily the best player we got from this past draft. Could be a big prospect for us this season.

I specifically excluded anyone from this summers draft.

 

[Porter Stoutheart]

Here is a potential candidates list.

My criteria is basically:
- has not conclusively made the NHL yet (therefore still includes Tomasino, Parssinen, Stastney)
- is still a prospect who in theory could yet make the NHL (i.e. all our other draft picks and non-veteran AHL players)

I don't think an age limit makes sense, because a guy like Del Gaizo is considered one candidate to actually make the team next season, as is Stastney, despite them being 24-turning-25 already

I could buy the NHL experience limit for Tomasino and Parssinen. However, they were dispatched to finish the year in the AHL, and are just now coming off ELCs/waiver exemption, so I think would otherwise be considered prospects were it not for some earlier games logged in previous years in the NHL. I think they are still "prospects". Whereas Evangelista went the whole season in the NHL, and is considered a lineup lock now, so he's no longer just a candidate to win a spot.

So there's over 50 guys listed below. I think there are really only about 30 who are legitimate candidates for a top-20 list.

PLAYER	TEAM	LEAGUE	ACQ	YOB	GP	G	A	TP/W	PIM/L	+/- OTL
Yegor Surin (C)	Yaroslavl Loko Jr.	MHL	22/2024	2006	42	22	30	52	108	35
	Yaroslavl	KHL			3	0	0	0	1	-1
Teddy Stiga (C)	USNDT	USHL	55/2024	2006	27	18	20	38	18	20
	USN U18	NTDP			61	36	43	79	42	-
	USA WJC-18				7	6	5	11	6	-
Viggo Gustaffsson (LD)	HV71 Jr	Swe-Jr	77/2024	2006	41	3	16	19	44	15
	SWE WJC-18				7	0	1	1	10
Miguel Marques (RW)	Lethbridge	WHL	87/2024	2006	67	28	46	74	57	13
	playoffs				2	0	1	1	8
Hiroki Gojsic (RW)	Kelowna	WHL	94/2024	2006	68	21	29	50	51	5
	playoffs				11	0	5	5	13
Jakub Milota (G)	Cape Breton	QMJHL	99/2024	2006	33	2.82	.905	18	11	1
	Czech WJC-18				5	3.05	.882
Viktor Norringer (LW)	Vastra Frolunda Jr.	Swe-Jr J20	127/2024	2006	25	8	4	12	18	4
	playoffs				7	0	4	4	0
	Vastra Frolunda Jr.	Swe-Jr J18			6	6	7	13	10
	playoffs				5	3	3	6	2
Erik Pahlsson (C)	Dubuque	USHL	213/2024	2004	57	28	44	72	16	23
	playoffs				11	1	4	5	2
Matthew Wood (RW/C)	U.Connecticut	H-East	15/2023	2005	35	16	12	28	43	-1
	Canada WJC-20				5	2	2	4	0	3
Tanner Molendyk (LD)	Saskatoon	WHL	24/2023	2005	50	10	46	56	18	40
	playoffs				16	3	7	10	10	12
Andrew Gibson (RD)	SSMarie	OHL	42/2023	2005	68	12	32	44	58	36
	playoffs				11	0	2	2	2
Felix Nilsson (LW)	Rogle BK	SWE-JR	43/2023	2005	22	8	15	23	10	19
	playoffs				3	2	2	4	0	0
	Rogle BK Angelholm	SWE			41	1	2	3	2	-5
	playoffs				1	0	0	0	0	0
Kalan Lind (LW/C)	Red Deer	WHL	46/2023	2005	46	16	29	45	73	-11
	playoffs				9	4	4	8	8	-4
Dylan MacKinnon (RD)	Halifax	QMJHL	83/2023	2005	64	3	13	16	48	1
	playoffs				4	0	2	2	5	-3
Joey Willis (C)	Saginaw	OHL	111/2023	2005	66	14	36	50	15	25
	playoffs				17	4	7	11	0	4
Juha Jatkola (G)	KalPa	SM-Liiga	121/2023	2002	34	2.69	.875	12	16	5
Sutter Muzzatti (LW)	R.P.I.	ECAC	143/2023	2003	33	10	15	25	79	-15
Austin Roest (C)	Everett	WHL	175/2023	2004	61	38	33	71	53	20
	playoffs				5	3	4	7	0	2
Aiden Fink (RW)	Penn St. U	Big-10	218/2023	2004	34	15	19	34	27	-3
Joakim Kemell (RW)	Milwaukee	AHL	17/2022	2004	67	16	25	41	23	-2
	playoffs				15	3	8	11	6
Reid Schaefer (LW)	Milwaukee	AHL	32/2022	2003	63	7	14	21	39	1
	playoffs				14	1	2	3	35
Adam Ingram (C)	St. Cloud State	NCHC	82/2022	2003	38	10	18	28	18	9
Kasper Kulonummi (RD)	Tappara Tampere	SM-Liiga	84/2022	2004	40	0	4	4	4	4
	playoffs				1	0	0	0	0	0
	Tappara U-20	SM-Sarja			5	0	3	3	8	3
	Finland WJC-20				7	0	4	4	4	-1
Cole O'Hara (RW)	UMass-Amherst	H-East	114/2022	2002	37	7	11	18	18	-1
Ben Strinden (RW)	U. North Dakota	NCHC	210/2022	2002	39	6	6	12	18	6
Fedor Svechkov (C)	Milwaukee	AHL	19/2021	2003	57	16	23	39	18	12
	playoffs				15	6	6	12	4
Zachary L'Heureux (LW)	Milwaukee	AHL	27/2021	2003	66	19	29	48	197	10
					15	10	5	15	62
Anton Olsson (LD)	Skelleftea AIK	SweHL	72/2021	2003	18	0	1	1	0	-4
	playoffs				13	0	1	1	4	-2
	Jukurit	SM-Liiga			7	2	1	3	29	1
	AIK	Allsven.			7	0	0	0	0	-1
	playoffs				3	0	0	0	4	-1
Ryan Ufko (RD)	UMass-Amherst	H-East	115/2021	2003	37	10	16	26	14	4
	Milwaukee	AHL			9	1	5	6	4	-2
	playoffs				15	1	9	10	6
Jack Matier (RD)	Atlanta	ECHL	124/2021	2003	52	6	11	17	26	-4
	Milwaukee	AHL			16	0	2	2	2	-6
Simon Knak (LW)	Davos HC	Swiss-A	179/2021	2002	32	5	7	12	8	6
Yaroslav Askarov (G)	Milwaukee	AHL	11/2020	2002	44	2.39	.911	30	13	1
	playoffs				5	3.25	.882	2	3	0
	Nashville	NHL			2	1.47	.943	1	0	0
Luke Prokop (RD)	Atlanta	ECHL	73/2020	2002	55	5	23	28	16	-17
	Milwaukee	AHL			9	0	2	2	6	-7
Adam Wilsby (LD)	Milwaukee	AHL	101/2020	2000	61	8	13	21	20	17
	playoffs				15	0	3	3	6
**Luke Reid (RD)	U. New Hampshire	H-East	166/2020	2001	36	1	15	16	18	5
**Gunnarwolfe Fontaine (LW)	Northeastern U.	H-East	202/2020	2000	36	8	19	27	6	-2
**Chase McLane (C)	Penn State U.	Big-10	209/2020	2000	17	3	3	6	11	-11
Philip Tomasino (RW)	Nashville	NHL	24/2019	2001	41	7	13	20	25	-6
	Milwaukee	AHL			22	11	7	18	11	-3
	playoffs				15	5	1	6	4
**Alexander Campbell (LW)	Northeastern U.	H-East	65/2019	2001	36	22	20	42	6	13
	Milwaukee	AHL			9	3	0	3	0	-1
	playoffs				4	0	0	0	0
Marc Del Gaizo (LD)	Milwaukee	AHL	109/2019	1999	60	8	26	34	34	18
	playoffs				15	4	3	7	14
	Nashville	NHL			9	0	3	3	2	2
Semyon Chistyakov (LD)	Avangard Omsk	KHL	117/2019	2001	59	4	20	24	16	15
	playoffs				12	3	4	7	2	3
**Ethan Haider (G)	U.Connecticut	H-East	148/2019	2001	21	2.91	.906	7	11	2
Isak Walther (RW)	U. Vermont	H-East	179/2019	2001	24	5	7	12	6	10
Juuso Parssinen (C)	Nashville	NHL	210/2019	2001	44	8	4	12	12	-6
	playoffs				1	0	0	0	0
	Milwaukee	AHL			36	7	18	25	18	12
	playoffs				14	1	8	9	0
Spencer Stastney (LD)	Nashville	NHL	131/2018	2000	20	2	2	4	4	9
	playoffs				3	0	0	0	0
	Milwaukee	AHL			44	5	15	20	2	27
	playoffs				10	0	0	0	4
Vladislav Yeryomenko (RD)	Magnitogorsk	KHL	151/2018	1999	31	3	5	8	2	11
	playoffs***				21	0	3	3	0	5
Konstantin Volkov (G)	Dynamo Moskva	KHL	168/2016	1997	10	3.60	.889	5	2	0
Jeremy Hanzel (LD)	Seattle	WHL	187/2023	2003	66	17	43	60	40	-8
	Milwaukee	AHL			5	0	2	2	2	0
	playoffs				1	0	0	0	2
Navrin Mutter (LW)	Milwaukee	AHL	FA	2001	26	1	5	6	62	-2
	playoffs				7	0	1	1	18
	Atlanta	ECHL			33	5	6	11	63	-14
Nolan Burke (C)	Atlanta	ECHL	FA	2002	47	5	10	15	32	-18
	Milwaukee	AHL			1	0	0	0	0	-1
Ozzy Wiesblatt (C/RW)	San Jose	AHL	31/2020	2002	34	3	8	11	33	-9
	Milwaukee	AHL			16	1	5	6	22	4
	playoffs				15	2	7	9	12
Jake Livingstone (RD)	Milwaukee	AHL	FA	1999	68	2	15	17	43	18
	playoffs				2	0	1	1	0

** = rights expire August 15

Notes:
Matthew Wood transferring to U.Minnesota
G.Fontaine transferring to Ohio State
Chase McLane transferring to Colorado College
Teddy Stiga heading to Boston College
Erik Pahlsson heading to U.Minnesota

 

[Porter Stoutheart]

So in the above list I have

Tier 1 (7 guys)
Askarov, Kemell, Wood, Surin, Molendyk, L'Heureux, Svechkov
Tier 2 (4 guys)
Tomasino, Parssinen, Stastney, Ufko
Tier 3 (9 guys)
Lind, Nilsson, Fink, Chistyakov, Stiga, Marques, Gibson, Del Gaizo, Wilsby

So that's 20. That was actually pretty easy, and we have a lot of other decent mid-round type picks who aren't included. There is possibly a bit of overlap between the edges of those tiers, depending on my mood on a given day. But ordering within those tiers would be kind of a WAG. It would be a blending of various factors of both upside and proximity-to-NHL/accomplishment-to-date and draft pedigree etc.

Say just for today I went:

1. Askarov
2. Molendyk
3. L'Heureux
4. Surin
5. Kemell
6. Wood
7. Svechkov
8. Parssinen
9. Ufko
10. Stastney
11. Tomasino
12. Stiga
13. Gibson
14. Chistyakov
15. Fink
16. Lind
17. Nilsson
18. Marques
19. Del Gaizo
20. Wilsby

 

[herzausstein]

Personally, im still holding out some hope for Schaefer. It took him forever to get any offense going.

Played 63 games
Through 40 games had 2G 8A 10P
Last 23 games had 5G 6A 11P

Not exactly a world beater pace but near 0.5 PPG down the stretch isnt bad for a rookie. It does look pretty bland when we had 3 other rookies (Svechkov, Kemell, and L'Heureux) score higher rates but that wouldve been a pretty good rate considering his usage.

 

[maplepred]

I specifically excluded anyone from this summers draft.

Ah gotcha. That’s fair. Gotta give em time to see I feel ya

 

[Predsanddead24]

Personally, im still holding out some hope for Schaefer. It took him forever to get any offense going.

Played 63 games
Through 40 games had 2G 8A 10P
Last 23 games had 5G 6A 11P

Not exactly a world beater pace but near 0.5 PPG down the stretch isnt bad for a rookie. It does look pretty bland when we had 3 other rookies (Svechkov, Kemell, and L'Heureux) score higher rates but that wouldve been a pretty good rate considering his usage.

Yeah I don't have any expectations of him becoming a world beater but hopefully he can become a 4th liner/PKer type of guy akin to Smith at least with potentially a bit more upside. Can Ads watchers chime in and say if he played any PK minutes last year?

 

[Porter Stoutheart]

Personally, im still holding out some hope for Schaefer. It took him forever to get any offense going.

Played 63 games
Through 40 games had 2G 8A 10P
Last 23 games had 5G 6A 11P

Not exactly a world beater pace but near 0.5 PPG down the stretch isnt bad for a rookie. It does look pretty bland when we had 3 other rookies (Svechkov, Kemell, and L'Heureux) score higher rates but that wouldve been a pretty good rate considering his usage.

Yeah, there are certainly several like Schaefer that I hold out hope for. It's actually pretty wild that I can make a top-20 list, and we still have like 20 other prospects any of whom could grab spots on next year's list. I just don't really have much of a differentiator to go with on all the most recent picks, or guys like Schaefer who haven't really stepped up yet.

There have been years where we got to like #13,14,15 and it was like uh, is there anybody left over to take these spots? Now there are like 20 left even after #20.

We still don't necessarily have that 1 superstar bluechip guy, but I would like to think we have at least 10 guys who WILL play on our team. Which is kind of crazy.

 

[glenngineer]

You mentioned you watched camp. What were your thoughts on Surin? I have tried to tamper my thoughts on him based on that one showing, but I have a hard time not being excited from it.

Always hard to say when you have two games going on at once. From what I saw, he was smart positionally, didn't waste energy by just skating around, he had a point to his movements. One play stuck out in that his guy had him beat but got back into the play to break it up so I like his compete level. Has a solid skill set.

I think the thing that excites me most about him is he's relatively young in comparison to other guys who were drafted this year. More of a window for him to grow.

I want to see what he does when there are no restrictions in how he's able to play, meaning, he can be the pesky physical player we're expecting.