Welcome to Scott Wheeler's 2025 rankings of every NHL organization's prospects. You can find the complete ranking and more information on the project and its criteria here, as we count down daily from No. 32 to No. 1. The series, which includes in-depth evaluations and insight from sources on nearly 500 prospects, runs from Jan. 8 to Feb. 7.
The Colorado Avalanche actually held onto some picks last year! They even added some! And while they didn't have a first-rounder, the addition of nine prospects into their ultra-thin pool has made a difference and raised them up the rankings ever so slightly, as has continued progress from their top prospect, Calum Ritchie.
Their pool remains thin, I thought about ranking them a couple of spots lower and I wonder what it'll look like next year when Ritchie potentially graduates (they're already without their first- and third-rounder for 2025), but they took some temporary baby steps.
2024 prospect pool rank: No. 26 (change: +3)
Ritchie is the complete package and has been one of the top players in the OHL for the last two seasons (I think he has a claim as the best player in the league this year). From my first live viewing of him four Octobers ago in St. Catharines when he looked like the Generals' most talented forward in just the second game of his OHL career; to his four-goal, seven-point series in Oshawa's six-game first-round defeat against the Kingston Frontenacs three years ago; to his Hlinka performance two summers ago; to Langley at the CHL Top Prospects Game, Switzerland for U18 worlds and continued live viewings in Oshawa, Ritchie has consistently impressed me (he didn't elevate at the World Juniors for Canada but I thought he was fine there and it was a collective problem). On the puck, he's a multifaceted playmaker who often looks like the player who was the No. 2 pick in the 2021 OHL Priority Selection and an OHL First All-Rookie Team member.
He has quick hands (he's prolific on breakaways/in the shootout), a dangerous curl-and-drag wrister, decent cleverness to his game as a passer (whether through seams or often blind), slick skill in traffic and out wide sliding pucks under sticks and rotating through coverage or past checks for a player his size, and a knack for finessing pucks into spots for himself or his linemates to skate onto. He has also begun to fill out his frame (though his shoulder surgery did hurt a key summer for him post-draft), which has helped turn him into a diligent, relied-upon two-way player off the puck. He's also strong in the faceoff circle, makes those around him better, and has picked up a bit more of an acceleration gear from a standstill (and his skating was completely fine before that).
He takes smart routes with and without the puck, he has become a reliable three-zone player and the skill is there (he has superb puck control skill). He does a good job finding inside ice in possession (or off it). He's also a very selfless player for his age who is quick to change in the offensive zone and will sooner make the right play than try to overdo it. I've noticed an uptick in his physicality this year as well, both in the OHL and at the World Juniors where he did a good job forechecking and finishing his checks. I've liked the progress I've seen in how strong he is over pucks and getting up and under sticks to take them back in pursuit or go to the net for tips (which he's actually quite dexterous on) instead of always trying to free himself for his shot. When he keeps his feet moving, he's an impressive player. I see clear second-line potential.
Gulyayev put together, at the time, the most productive 16-year-old season by a defenseman in the MHL's modern history (dating back to 2009) when he posted 35 points in 54 games three seasons ago, regularly playing 20 minutes per game in a league famous for typically relying on older players. He did that after notching five points in five games at the Hlinka Gretzky Cup as a young 16-year-old, too. Two seasons ago, though he struggled defensively in his limited minutes in the KHL, he was dominant in the MHL and looked quite comfortable in the second-tier VHL. And then last year he made the rare full-time leap to top-six KHL defender for an 18-year-old and showed some nice progress in all areas of his game in my viewings. This season, he's again averaging 16-17 minutes per game as a teenager and has been productive without power-play time (and not because he's not a power-play type, because he is, but because Omsk specifically has some specialists on the PP, including NHL first-rounder Ryan Merkley and the team's leading scorer and captain, Damir Sharipzyanov).
He's an offensive defenseman who is at his best when looking to take charge with his feet. And while he's not a physical 5-foot-10, he doesn't play small and I like his game at both ends of the ice because of his mobility and the confidence with which he reads the play.
You'll commonly see him activate to lead plays into the offensive zone and create something. He walks the line and bends coverage well. But you'll also see him make the heady escape play out of his own zone under pressure or slide into a passing lane to intercept a pass, or disrupt an opposing carrier with a tight gap and active stick. He uses his feet and stick to play to positive defensive results, too. If he can become a No. 4-5 offensively inclined defenseman at even strength and a PP2 QB, he'll look like a good pick at No. 31. While some argue his size makes his NHL projection more of a longer-odds one than most first-rounders have, players with his statistical profile almost never bust. I think there's a chance he will surprise some people with the right development and believe he would have more notoriety had Russia been participating in international events these last couple of years.
Nabokov was my top-ranked goalie in the 2024 NHL Draft and the first goalie chosen, and has established himself as one of the top goalies outside the NHL at an early age. He doesn't have ideal size (though I wouldn't call 6-foot-1 small, either) but was an MHL All-Star a year ago and has been one of the best goalies in the KHL the last two seasons, winning the rookie of the year award and then KHL playoffs MVP after he backstopped Magnitogorsk to a Gagarin Cup title last year. He's a mobile and extremely technically and positionally sound goalie who gets to pucks, recovers quickly, sticks with scrambles and tracks well through traffic, but also stays controlled and has good hands. I don't see much to pick apart in his game and I expect him to play in the NHL and even be really solid as an NHL goalie.
One of my favorites from the 2021 draft class, Behrens was selected by the Avs 35 picks after where I had him ranked. After finishing third among under-19 defensemen in scoring as a freshman with 29 points in 37 games on the national champion Pioneers, Behrens suffered two injuries in his sophomore season (one at the summer World Juniors in Edmonton and another in-season) before having a strong winter World Juniors in Halifax as a first-pairing guy and alternate captain and a strong junior year on route to a second national championship and an entry-level deal with the Avalanche.
This season, which was supposed to be his rookie year in the AHL, Behrens suffered a knee injury that required surgery in a practice with the Eagles in early October.
When he's on, I love the way Behrens moves off the puck, steers play on it and thinks about and uses spacing. He's a heady, intelligent, mobile, active-in-all-three-zones (but within reason) defender who can control a game with his ability to exit his own zone, navigate through the neutral zone, lead entries and then manage offensive-zone sequences with his calculated aggression and quick reads. He also has a silky first touch and does a great job identifying his next play before the puck has arrived on his stick. He has the ability to create time and space and then attack. He's also a sound defender for his size (5-foot-10, now up from the mid-170s to 190 pounds) who is always engaged, plays a tight gap, fights in board battles and physical engagements to take or keep his space and rarely has a bad game. He plies his trade as a competitive offensive defenseman who kills his fair share of plays and then uses all of the other tools he has to escape and get play tilting in his direction. He's capable of driving play on the puck, disrupting play off it, managing the game and playing physical against the rush. It'll be interesting to track both him and Gulyayev because there may only be room in a future Avalanche lineup for one of them long-term. Hopefully, the knee injury doesn't set him back.
Zellers was one of three legitimate 2024 prospects who stayed at Shattuck instead of jumping into the USHL full-time last year, and I liked him more ahead of the draft than teammates Colin Ralph and Aidan Park whenever I watched them (both at Shattuck and for Team USA at the Hlinka Gretzky Cup in Park's case). This season, he then made the smart choice to spend a full year in the USHL instead of making the jump directly from Shattuck to college with North Dakota. With Green Bay, Zellers has been one of the most talented players in the league (albeit it's a bit of a down year for the USHL) since returning from an injury that kept him out of Avs development camp in the summer. He also missed time to play at the World Junior A Challenge (where he registered five points in five games), and to nurse another injury in December.
Zellers does a wonderful job playing pucks into space and skating into them. He has legit touch and skill on the puck in small areas and has scored and created some beautiful goals across levels early in his career. I like his approach to offense and the way he uses the puck to create advantages for himself or his linemates. He can make the quick play or the long one and makes good decisions about when to pace up or slow it down and hold it. He has great hands and a quick, adjustable release. There's some clear talent there; the question is whether it'll translate. But he's also an incredibly competitive kid who, as Ralph told The Athletic, is a "thorny pain in the ass." It's easy to see him becoming a top offensive player in college, but some question what he might look like in terms of an NHL conversation someday. I like the player/style/makeup for the modern game, though. Drafting players out of the prep school circuit always comes with a longer timeline and a bit of risk, but he looks like a B or B+ prospect to me. He's really quite talented and a lot of fun to watch.
Here's that small-area skill:
Olausson's a frustrating one because he should be a better player than he is to the eye (he's too talented and athletic to struggle in so many practical areas on the ice).
Olausson is capable of being a direct, attacking winger who can get off the wall to the middle third of the ice by protecting pucks and cutting to his spots to create chances for himself. He's also capable of moving off the puck to make himself available as a shooter. He's tough to stop when he uses his blend of speed, athleticism, size and hands (at the right times). Against his peers, he took and beat defenders one-on-one and flashed an NHL wrist shot (in terms of power and accuracy, with a release that continues to get faster/more deceptive), skill and skating. When he plays with confidence and intention, he goes right at defenders by playing to beat them through their feet or out wide on the perimeter with his feet. But he also bounced around pre-AHL and hasn't been able to create for himself against pros the way he did against at lower levels. His tools are evident: The ability to hang onto the puck under pressure for a rangier player, or split through traffic to handle underneath sticks, the ability to skate and shoot, the pro frame (listed by the Eagles at 6-foot-1 and 180 pounds), etc. But he no longer profiles like a first-rounder and his decision-making and play selection have never been strengths. I'd still give him a year or two to figure it out but eventually, if he doesn't put it all together, you might have to start to wonder.
Prishchepov has been one of the great stories in hockey this year in my opinion. He was drafted in the seventh round as an overager just last June and not only quickly earned an entry-level contract after his first development camp with the Avs but has already played in double digits NHL games for them. He was a good junior player in Victoriaville but I don't think anyone expected him to be playing NHL games in November after he was picked with one of the last selections of the draft. He wasn't just the first seventh-rounder from the 2024 draft to play a game, but also the 2021, 2022 and 2023 drafts.
Prishchepov's game itself is what-you-see-is-what-you-get. He's a good-sized, good-skating, athletic forward. He's competitive and plays with a motor, finishing his checks and working effectively on the forecheck and along the wall. He's never going to have a ton of offense but he plays an honest, pro-styled game with pace and intention and he looks like he might become a serviceable fourth-line forward.
Foudy's an interesting case study because he's already in his fifth AHL season at an early age after not playing a single game in the OHL post-draft due to the pandemic. It could have, under the wrong development plan, gone sideways on him. But he was making steady progress and looked like he was going to be in the mix for a roster spot into camp last year before a lower-body injury that first flared up that spring lingered through the summer and the first half of the season (he was only activated from IR on Jan. 11, 2024). His health has remained an issue this season as well, limiting his ability to make the jump to the NHL.
Foudy has world-class speed and athleticism, which combine to make him a one-man transition player. He has shown creativity in spurts throughout his career, too. And he has, when healthy, started to figure out how best to apply his skating ability to avoid putting himself into tough spots/making decisions. When the game slows down, he often flashes nice hands and looks like a good passer. For a long time, he needed to make decisions earlier in his skating patterns in transition. When his processing began to catch up to his feet, his promise as a depth NHL forward came into focus. The skating should make him a good forechecker and transporter. If he can continue to make slight adjustments to the way he plays and get to the inside as a shooter more often instead of burning around the edges of the ice, that will make him an even better role player who brings a different element. He started to feel close to ready when the injuries cropped up, which is unfortunate. I'd stick with him here.
Mandolese, who's in his last year of eligibility for this, has found a way to stay relevant. This is his fifth year of pro and it has included three NHL games (back in 2022-23 with Ottawa and he posted a .916 save percentage in them), 15 ECHL games across three seasons (with a career .921 at that level) and parts of each of those five years in the AHL, where he has played to a career save percentage around .900 and has hovered around .910 this year, his first with the Eagles. That career followed a QMJHL First All-Star Team nod as the league's best goalie after he posted a .925 save percentage with Cape Breton in a year where his partner posted a .895.
Mandolese is a 6-foot-5, 207-pound goalie who tracks and anticipates the play at a high level. He has never been the fittest or most athletic goalie but he moves fine for his size. Good shooters can also freeze him at times, which has limited his upside in my opinion. He makes the saves he's supposed to make and has decent tools/hands/technique for his size but I'm not sure he has another level beyond AHL tandem goalie/call-up option in a pinch.
Miner, who signed a one-year contract to extend with the Avs organization after his entry-level deal expired at the end of last season, has finally made the full-time jump to the AHL this season after bouncing between the AHL and ECHL previously. He has played fairly well, too, with a save percentage above .900 and two NHL games under his belt now. He had a career .911 in his time in the ECHL, as well, and had a track record of success in the WHL (though his WHL career also came in unusual circumstances in a rare junior hockey tandem with now-25-year-old David Tendeck). I like the way Miner tracks pucks, moves on his feet, anticipates the play and stays compact in his movements. Those attributes hide his below-average size (6-foot-1, 185 pounds) and OK athleticism. I don't think he's likely to become a full-time NHL goalie but every organization needs depth, and he's a fine No. 3/4 for the Avalanche if they want him to continue to be that for them.
Fisher took the Minnesota high school route through the USHL with the Fargo Force to Denver, where he's a freshman this year and has played well in his role with the Pioneers. He's a 6-foot-2, 200-pound center with lots of experience on the penalty kill who works off the puck, supports play well defensively, will sacrifice his body to block a shot and is strong in the faceoff circle. He also plays with jump offensively, has a good one-touch shot/one-timer, and can play down low to pop into the slot and get open for his teammates (he's more of a shooter than a passer). I'm not convinced he has NHL upside but he's got pro upside and should become a really solid college player as an upperclassman.
Jedlicka has followed a fascinating path. He was drafted with one of the last picks of the 2023 draft in his last of three chances to get picked. Then he underwent shoulder surgery shortly after getting picked and missed all of last season in Slovakia. All this after he'd already dealt with a major knee injury earlier in his career and was still a near point-per-game player in Slovakia's top pro level as one of the league's best young players with Zvolen. Then, this year, he made the move to Brno, started the year playing very limited minutes after two seasons as a top player there, and ultimately left and signed with the Avalanche to make the jump to the AHL. With the Eagles, he has looked fine in my viewings considering the midseason introduction to a new level/league/ice surface.
He's a 6-foot-2, 200-or-so-pound left-shot forward who has played all three forward positions at some point in his career, can play on both special teams, plays fast and physical, works for what he gets and has a bit of an edge to him. He also has decent skill and seems to fit in with a variety of linemate types. Add in a quick release and a sense for getting open and there might be something there if he can get and stay healthy for an extended period. He remains a bit of a mystery box, though, all things considered, and he's not the smartest hockey player in terms of on-ice decision-making (his game is built on instinct predominantly).
Humphreys is a crafty player who proved he could facilitate and make plays at both center and on the wing last season at the NTDP, and with a variety of linemate types. There are also questions of translatability which revealed themselves in a difficult start at Michigan this season and ultimately led to a move to the OHL with the Rangers (I believe he should have started the year in the USHL). He missed part of six weeks from late January to early March due to injury last season but came back with a four-point game and I thought finished on a strong note at U18 worlds, where he also showed more determination to take pucks and go to the net. Any momentum and confidence he'd built he didn't show at Michigan (after he'd already recommitted from MSU to go there, only to leave after one semester), though, so the OHL represents a bit of a restart.
Humphreys' niche is in his offensive craft. He has also developed physically to grow an inch and add some needed weight -- he scored five goals in his NTDP debut a couple of years ago and was listed at 5-foot-10 and 150 pounds in his U17 year, but is now an inch taller and 20-something pounds heavier. His game is decently talented and smart in possession. He's an agile skater who side-steps close-outs nimbly. And he has quick hands and a decent feel for the game as a playmaker, which blend with a heady disposition and good instincts on and around the puck to create an interesting offensive package when he's against his peers. He plays off pressure fairly well. He has some one-on-one moments and can flash skill off the rush. He has some work to do in his habits and off-puck play, though, and the questions about the translatability of his game beyond his age group are real. There are times when I'd like to see him really own it and attack (he can be too deferential/pass-first). I was too high on him last year (I viewed him as a mid-rounder despite the consensus viewing him as a late-rounder or even not there on drafting him at all) but feel he's worth at least a peripheral eye/mention here. We'll see how he does in junior. He's a huge long shot, though.
As always, each prospect pool ranking is broken down into team-specific tiers in order to give you a better sense of the proximity from one player -- or group of players -- to the next.
The Avalanche's pool is divided into four tiers: 1, 2-5, 6-8, 9-13.