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Oilers deemed to have best group of prospects; Penguins worst

Connor McDavid

Connor McDavid

AP

The Edmonton Oilers have the best group of prospects.

The Pittsburgh Penguins have the worst.

Those were the findings of ESPN’s Corey Pronman, who ranked the “organizational prospect depth” of all 30 NHL teams and published his analysis today.

“The Oilers have two great defensive prospects in Darnell Nurse and Griffin Reinhart, but the reason for their No. 1 rank is Connor McDavid,” wrote Pronman. “Frankly, remove him and the system is average, as it’s quite thin after the few top names.”

As for the Penguins, Pronman concluded: “There really wasn’t anybody close to Pittsburgh for the 30th spot. This organization is all-in for the next two or three years, and it has more or less burned its system to the ground, through deals of top picks and prospects, to get there.”

Since the article is posted behind a paywall, we’ll give you Pronman’s full list, but you’ll have to pony up for his explanations.


  1. Oilers
  2. Maple Leafs
  3. Sabres
  4. Coyotes
  5. Islanders
  6. Jets
  7. Red Wings
  8. Blue Jackets
  9. Flames
  10. Flyers
  11. Hurricanes
  12. Predators
  13. Blues
  14. Lightning
  15. Canucks
  16. Blackhawks
  17. Canadiens
  18. Bruins
  19. Sharks
  20. Ducks
  21. Capitals
  22. Panthers
  23. Senators
  24. Stars
  25. Avalanche
  26. Devils
  27. Kings
  28. Wild
  29. Rangers
  30. Penguins

Note that Pronman’s “definition for an NHL prospect for the purposes of this ranking is one with 25 or fewer NHL games played this regular season, or 50 total career games.” So, in other words, a player like Aaron Ekblad wouldn’t count, even though he’s only 19.

Related: ‘It’s hard to find players like Phil Kessel’