Pronman Reveals List of Top 50 Drafted NHL Prospects

Over at ESPN Insider (note: paywall), the excellent Corey Pronman revealed his midseason rankings of the top 50 drafted NHL prospects.

To qualify for his list, prospects must have been drafted by an NHL team and have played in less than 25 NHL games this season or less than 50 career NHL games.

Listening to the front office and ownership talk about the organization’s ballyhooed farm and player development system — a by-product of the team’s infamous 2011 rebuild and their recent trade that sent Jason Spezza to the Dallas Stars — and their draft record under Bryan Murray, one would assume that a playoff bubble team that has drafted in the upper half of the NHL draft the past few years would have at least one name that comes up on Pronman’s list.

Not one Senators prospect appears, however. Nick Ritchie, the tenth overall selection made by the Anaheim Ducks using the pick that Ottawa packaged to them in the Bobby Ryan trade came in at number 50, so if there’s a silver lining…

In fairness to the Senators though, a number of their recent first round draft picks moved quickly through the ranks and have graduated because of Pronman’s criteria. Cody Ceci, Mika Zibanejad and Curtis Lazar are still incredibly young and although their numbers and underlying numbers aren’t necessarily great, there is still a ton of projectable upside for both players. The same can hopefully be said of a young goaltender like Robin Lehner. (As an aside, none of the players drafted after Zibanejad — Matt Puempel, Stefan Noesen, or Shane Prince — in the team’s feted 2011 rebuild appear on the list either.)

There’s also something to be said for the drafted development of late round picks who’ve finally been provided an opportunity to play regularly at the NHL level. Mike Hoffman and Mark Stone, two older and more mature players, have been exceptional this season. Granted, bulk of their production comes way of high shooting percentages that probably won’t be sustainable, but even in both cases, any normalization in their five-on-five production could be offset by more special teams responsibilities.

What is sobering about Pronman’s ratings is that it represents a fair and unbiased third-party analysis of the organization’s system.

What it essentially outlines is a significant predicament facing the Senators: as a budget-conscious organization that regularly misses the playoffs but not by enough to luck themselves into a top-five draft selection and the better odds of finding elite skilled talent that goes with it.

For this team to really have designs on reaching a level that goes beyond being a playoff bubble team, it is forced to rely heavily upon the growth of its youngest players who are already on the parent roster. If guys like Ceci, Cowen, Lehner, Zibanejad, Hoffman and Stone fail to get markedly to become star-caliber players, this organization will struggle to become a contender.

I don’t say any of this to downplay the value of having safe, projectable prospects like Nick Paul or Andreas Englund in the system, but they’re years away and safely projected to be third line/pairing players.

This team needs an infusion of more young, skilled talent and the only way to realistically get it anytime soon is to stop settling for being an average hockey team.

Teams Appearing on Pronman’s List: