Corey Pronman’s latest Top Prospects and Players Under 23 list landed with the kind of noise these rankings always seem to make, and this one stretched all the way to 156 names. That alone guarantees arguments, but a few of the placements were jarring enough to set off fanbases immediately.
The biggest head-scratcher might be the way Sam O’Reilly shot up the board while Ike Howard disappeared from it altogether. O’Reilly, the former Oilers prospect included in the Isaac Howard trade, just became the fourth player in OHL history to win regular season MVP, playoff MVP, and Memorial Cup MVP in the same season.
That’s a rare accomplishment, but he was also a 20-year-old overager who was expected to dominate, and his scoring rate was modest for his age. Still, he climbed all the way to No.
Howard, meanwhile, had the stronger case at higher levels. He won the Hobey Baker, scored 50 points in 47 AHL games as a rookie, and played 29 NHL games last season. He was 163rd on last year’s larger list, so falling off completely after a better season is a tough one to square.
Zach Benson’s slide raised eyebrows too. He entered last year’s ranking at No. 93, then went out and posted 47 points in 63 games, finished plus-27, and then added five goals and nine points in 13 playoff games for a Sabres team that looked revitalized.
Instead of moving up, he dropped to No. 124.
That opened the door for some unusual comparisons. Vojtech Hradec, a 2024 sixth-round pick who had eight points in 43 games in the Czech league, landed 17 spots ahead of Benson at No.
- David Edstrom, who scored eight goals in 53 AHL games, came in at No.
- Neither has played an NHL game.
Pronman’s reasoning on Benson was blunt: “[Zach Benson] played against two shi*** playoff teams. The Bruins were not a good playoff team; the Habs were not a good playoff team.”
Maybe you buy that argument, maybe you don’t. But playoff production still matters, and young players proving they can handle that stage is exactly the kind of thing teams want to see. Montreal, after all, made the Eastern Conference Final and pushed the eventual Cup champs.
Then there’s Matt Savoie, the omission that feels hardest to explain. He was one of the Oilers’ most meaningful breakout stories this season.
He earned trust in every situation, became one of Edmonton’s first penalty-kill forwards over the boards, and eventually worked his way onto Connor McDavid’s wing. His first 63 games were quiet by the box score, with 18 points, but after the Olympic break he caught fire with nine goals and 19 points in his final 24 games.
He finished with 18 goals and 37 points, stayed with the best player alive, and brought real value beyond scoring. He was relentless on pucks, responsible defensively, and one of Edmonton’s better forwards in several playoff games despite managing just one point.
Last year he was 148th. This year, he wasn’t on the list at all.
That omission becomes even stranger when you look at who did make the cut ahead of him. Reid Schaefer checked in at No. 83; he is three months older than Savoie and had six goals and eight points in 47 NHL games. Vadim Moroz landed at No. 156 despite being older than Savoie, coming off a down year in the KHL, and having no NHL or AHL games at all after dropping from 44 points to 29.
There were more odd calls, too. Jiri Kulich came in at No. 64, nearly 30 spots higher than last year and 60 places above Benson, even though he played only 12 games because of a blood clot and none in the playoffs.
In total, he has 29 points in 75 NHL games. Pavel Mintyukov was ranked No. 153, even after signing a five-year deal at $7.2 million AAV and establishing himself as a strong NHL defenseman.
That’s the whole deal with prospect lists: they’re built to be debated. They reward some players for shiny new moments and leave others to wonder what more they have to do. This one did exactly that.
And if there was one player who seemed to deserve more credit than he got, it was Savoie. He took a major step forward, handled tougher responsibilities, and proved he could hold his own next to McDavid. Leaving him off entirely looks less like a small miss and more like a major one.
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Montembeault is also in the final year of his contract, which adds to the intrigue around his future. After a rough statistical season, he still profiles as the type of goalie a team in Columbus's position could examine if it wants stability or insurance, and Montreal would have to at least consider whether this is the right moment to explore value. No trade has been confirmed, but the fit is obvious enough that this is now one of those situations worth watching closely. [Read more 🡒]