The NHL’s Best Farm Systems Ranked – 2026-27 Preseason Update

If you want to be one of the best teams in the NHL in the Salary Cap Era, you have to draft and develop your own prospects so you can build for the future with young contributors on cheap entry-level contracts. When you look at some of the top teams in the league like the Carolina Hurricanes, Dallas Stars and the Minnesota Wild, you see teams that have developed a ton of their talent through the draft.

In general, there wasn’t a ton of motion with this edition of the list, though the Wild graduated a few of their top prospects and sent a handful of other young assets to the Vancouver Canucks in exchange for Quinn Hughes. The Wild were certainly the biggest faller, but they made the right call in my eyes, cashing in on a deep prospect pool to raise the ceiling of their team. Without further ado, here are the offseason farm system rankings as the 2026-27 season approaches.

Much like the top 100 prospects article, this ranking is going to be based on the quality and potential of each team’s prospect pool. Players are listed in no particular order. I will be using The Athletic’s Scott Wheeler’s definition of “prospect” for this which is as follows: “To be considered a prospect, a skater must be under 23 and not fully established with his NHL club,” (Scott Wheeler, Top 100 Drafted Prospects Ranking: McKenna, Stenberg, Martone lead summer 2026 list, July 14, 2026).

32. Colorado Avalanche

Previous Ranking: 27

Top Five Prospects: Axel Eloffson, Egor Shilov, Ilya Nabokov, Francesco Dell’elce, Sean Behrens

The Colorado Avalanche moved plenty of prospects and draft picks over the last few years, and their prospect pool has begun to really reflect that. After trading Calum Ritchie and their 1st round pick in either the 2026 or 2027 Drafts, it’s unlikely that the Avalanche will work their way back up this list anytime soon. This list is seriously barren, with one of their bigger prospects in recent years, Mikhail Gulyayev, decided to sign another contract extension with his KHL, meaning the Avalanche won’t see him on their ice for at least two more seasons.

31. Florida Panthers

Previous Ranking: 30

Top Five Prospects: Sandis Vilmanis, Simas Ignativicius, Ryder Cali, Linus Eriksson, Gracyn Sawchyn

The Florida Panthers certainly don’t have the deepest prospect pool, and the top prospect in the their pool over the last few seasons, Mackie Samoskevich, had a strong year rookie season in the NHL in 2024-25, graduating himself from this list. The Panthers have moved several valuable picks and prospects in recent years, but it has all been worth it for their back-to-back Stanley Cup victories. Their prospect pool has certainly seen better days, but I doubt they are too upset about that these days. Their most reason “cashing in” move involved trading for Brady Tkachuk this offseason for three first round picks and a second round pick.

30. Dallas Stars

Previous Ranking: 28

Top Five Prospects: Jakub Vaněček, Måns Goos, Emil Hemming, Cameron Schmidt, Aram Minnetian

The Dallas Stars have had one of the best groups of young players for several years now, though that strength has draining out of their prospect pool as youngsters like Lian Bichsel, Jason Robertson and Wyatt Johnston have establish themselves as NHL players. As a result of their success at the NHL level, the Stars have only used a single first round draft pick in the past four drafts combined, so it makes sense that they don’t rank very high here.

29. Tampa Bay Lightning

Previous Ranking: 29

Top Five Prospects: Benjamin Rautiainen, Sam O’Reilly, Dylan Duke, Ethan Czata, Tomáš Královič

The Tampa Bay Lightning has been in the bottom five of this ranking for roughly five years running, as a result of their aggressive pursuit of more Stanley Cups. Tampa has been all in for years now and they’re clearly trying to find a new balance of young talent on cheaper deals. Benjamin Rautiainen’s explosion in the Finnish Liiga gave their prospect pool a bit of life this year though.

28. Edmonton Oilers

Previous Ranking: 31

Top Five Prospects: Matt Savoie, Isaac Howard, Rūdolfs Bērzkalns, Sebastian Cossa, Beau Akey

About a year ago, the Edmonton Oilers’ prospect pool was in as rough of a spot as it ever has been during the Connor McDavid era (and probably still going back to the pre-Taylor Hall era as well). The Oilers have been doing the only sane thing a team with McDavid and Leon Draisaitl can do, going all-in by trading prospects and picks year after year. However, that leaves the cupboards pretty bare after a few years. They added Matt Savoie and Isaac Howard a while back, but neither have established themselves as must-have NHLers yet. They made a solid move this offseason, trading a mid-first round pick for goaltending prospect Sebastian Cossa.

27. Minnesota Wild

Previous Ranking: 22

Top Five Prospects: Kayden Lemire, Riley Heidt, Charlie Stramel, Adam Benák, Hayden Haight

The Minnesota Wild have had one of the best prospect pools in the NHL for a very long time, dating back to when they first had dreams of signing Kirill Kaprizov. Now, the Wild find themselves in the bottom chunk of the list for the first time since I started doing this exercise, but that’s a good thing. Players like Jesper Wallstedt and Danila Yurov had exciting rookie seasons, and the Wild cashed in on their excellent prospect pool in order to land Quinn Hughes back in December. The prospect pool has taken a real hit, but the NHL squad has become a whole lot more dangerous in a very top-heavy Central Division.

26. Vegas Golden Knights

Previous Ranking: 25

Top Five Prospects: Juho Piiparinen, Trevor Connelly, Jakob Ihs-Wozniak, Jonah Sivertson, Ben Hemmerling

In the past I have been very critical of the Vegas Golden Knights’ tendency to trade their best prospects and picks to win-now, and I’m willing to admit when I’m wrong. I was wrong in thinking that Vegas’ “it’s just business” mentality wouldn’t work and that they should have held onto more of their futures. Obviously it all worked out for them with their first Championship in franchise history and that’s not even mentioning the fact that they’re still ranked higher than a handful of teams on this list. Trevor Connelly gives Vegas a legitimate top prospect who may have top-six upside.

25. Carolina Hurricanes

Previous Ranking: 11

Top Five Prospects: William Håkansson, Kurban Limatov, Bradly Nadeau, Dominik Badinka, Felix Unger-Sörum, Charlie Cerrato

Teams as good as the Carolina Hurricanes shouldn’t have prospect pools as good as they have had in recent years. The reigning Stanley Cup Champions have finally drained enough talent from their prospect pool to slide down this list. I am still a big fan of Bradly Nadeau as a middle-six speedy-scorer, and I think Felix Unger-Sörum is going to make it. It’s just not as inspiring as this list has been in recent years.

24. Los Angeles Kings 

Previous Ranking: 24

Top Five Prospects: Elton Hermansson, Adam Goljer, Vojtěc Čihař, Carter George, Henry Brzustewicz

The Los Angeles Kings’ prospect pool is a shadow of its former self, with prospects like Brandt Clarke, Quinton Byfield and Arthur Kaliyev establishing themselves as NHLers and other young players like Brock Faber and Liam Greentree being traded for more established players. The addition of Elton Hermansson helps somewhat to negate the recent loss of Greentree as a high-skill winger with top-six potential.

23. Ottawa Senators

Previous Ranking: 26

Top Five Prospects: Carter Yakemchuk, Jonas Lagerberg Hoen, Kasper Halttunen, Jaxon Cover, Logan Hensler

The Ottawa Senators’ prospect pool has been all over the place in recent years, but they smartly decided to load up on futures when their former captain Brady Tkachuk asked out, picks that they used to add William Eklund from the San Jose Sharks as well as to add to their prospect pool significantly. While there aren’t many players on this list who I think will be hugely impactful NHLers, they represent high-upside swings that I can respect, especially Jaxon Cover whose development I will be watching with fascination.

22. Pittsburgh Penguins

Previous Ranking: 23

Top Five Prospects: Rutger McGroarty, Owen Pickering, Harrison Brunicke, Liam Ruck, Will Horcoff

The Pittsburgh Penguins have been in a constant state of mortgaging the future for current success for the last decade or two as they tried to make the most of the primes of Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin’s careers (quite successfully I might add). As a result they only selected in the first round three times in the 10 drafts from 2015-2024. However, the 2024-25 season seemed to be a bit of a turning point, with the Penguins yet again missing the playoffs and selling at the trade deadline. This has led to them making seven picks through the first two rounds of the last two drafts, adding more high-end prospects to their pool in two years than in the decade before.

21. Columbus Blue Jackets

Previous Ranking: 16

Top Five Prospects: Oscar Hemming, Cayden Lindstrom, Alessandro Di Iorio, Jackson Smith, Luca Del Bel Belluz

The Columbus Blue Jackets have made some massive changes over the last few years, from trading away Seth Jones for the picks that became Cole Sillinger and David Jiricek, to landing the late Johnny Gaudreau in the biggest surprise of the 2022 Free Agency period. Several of their best young players have already entered the NHL like Adam Fantilli and Denton Mateychuk, but the Blue Jackets still have a decent pipeline, led by Jackson Smith. Cayden Lindstrom’s development path has been shockingly unsuccessful so far, and has absolutely historic bust potential, but I still believe in his size/skill combo.

20. Winnipeg Jets

Previous Ranking: 18

Top Five Prospects: Viggo Björck, Brayden Yager, Sascha Boumedienne, Kevin He, Elias Salomonsson

The Winnipeg Jets have a good group of prospects spread between all positions. Elias Salomonsson looks just about ready to be a full-time Jet on the backend, and Viggo Björck could become at least the 2C for the team sometime soon. I still have faith in Brayden Yager becoming a long-time NHL player, though my estimation of his eventual scoring level has certainly been lowered over the past few seasons. Overall, the Jets have done a decent job of building out their prospect pool after years of playoff chasing.

19. New Jersey Devils

Previous Ranking: 21

Top Five Prospects: Anton Silayev, Alexander Command, Lenni Hämeenaho, Daniil Orlov, Nikita Scherbakov

The New Jersey Devils are in a strange spot this season. Their roster features plenty of names that were once on this list, with guys like Luke Hughes and Dawson Mercer contributing in the NHL. However, the Devils have had an up and down past few years and there’s not a ton of help coming from the prospect pool. Anton Silayev looks like a great defensive defenseman and Lenni Hämeenaho could be a solid middle-six piece. I do think Alexander Command can become a strong middle-six center for the Devils, but I don’t see a ton past that in their pool.

18. Boston Bruins

Previous Ranking: 19

Top Five Prospects: James Hagens, Oscar Olsson, Dean Letourneau, William Moore, Dans Ločmelis

The Boston Bruins have made two first round selections in the past five drafts combined, to go along with just three second round picks in that time. That lack of draft capital is bound to do some damage to your prospect pool, but their draft luck a few years ago and a few savy trade-deadline moves have given them a good bit more talent, with their first true top-end prospect in a decade with James Hagens. Dean Letourneau’s emergence as a legitimate NHL prospect is a major development for the Bruins.

17. Toronto Maple Leafs

Previous Ranking: 32

Top Five Prospects: Gavin McKenna, Ethan McKenzie, Miroslav Holinka, Tinus Luc Klobar, Måns Gudmundsson

The Toronto Maple Leafs winning the draft lottery for the first overall pick in the 2026 Draft is the biggest thing to happen to the franchise in a decade. Gavin McKenna alone does a lot of the heavy lifting here, pulling the Maple Leafs’ prospect pool out of the depths of the league. However, when he inevitably becomes an NHL regular and graduates from this list, I actually really liked some of the draft picks they made later in the 2026 Draft, adding depth in guys like Ethan McKenzie and Måns Gudmundsson who I think could both become NHL defenders for Toronto.

16. Vancouver Canucks

Previous Ranking: 17

Top Five Prospects: Caleb Malhotra, Tom Willander, Jonathan Lekkerimäki, Braeden Cootes, Adam Novotný

The Vancouver Canucks have risen significantly in this ranking over the past two years, rising all the way to from 30th, with the addition of Caleb Malhotra standing out as the biggest factor. The Canucks are set to ice the most abysmal team in the NHL next season so I expect they will continue their slow rise up this list. Tom Willander looks like a long-term second pairing defender and Adam Novotný brings a really likeable, hardworking style of play to their prospect pool.

15. New York Rangers

Previous Ranking: 20

Top Five Prospects: Alberts Šmits, Gabe Perreault, Malcolm Spence, Cole Beaudoin, Liam Greentree

The New York Rangers have a pretty deep prospect pool that they’ve been constantly refreshing, with smart picks in the late first round to go with prospects added in trades. They also bottomed out a bit last season and ended up with the fifth overall pick in the 2026 Draft where they took defenseman Alberts Šmits. Šmits gives them a new look as a big offensive defender who projects as a top pairing quality defenseman. I still have a lot of faith in Gabe Perreault becoming a top-six winger as well.

14. Philadelphia Flyers

Previous Ranking: 15

Top Five Prospects: Porter Martone, Jett Luchanko, Jack Nesbitt, Oliver Bonk, Jack Berglund

The Philadelphia Flyers have one of the most exciting prospects in the league in Porter Martone. Expectations were measured for Martone after a good, not great NCAA season, and he blew those expectations out of the water. Martone looked so good that I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s their best player by the end of next season. Luckily for the Flyers’ prospect pool, there is a ton more talent here in guys like Jack Nesbitt and Oliver Bonk who should be meaningful contributors in the middle of the Flyers’ lineup someday.

13. Nashville Predators

Previous Ranking: 14

Top Five Prospects: Wyatt Cullen, Brady Martin, Tanner Molendyk, Cameron Reid, Aiden Fink

The Nashville Predators have been in a weird position over the last few seasons, with their best players aging and slowing down a bit and then the management team spending a ton of ill-advised money on free agents. Regardless, they have done a really great job of accruing young talent both in trades and through the draft. Brady Martin and Wyatt Cullen safely project as top-six contributors while someone like Aiden Fink is more of a boom-or-bust type of winger with a high offensive ceiling.

12. Washington Capitals

Previous Ranking: 12

Top Five Prospects: Cole Hutson, Ilya Protas, Andrew Cristall, Lynden Lakovic, Terik Parascak,

The Washington Capitals have been going all-in for more than a decade and while it was ultimately a success with their Stanley Cup victory in 2018, their prospect pool was a sight for sore eyes for a very long time. The Capitals have flirted with the NHL’s mushy middle since their Cup win, but have added a ton of talent through the draft to help usher in their next era. Cole Hutson looks like a power play one quarterback who can play meaningful even strength minutes and Ilya Protas looks every bit as dominant as his brother and could be a handful in Washington’s top six.

11. St. Louis Blues

Previous Ranking: 13

Top Five Prospects: Milton Gästrin, Maddox Dagenais, Tynan Lawrence, Adam Jiricek, Justin Carbonneau

The St. Louis Blues have made six first round selections in the past four drafts, constantly replenishing their prospect pool. While they had to move on from Jordan Kyrou this past offseason, they landed Milton Gästrin as a small part of the deal. However, I think very highly of Gästrin as a responsible two-way center with enough skill to become a middle-six center at the next level. The Blues have good depth in their prospect pool, with the additions of Maddox Dagenais and Tynan Lawrence providing two more high-end center prospects.

10. New York Islanders

Previous Ranking: 10

Top Five Prospects: Malte Gustafsson, Calum Ritchie, Victor Eklund, Cole Eiserman, Kashawn Aitcheson

Before the 2024 Draft, the New York Islanders hadn’t made a first round selection since they took Simon Holmstrom 23rd overall in the 2019, and it showed in their prospect pool. In the two years since they have selected five times in the first round, adding the a ton of talent to their pool, not even including Matthew Schaefer who has graduated from this list on the back of a remarkable rookie season as an 18-year-old.

9. Detroit Red Wings

Previous Ranking: 5

Top Five Prospects: Carter Bear, Michael Brandsegg-Nygård, Nate Danielson, J.P. Hurlbert, Trey Augustine

The Detroit Red Wings haven’t had much to celebrate over the last seven or eight years, except for their prospect pool. Although many of those players haven’t panned out (I’m looking at you Filip Zadina and Joe Veleno), the Red Wings have continued to develop one of the league’s deepest pipelines. The youth movement in Detroit has been a huge reason for hope in the NHL, but guys like Nate Danielson, Michael Brandsegg-Nygård, and Carter Bear give me hope that Detroit is going to keep getting younger and more talented in the coming years.

8. Anaheim Ducks

Previous Ranking: 9

Top Five Prospects: Lucas Pettersson, Nikita Klepov, Stian Solberg, Roger McQueen, Marcus Nordmark

The Anaheim Ducks made the playoffs last season for the first time since the 2017-18 season, largely on the backs of their most talented young players. Despite those players graduating from the prospect pool, the Ducks still have a ton of talent coming in guys like Roger McQueen and Nikita Klepov. Stian Solberg also projects as a long-time NHLer with the type of bruisingly physical defensive game that NHL coaches love.

7. Buffalo Sabres

Previous Ranking: 7

Top Five Prospects: Daxon Rudolph, Radim Mrtka, Konsta Helenius, Gavin McCarthy, Ilia Morozov

The Buffalo Sabres’ young core has a huge amount of talent, with an embarrassment of riches on their NHL roster with guys like Rasmus Dahlin and Owen Power holding down the fort on the backend and Tage Thompson consistently performing like a star up front. Despite finally breaking their record playoff drought last season, the Sabres’ prospect pool is still loaded, with Daxon Rudolph projecting as a future power play quarterback and Konsta Helenius likely to be a meaningful middle-six piece as soon as next season.

6. Calgary Flames

Previous Ranking: 6

Top Five Prospects: Carson Carels, Zayne Parekh, Hunter Brzustewicz, Cole Reschny, Cullen Potter

The Calgary Flames are going to look very different over the next couple of seasons, and they’ve begun to build a really solid group of young players. The Flames have quietly done a really solid job of managing their assets during a massive fire-sale (pun-intended) over the past few years, trading Jakob Markstrom, Elias Lindholm, and now Rasmus Andersson amongst other players. As a result, the Flames have added some nice young talent like Cole Reschny (1st round pick received in Markstrom trade) and Cullen Potter (1st round pick received in Matthew Tkachuk trade). Carson Carels and Zayne Parekh both project as good offensive pieces in the top four defence group, though their play styles are wildly different.

5. Seattle Kraken

Previous Ranking: 8

Top Five Prospects: Chase Reid, Jake O’Brien, Casey Mutryn, Berkly Catton, Julius Miettinen

The Seattle Kraken are in a really strange place for a team that has only played a handful of seasons in franchise history. Typically, expansion teams are really bad for several years until their accumulation of draft picks turns into a strong prospect pool which eventually grows into a good NHL team. The Kraken, however, have bounced around the standings in their first seasons, making high draft picks something that they can’t rely on. They have done an admirable job of accumulating talent anyway, with plenty of center talent. Seattle drafted Chase Reid seventh overall in the 2026 Draft, marking the first time they have used a first round pick on a defenseman in their six total drafts.

4. Chicago Blackhawks

Previous Ranking: 2

Top Five Prospects: Anton Frondell, Sacha Boisvert, Xavier Villeneuve, Vaclav Nestrasil, Roman Kantserov

The Chicago Blackhawks have struggled to pull themselves out of their rebuild to this point, but they should have a real chance due to the development successes in the prospect pool as well as some more really early draft picks. Chicago has learned the hard way that tearing a team down and tanking is easy, but building the group back up to the point they can compete for the playoffs is much tougher. They made the bold choice of trading the fourth overall pick in the 2026 Draft for Bowen Byram, but they still have a ton of young talent in guys like Anton Frondell and Roman Kantserov who are both likely to play big roles in Chicago during the 2026-27 season.

3. Montreal Canadiens

Previous Ranking: 4

Top Five Prospects: David Reinbacher, Michael Hage, Alexander Zharovsky, Jacob Fowler, Gleb Pugachyov

The Montreal Canadiens have continued to build their prospect pool despite several important players, like Lane Hutson, Kaiden Guhle and Juraj Slafkovsky, graduating into full-time NHL spots. The Canadiens have a great young core already in the NHL, which is largely how they’ve made the leap from rebuilder to contender. The fact that they still have such a wealth of talent in their pipeline is incredibly impressive and a testament to their drafting and developing success. Michael Hage looks poised to become their long-term second line center option and they’ve got David Reinbacher on the backend who projects to be a solid second pairing defender as well.

2. Utah Mammoth

Previous Ranking: 3

Top Five Prospects: Tij Iginla, Caleb Desnoyers, Dmitri Simashev, Daniil But, Ethan Belchetz

The Arizona Coyotes are no more, and in their place, the Utah Mammoth holds their spot on this list. The Mammoth showed improvement last season, going from 89 points the season before to 92 points and a playoff spot. Their success is largely due to the excellent drafting the franchise has done over the years, with Dylan Guenther and Logan Cooley establishing themselves as cornerstones of the franchise. They have continued to develop their prospect pool well, with strong wingers like Tim Iginla and Ethan Belchetz to go with an excellent center prospect in Caleb Desnoyers. Don’t forget Dmitri Simashev either who was excellent in the AHL last season, scoring at the fourth highest per-game rate out of all AHL defenders (min. 5 games played).

1. San Jose Sharks

Previous Ranking: 1

Top Five Prospects: Ivar Stenberg, Keaton Verhoeff, Michael Misa, Ryan Lin, Igor Chernyshov

The San Jose Sharks have been near the top of this ranking from the moment they won the 2024 Draft lottery and landed Macklin Celebrini. However, Celebrini has made the leap into the NHL superstardom, with Yaroslav Askarov and Will Smith also graduating from this list. The fact that they still rank first is a testament to the massive influx of young talent set to hit the Sharks’ lineup over the coming seasons. The Sharks’ 2026 draft class might be a historically good crop of youngsters, with Ivar Stenberg projected as a high-end first line winger, and then both of Keaton Verhoeff and Ryan Lin projecting as strong top-four defenders.

Don’t forget they have Michael Misa just now coming into his own as the potential second line center behind Celebrini and Igor Chernyshov whose size and power made him a handful in 28 NHL games where he scored 19 points, mostly alongside the team’s young superstar. This is a young team on the rise that nearly made the playoffs last season, but their takeover is only just beginning, especially in a Pacific division that has been absolutely terrible in recent seasons. I wouldn’t be surprised to see the Sharks running the division on a yearly basis as soon as next season.

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