Corey Pronman Underestimates Jacob Fowler, Michael Hage, and Adam Engstrom

Charles-Alexis Brisebois
Corey Pronman Underestimates Jacob Fowler, Michael Hage, and Adam Engstrom
Credit: Joe Hrycych/Getty Images

We talked about this this morning, but The Athletic (Corey Pronman) has released its ranking of the 32 teams, based on the quality of players aged 23 and under.

The ranking takes into account both established NHL players and prospects.

The Canadiens are ranked third on the list. The Sharks and the Ducks, two California teams, are ahead of Kent Hughes and Jeff Gorton's squad.

But it's also important to keep in mind that Pronman ranked the Habs' young players. And that's where you can see that the list has the potential to spark some debate.

Why? Because some players aren't ranked where you'd expect them to be.

Juraj Slafkovsky, Ivan Demidov, and Lane Hutson are the top three names. We can all agree that, in no particular order, they deserve their spots on the podium.

Alexander Zharovsky and Gleb Pugachyov are in the top 5 ahead of David Reinbacher. And it's only after that that we find Michael Hage, ranked #7. That's a bit far down, and I don't really see why he's behind Reinbacher and Pugachyov.

Owen Beck and Bryce Pickford are ranked next… and Adam Engstrom, whom many consider one of the best defensemen not playing in the NHL, is ranked #10.

That's still pretty low, but Pronman doesn't find him tough enough to play against on the ice. Does Beck really deserve to be ahead of Engstrom, whom The Athletic projects as a third-pair defenseman?

Next up are Florian Xhekaj and—get this—Tyler Thorpe, before Jacob Fowler makes an appearance in the rankings. He's right ahead of Alexis Cournoyer and Yevgeni Volokhin.

According to Pronman, Fowler doesn't have the athletic ability to be a No. 1 goaltender. So he hasn't changed his mind about him, but I think that comment might not go over well in Quebec.


In a nutshell

– Liiga: Saku Koivu's number retired.

– A story to watch.

– The defenseman is generating a lot of buzz.

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