The second class we will look at this week in our series reordering recent NHL drafts is the 2023 group. It was a highly anticipated draft due to the plethora of premium talent at the top, and the intense discourse of which order those top forwards should go in, as well as a lengthy discussion about Matvei Michkov. Players eligible for this exercise had to have actually been drafted in the draft class mentioned, regardless of their first year of eligibility.
Tier 1: Elite NHL player
1
Connor Bedard
C
1
Chicago
Tier 2: NHL All-Star
2
Leo Carlsson
C
2
Anaheim
3
Adam Fantilli
C
3
Columbus
4
Matvei Michkov
RW
7
Philadelphia
Tier 3: Bubble star and top of lineup
5
Will Smith
C
4
San Jose
Two years from this draft, remarkably little at the top has changed. The top group of players that went in the top 10 are, for the most part, still the same names. That first handful of forwards of Connor Bedard, Leo Carlsson, Adam Fantilli, Matvei Michkov and Will Smith were just so good that it would have been quite a leap from someone else to close that gap.
Tier 4: Bubble top and middle lineup
6
Ryan Leonard
C
8
Washington
7
Nate Danielson
C
9
Detroit
8
David Reinbacher
D
5
Montreal
9
Dmitri Simashev
D
6
Utah
10
Axel Sandin Pellikka
D
17
Detroit
11
Calum Ritchie
C
27
New York Islanders
12
David Edstrom
C
32
Nashville
13
Oliver Bonk
D
22
Philadelphia
14
Yegor Zavragin
G
87
Philadelphia
Some scouts in the league do feel like Ryan Leonard belongs in the conversation with those names above. Yegor Zavragin is the biggest mover from this draft. The third-round pick excelled versus men the last few years, including being the starter for SKA this season as a 19-year-old.
Tier 5: Middle-of-the-lineup player
15
Dalibor Dvorský
C
10
St. Louis
16
Tanner Molendyk
D
24
Nashville
17
Tom Willander
D
11
Vancouver
18
Samuel Honzek
LW
16
Calgary
19
Daniil But
LW
12
Utah
20
Zach Benson
C
13
Buffalo
21
Lenni Hämeenaho
RW
58
New Jersey
22
Danny Nelson
C
49
New York Islanders
23
Charlie Stramel
C
21
Minnesota
24
Easton Cowan
C
28
Toronto
25
Brayden Yager
C
14
Winnipeg
26
Oliver Moore
C
19
Chicago
27
Emil Pieniniemi
D
91
Pittsburgh
28
Andrew Cristall
LW
40
Washington
29
Otto Stenberg
C
25
St. Louis
30
Colby Barlow
LW
18
Winnipeg
31
Eduard Sale
RW
20
Seattle
32
Anton Wahlberg
C
39
Buffalo
33
Matthew Wood
LW
15
Nashville
34
Carson Rehkopf
C
50
Seattle
35
Michael Hrabal
G
38
Utah
36
Gavin Brindley
RW
34
Columbus
37
Bradly Nadeau
C
30
Carolina
38
Gabe Perreault
RW
23
New York Rangers
39
Roman Kantserov
RW
44
Chicago
40
Quentin Musty
LW
26
San Jose
41
Kasper Halttunen
RW
36
San Jose
42
Mikhail Gulyayev
D
31
Colorado
As an aside, this is the clear deepest draft class I’m analyzing this week among the four classes between 2021 and 2024. There are still players that I believe could have lengthy NHL careers into the 40s on this list, which is unusual.
Tier 6: Projects to play NHL games
43
Maxim Strbak
D
45
Buffalo
44
Andrew Gibson
D
42
Nashville
45
Felix Nilsson
C
43
Nashville
46
Carey Terrance
C
59
New York Rangers
47
Jonathan Castagna
C
70
Utah
48
Hunter Brzustewicz
D
75
Calgary
49
Etienne Morin
D
48
Calgary
50
Theo Lindstein
D
29
St. Louis
51
Sawyer Mynio
D
89
Vancouver
52
Felix Unger Sörum
RW
62
Carolina
53
Alexander Rykov
RW
100
Carolina
54
Trey Augustine
G
41
Detroit
55
Jacob Fowler
G
69
Montreal
56
Luca Cagnoni
D
123
San Jose
57
Rasmus Kumpulainen
C
53
Minnesota
58
Justin Kipkie
D
160
Minnesota
59
Jakub Stancl
LW
106
St. Louis
60
Carson Bjarnason
G
51
Philadelphia
61
Vadim Moroz
LW
88
Utah
62
Aydar Suniev
LW
80
Calgary
63
Yevgeni Volokhin
G
144
Montreal
Tier 7: Has a chance to play games
64
Drew Fortescue
D
90
New York Rangers
65
Nick Lardis
LW
67
Chicago
66
Gracyn Sawchyn
C
63
Florida
67
Riley Heidt
C
64
Minnesota
68
Oiva Keskinen
C
194
Columbus
69
Emmitt Finnie
C
201
Detroit
70
Brandon Svoboda
C
71
San Jose
71
Beau Akey
D
56
Edmonton
72
Sutter Muzzatti
C
143
Nashville
73
Caden Price
D
84
Seattle
74
Tristan Bertucci
D
61
Dallas
75
Paul Fischer
D
138
Edmonton
76
Noah Chadwick
D
185
Toronto
77
Kaden Hammell
D
148
Seattle
78
Quinton Burns
D
74
St. Louis
79
Gavin McCarthy
D
86
Buffalo
80
Hoyt Stanley
D
108
Ottawa
81
Charles-Alexis Legault
D
139
Carolina
82
Konnor Smith
D
97
Anaheim
83
Jesse Kiiskinen
RW
68
Detroit
84
Koehn Ziemmer
RW
78
Los Angeles
85
Ethan Gauthier
RW
37
Tampa Bay
86
Mathieu Cataford
RW
77
Vegas
87
Coulson Pitre
RW
65
Anaheim
88
Tuomas Uronen
C
192
Vegas
89
Juraj Pekarcik
C
76
St. Louis
90
Bogdan Konyushkov
D
110
Montreal
91
Mikhail Ilyin
LW
142
Pittsburgh
92
Arttu Kärki
D
96
Vegas
93
Yegor Sidorov
RW
85
Anaheim
94
Hampton Slukynsky
G
118
Los Angeles
95
Denver Barkey
LW
95
Philadelphia
96
Aiden Fink
RW
218
Nashville
97
Austin Roest
RW
175
Nashville
98
Christopher Pelosi
C
92
Boston
99
Dylan Roobroeck
C
178
New York Rangers
100
Eric Pohlkamp
D
132
San Jose
101
Rodwin Dionicio
D
129
Anaheim
102
Matthew Mayich
D
170
St. Louis
103
Jakub Dvorak
D
54
Los Angeles
104
Joseph Willis
C
111
Nashville
105
Zachary Nehring
RW
82
Winnipeg
106
Lukas Dragicevic
D
57
Seattle
107
Melker Thelin
G
134
Utah
108
Thomas Milic
G
151
Winnipeg
109
Adam Gajan
G
35
Chicago
110
Carsen Musser
G
166
Utah
111
Damian Clara
G
60
Anaheim
112
Olof Glifford
G
159
Florida
113
Yegor Rimashevsky
RW
203
San Jose
114
Ruslan Khazheyev
G
158
Carolina
115
Luca Pinelli
C
114
Columbus
(Illustration: Demetrius Robinson / The Athletic; Top photos: Marc DesRosiers, Nick Turchiaro, Jerome Miron / Imagn Images)
Sep 9, 2025
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