2024-25 NHL Prospect Pool Hub: Everything you need to know about your team’s future

After more than a month, Daily Faceoff’s second annual NHL Prospect Pool Breakdown series is complete.

A total of 320 prospects were analyzed, with some teams featuring significantly better prospect pools than others. San Jose, Montreal, Buffalo, Anaheim, and Chicago are among the teams with the best pipelines, and we’ll have a full prospect pool ranking coming later this month. Some fanbases really overrate their future, while others might not understand that having a good pipeline means also having role players – you don’t always need high-scoring superstars.

The criteria for being labeled a “prospect” are simple: players generally have to have played in 50 or fewer NHL games or spent more time outside of the NHL than in it last year. Skaters over 23 years old are not included, with goaltenders needing to be 25 or under. Some prospects might still bounce around between full- and part-time NHL duty, but players who have already spent time as a full-time NHLer – Edmonton’s Vasily Podkolzin, for example – don’t apply.

What makes a good prospect? Obviously, skill, but I’m always looking for players who work extra hard, can skate and think the game at a high level. You can be great with the puck, but if you’re an awkward skater, are more of a passenger than a doer, or make dumb passes at a high rate, you’re going to have a hard time making yourself indispensable. Your play away from the puck is, arguably, more important than it is with the puck because you’re chasing after it more than you have it any given game.

So, with that, here are links to all 32 NHL Prospect Pool Breakdowns for 2024-25: