Welcome to Scott Wheeler’s 2023 rankings of every NHL organization’s prospects. You can find the complete ranking and more information on the criteria here, as we count down daily from No. 32 to No. 1. The series, which includes in-depth evaluations and commentary from sources on nearly 500 prospects, runs from Jan. 9 to Feb. 8.

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The Islanders’ pool hasn’t lost (by promotion, trade or age) almost anyone from its No. 31-ranked pool a year ago. That would normally bode well for improving the group. But they also didn’t have a first-round pick in the 2022 draft, which meant that the additions to their group were more modest than you’d maybe hope for out of a lower-ranked pool.

The good news is that all five of the 2022 picks they did have made this list and get B or C grades as OK-to-solid prospects, which has helped to strengthen the depth of the pool on the whole.

The bad news is that they still don’t have one of the league’s true top prospects (their best prospect is more of an A-minus level prospect than an A-level one, and certainly isn’t anywhere near the real A-plus types) and most of the dozen or so prospects of consequence that they do have, project more as depth pieces than impact types. And while they have a handful of interesting prospects at both forward and on defence, they don’t likely have anything coming in net, with neither of Tristan Lennox nor Jakub Skarek making this top-15.

2022 prospect pool rank: No. 31 (change: +4)

1. Aatu Raty, C, 20 (Bridgeport Islanders)

After an excellent post-draft season got Raty’s to-that-point up-and-down career back on track, he has been effective without being a star in his jump to the AHL. Considering his age, that’s a good place to start. When he plays intentionally, keeps his feet moving, and stays between the dots to play a give-and-go game that drives downhill, he’s an impressive player. His skating has progressed nicely, to the point where he can put pro defenders on their heels and consistently enter the zone with control in the middle third. When the north-south game isn’t there, he has begun to see the ice and make players through layers with more regularity. Confidence has always played a big role in his play and as he gets more comfortable at the AHL level I expect him to grab hold of it and progress to a career as a top-nine NHL forward. He may not become a star, but he’s got pro tools (including size, quick hands, and a decently hard though at times overrated shot). Slowly but surely he has learned to hang onto the puck when necessary and play quick when required. He’s not smart enough to drive a line by himself or make plays when he’s less involved, so linemates will play a factor in his success, but on the whole, and with the right development, I believe he’ll provide value as a No. 52 pick.

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2. William Dufour, RW, 20 (Bridgeport Islanders)

After a miracle season changed his outlook and led him to a Memorial Cup MVP and a World Juniors gold medal, Dufour has begun to really settle in nicely as an AHL power forward and scoring threat. His heaviness has less of an impact against pros than it did in juniors, which has required him to up his pace, but he has done that nicely and worked really hard to get his fitness and skating to where they needed to be. He’s never going to be the quickest through his first three strides but he looks a lot lighter and more fleet of foot out there than he used to, which has allowed him to win more races and take pucks to scoring areas for his shot. He has also slowly become shiftier with control of the puck in the last two seasons. His shot (wrister and one-timer) and strength (he can really push through contact and knock guys over when he sets his mind to it) remain his best attributes though. When he loads up, that shot of his comes off hard. And despite losing some of the size advantage, he’s still able to hold his space in the offensive zone, work of the wall, and use his body to gain positioning at the front of the net. I think there’s some underrated soft skill there too. He has a presence about him that makes him a factor on and off the puck when he’s on the ice and I expect him to become a solid complementary scoring depth winger in the NHL.

3. Calle Odelius, LHD, 18 (Djurgardens IF)

Odelius is a steadying, calculating two-way defenceman who plays a head-on-a-swivel game built upon snuffing plays out defensively and advancing play back the other direction. He’s not a dynamic on-puck carrier or creator in the offensive zone, but he walks the line really well and he’s prolific at moving the puck from A to B either with precision first passes or comfortable north-south carrying. He’s also got a strong, strong athletic foundation and a balanced skating posture (he’s a very impressive backwards skater on his heels) that allows him to manage the rush, quickly move from accepting a pass into sending one while on the heels of his skates, and leverage his strong frame to its fullest in engagements. He doesn’t project as a top-end player but his game’s impressive control and efficiency could well make him an everyday NHL defenceman. His production in the second-tier HockeyAllsvenskan this year doesn’t leap off of the page, but he’s a strong two-way defenceman who has driven results as a teenager and been relied upon on a team that is pushing for promotion back into the SHL.

I’d like to see him attack off of the line a little more, because he’s actually quite comfortable doing so:

Unfortunately, he wasn’t at his best in the bigger games at the world juniors and a couple of mistakes pushed him down to the No. 7. He’s eligible to return next year on home soil, though.

4. Samuel Bolduc, LHD, 22 (Bridgeport Islanders)

After an impressive rookie pro season in the AHL and an OK follow-up last season, Bolduc has taken a big step forward in role and confidence this year, becoming one of the better young defensemen in the AHL. He’s a 6-foot-4 defenseman with decent four-way mobility (he’s better going forward and backward than he is through his footwork and pivots), a good stick defensively (which is important considering he’s not a super physical player), and a hard point shot (either through a wrister that snaps through traffic low or a heavy, but not overwhelmingly so, old-school slapshot). He’s a reliable, capable two-way defender at the AHL level now. He probably tops out as a No. 5-7 defenceman long term, and there are some limitations to his game in both ends, but he has grown more comfortable with the puck and at the pro pace, and better decisions in all three zones have followed to catch up to his toolsy makeup.

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5. Ruslan Iskhakov, C/W, 22 (Bridgeport Islanders)

Iskhakov is in the midst of his third strong rookie season in a third different pro level this year. After producing at the top of a lineup in the Finnish Liiga and then the German DEL, he got off to a great start in the AHL (though he has cooled off some since). He’s got deft stick skills, a craftiness about him that helps him make plays standing still or moving, an airy and agile stride that allows him to change pace and direction with ease, and a knack for taking advantage of what’s given to him (including on steals and interceptions). He’s undersized and I’m not convinced he’s so talented that he’s guaranteed to go from tweener to full-time NHLer, but I love the way he uses time and space to manipulate coverage and bait defenders, and he just keeps performing.

I’ve been particularly impressed this year by how he has supported and anticipated play. Great shot here, but it’s his positioning and commitment to the structure before the goal that stands out to me:

Holmstrom’s transition to North American ice, and the AHL, was a bit of a slow burn. But he also made the move years earlier than most kids do, and he has eventually found his niche (there was also a pandemic in the middle of it and he underwent a late growth spurt which required him to change his game a little). He has shown the ability to adjust to coverage, take what’s given, and problem-solve through or away from traffic with his skill and smarts. His ability to anticipate the play, particularly as a passer but also in the routes he takes, is becoming more evident. He still gets caught on the perimeter and chops through his stride a little too much, and he probably tops out as the tweener he now is as a result. That’s never an ideal outcome out of a first-round pick, but it’s not as though he has bottomed out either. The 6-foot-2 frame he has filled out gives him a bit of a different look than the 5-foot-11ish one he played with coming up. It has also likely helped him make the jump I wasn’t sure he’d make earlier.

7. Quinn Finley, LW, 18 (Madison Capitals)

I didn’t love the decision to take Finley in the third round last year, but he was also an August birthday with a slight frame who was well-liked by most scouts, so it wasn’t a surprising decision. There were clear attributes to like and clear room for growth there. This season, in his return to the USHL in advance of joining the University of Wisconsin (a program that I also have some concerns about these days) next fall as a 19-year-old, Finley has been a top player on the worst team in the league, playing above a point per game and impressing on USA’s gold medal-winning team at the World Jr. A Challenge (where he posted six points in as many games). He’s a left-shot winger with above-average skill who processes the game at an advanced level and makes his plays without overstepping his boundaries (harder than you might think when your team is terrible).

8. Matthew Maggio, RW, 20 (Windsor Spitfires)

One of the best players — and the captain — on one of the OHL’s best teams this year, the 20-year-old Maggio is one of major junior’s more dominant players for a second straight year. He’s a strong kid who has really good puck skill around the offensive zone and the net, and a hard shot that allows him to play to his areas, take space, and drive play to the inside at the junior level. I’m not fully convinced he has all of what it takes to be an NHL player, but he came up in my pre-draft survey last year for his skill level and he’s got nothing left to prove at the junior level.

9. Alex Jefferies, LW/RW, 21 (Merrimack College)

The Warriors’ leading scorer in his junior year this season, Jefferies is a late-blooming hockey player but an advanced athlete who plays with pace and skill. He’s got a quick, NHL release (he has actually been snakebitten this year as a scorer, and is owed better than his sub-10 percent shooting percentage), good feel with the puck inside the offensive zone, and solid understanding of how to use spacing to his advantage. He’s a lot of fun to watch in college right now. I’m not certain it will translate as far as the NHL, but he creates a lot of looks for himself and his teammates, every night.

10. Isaiah George, LHD, 18 (London Knights)

There may not be a team in junior hockey that uses its players based on their age and experience more (or less) than the Knights. Rookies have to earn it and often don’t play as much as their talent should warrant. Veterans play a lot, especially veteran defencemen. And George feels like he’s got all of the tools he needs to develop quickly and really take off and run with the ice time that will inevitably come for him in his 19-year-old season. But for now, on a deep Knights blue line, he’s still not playing in the usage or minutes that will encourage him to fully play the game the way he’s capable of playing it.

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When comfort turned into confidence and then ambition last season, George started to really take charge of shifts on both sides of the puck. Defensively, he’s a strong, sturdy, mobile presence back there. Offensively, he can carry the puck off the line and transition it. There are times when he can look a little out of sorts/late on reads inside the defensive zone, but there’s a lot to like about the tools and the way he started to use them as the year progressed. But those tools haven’t taken steps forward this year and it still feels like his game is being muted a little by the role he’s expected to play. If he can put it all together, I won’t be surprised if he someday becomes a useful depth defenceman.

11. Alexander Ljungkrantz, LW, 20 (Brynäs IF)

When you draft a forward for their work ethic, and their defensive awareness at lower levels, and not for their ability to create at those lower levels, you better hope that their defensive game is far enough ahead of their peers to justify it (especially if you draft that player in the third round). He has become an everyday player at a young age in an excellent pro league in the SHL (as I write this he sits sixth on a young Brynäs team in scoring). He has progressed as you’d hope for a player cast in his mould. I like the way Ljungkrantz plays the game as much as the next guy. He’s probably worth signing, if you think you can develop him into a fourth-line winger in the NHL. But I’m not sure he’ll get past an effective AHLer if he comes over.

12. Eetu Liukas, LW, 20 (HPK)

Liukas is a good player on a below-average team in an OK pro league, but he has made steady progress over the last two seasons within that league after finding an utterly dominant level (surprisingly so, to me) in the junior ranks. He was an honorable mention for my final top-100 ahead of the draft, the Islanders selected him with the 157th pick in the fifth round, and he has at the very least lived up to his draft slot. He has always been a big kid who is strong over pucks and has made plays as a spot-up shooter or passer. He loves to use his one-timer from the right wing on the power play and can dust off pucks into a dangerous wrister (particularly for its accuracy), too. But I’ve been increasingly impressed by his ability to manufacture offense in motion, which has given him another dimension and could, if it continues to progress, give him more NHL aspirations. He has also turned it on physically to take advantage of his 6-foot-2, 200-plus pound frame, likely in order to give him greater odds at becoming a bottom-six checker. He’s never going to be a burner but with his length, strength and shot, I always wanted to see him play with the puck on his stick a little more. Slowly, he has learned to. He’s worth keeping an eye on, at minimum.

13. Daylan Kuefler, LW, 20 (Kamloops Blazers)

A top player on a loaded Blazers team, Kuefler doesn’t look out of place on a Memorial Cup-hosting roster that counts half a dozen drafted forwards and another who soon will be. Drafted in the sixth round as an overager after a strong playoff run with the Blazers last year saw him score the second-most goals on the team, Kuefler is an athletic, pro-built winger 6-foot-2 winger who plays an honest, direct, physical and intentional game that blends decent individual tools with plus-strength and a wrist shot that rattles off his blade. I’m not sure he’s got the soft skill or processing to go from projectable AHL power forward to projectable NHL depth forward, but his shot, work ethic, and physical maturity might be malleable enough to get him there.

14. Aleksi Malinen, LHD, 19 (JYP)

Malinen’s another kid who was one of my pre-draft honorable mentions and has played well since without shattering expectations. His challenge is that while he’s an effective defender and can competently move the puck, his game lacks dimension offensively, he’s average-sized, and his play defensively grades out highly against his peers — and has allowed him to become a full-time pro at an early age — but loses some of its projectability trying to envision it in the NHL. He does have the skating and processing pieces already in play though. He’s got a smooth, balanced stride that keeps him in plays in transition down ice and well-positioned against the rush back the other way. He’s also a heady player with the puck on his stick who does a good job identifying lanes and hitting them with well-timed passes. Thanks to a late-May birthday, he’s also got the benefit of time to develop in other areas and find his third-pairing ceiling. But whenever I’ve hoped to see more than just simplicity from his game offensively, he has let me down (including most recently at the world juniors, where he was sound defensively but struggled moving pucks out of his own zone against stiffer competition).

15. Matias Rajaniemi, LHD, 20 (SaiPa)

Rajaniemi was, despite being one of the youngest players in the 2020 draft, one of those kids who advanced to the pro ranks early because of his advanced size (6-foot-4, 225 pounds now) and has an unusual amount of experience given his age. The byproduct of moving up levels that quickly, and that early, is often the plateauing of a player’s game though because they didn’t get to develop their skill level and confidence at one level before they moved on to the next. Now he’s stuck as a depth defenceman in Liiga, and his tools with the puck haven’t caught up to his heavyset game defensively. He has played regularly for the Finnish national team, he plays hard, he gets into lanes, and he makes the first smart play he sees with consistency. I’ve also seen him join the rush and look to make plays like this cross-ice pass. But his short stride extensions aren’t ideal considering how big he is and his game with the puck is mostly vanilla and his calling card when (or if) he eventually comes over to give the AHL a run will be as a reliable, no-fuss type who can play off of his partners. I doubt that’s enough, but he might provide some organizational depth.

The Tiers

Each of my prospect pool rankings will be broken down into team-specific tiers in order to give you a better sense of the talent proximity from one player to the next (a gap which is sometimes minute and in other cases quite pronounced).

The Islanders’ prospect pool breaks down into three tiers: 1, 2-5, 6-15. I also considered Nebraska-Omaha’s Cameron Berg for their list.

(Photo of Aatu Raty: Gregory Fisher / Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)