In an extremely way too early look at the 2022 NHL Draft class, I’ve identified 24 players who stood out to me this past season as top prospects for next season. The most obvious question I’m sure I will get is “Where are the Ontario kids?” To which the answer is I just simply don’t know the 2004 birth years well enough yet to comment due to a lack of an OHL season in 2020-21. With a lack of international U17 tournaments last season this list is much harder to do than it typically is. The top of this class, with the caveat that a lot will likely change in the coming 12 months, looks more interesting than the 2021 class. Shane Wright would be ahead of Owen Power by a decent, albeit not wide margin. The 2-5 range would be fairly analogous to the 2021 class but for me, the top of this year’s class has more guys with chances to be real top-end prospects.
