The NHL has a plethora of young talent. Let’s take a look at the NHL Power Rankings of the best 25 players under 25 years old entering the 2018-19 season.
The NHL is experiencing a transitional period. New stars are taking the torch from the older ones. And the students are proving to be as good as the teachers, if not even better. Recent drafts have produced outstanding young talent. This week’s NHL Power Rankings will take a look at just how deep this young core is.
A new group of young players are poised to take the league to new heights. This year’s top 25 players under 25 years old was extremely difficult to put together. That’s a testament to how many great players there are around the league.
Criteria
These rankings were created based on several factors. First of all, results matter the most. There’s a saying – “potential is wasted talent”. That might not be completely true, but it hammers home the point that results are the best way to evaluate players.
Secondly, yes, potential matters. Most players under 25 aren’t quite done improving yet. The common belief is players will hit their prime right around the age of 23 years old. Some do so earlier, and others later. Factoring in potential will also help give younger players a chance on this list against players who will undeniably have better results since they’ve been around for longer.
To be eligible for this list, players must be 25 years old or younger on October 31st of 2018. No one will agree with these rankings, so feel free to discuss things in the comments.
Before we begin, let’s take a look at some of the players who just barely missed the cut. It was incredibly difficult to make this list and some darn good players had to be left off.