Each year once the order has been revealed, we do a final reflection on the Top 25 Under 25 to highlight the biggest movers from last year, both those who had impressive years to climb higher and those who dropped lower with disappointing seasons.
It was already a strong group of players we had last year, so making a big move up inside the Top 25 was difficult. Only two of the rises highlighted here are for players within the official countdown, and they had already been in it in 2024. The most incredible seasons we witnessed in 2024-25 were had by players who were already regarded highly, Ivan Demidov and Lane Hutson being the standouts.
Biggest Rises
There were still several players who greatly improved their standing in the organizational pecking order, whether that’s for competition for a roster spot this year or to announce themselves as a proper prospect going forward. The list begins with a player who’s about to begin his professional career after a solid end to his tenure in Junior.
Tyler Thorpe (+16)
2024: #42 → 2025: #26
Thorpe followed up a 44-point performance in his draft year with a 52-point effort for the Vancouver Giants. He joined the Laval Rocket at the end of the season, and played one game with the club, recording two assists. He didn’t get into any of the playoff games Laval played as those were entrusted to the more established players who had been with the Rocket all season long.
Largest year-to-year rises
| Player | Rank (Year) | New Rank (Year) | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Adam Engström | 40 (2022) | 12 (2023) | 28 |
| Florian Xhekaj | 45 (2023) | 23 (2024) | 22 |
| Martin Réway | 33 (2013) | 14 (2014) | 19 |
| Cayden Primeau | 36 (2017) | 17 (2018) | 19 |
| Sven Andrighetto | 26 (2013) | 8 (2014) | 18 |
| Charles Hudon | 28 (2012) | 10 (2013) | 18 |
| Alexander Romanov | 26 (2018) | 9 (2019) | 17 |
| Filip Eriksson | 43 (2023) | 26 (2024) | 17 |
| Michael McNiven | 29 (2016) | 13 (2017) | 16 |
| Dustin Tokarski | 29 (2013) | 13 (2014) | 16 |
| Tyler Thorpe | 42 (2024) | 26 (2025) | 16 |
| Joshua Roy | 22 (2021) | 7 (2022) | 15 |
| Jake Evans | 35 (2015) | 20 (2016) | 15 |
Having turned 20 in February, he is expected to be on Laval’s roster to start the season, and we will have a chance to see how his game can carry over the the minors. The only concerns about his physicality will be felt by the opposing teams as they have to deal with his 6’5″, 230-pound frame.
I would have expected such a large player who’s noted to have a good shot to be a more dominant player in his final year in the WHL, and didn’t have him as high as most of the others on the staff. He ended up seventh on the Giants in scoring, but he did lead the club in plus/minus at +11. We will find out what he can do in direct comparison with several of the top prospects in Laval this season.
Oliver Kapanen (+6)
2024: #19 → 2025: #13
An honourable mention last year with a seven-position leap from 26th to 19th, Kapanen had the second-largest rise in 2025 to 13th place. It’s the highest spot he’s seen since debuting at 16th back in 2021.
Cracking the NHL roster is a good way for a player to achieve that. He played 12 games in Montreal to start off 2024-25, then was returned to Sweden to play an excellent season in the SHL. He returned to the Canadiens for the end of their season, dressed in three playoff games, and had seven points after joining the Rocket for their playoff run.
Kapanen finished ahead of Owen Beck in the countdown, and it seems that that hierarchy is reflected by those in the organization as well as it was Kapanen who got top-line-centre duties in the Prospect Showdown on the weekend. The Finn is in good position to take a spot on the opening-night roster for the second year in a row, entering camp with a lot of confidence from the rookie camp showing and the strong 2024-25 season he had.
Jakub Dobeš (+6)
2024: #24 → 2025: #18
Thanks to an impressive two-year collegiate career, Dobeš had already risen to a place inside the Top 25 in the past two years after a debut at 39th in 2020. The shutout he had in his NHL debut alone probably would have seen him rise a spot or two this year, but carrying that play for multiple weeks after joining the Canadiens after Christmas turned that into a big jump to end his time in the series.
The Czech goaltender didn’t maintain his dominant form for the entirety of his time with the NHL team, but still ended up with a 7-4-3 record and even notched a post-season win after Samuel Montembeault went down with injury. He’s the top choice to be the Habs’ backup this year even though they also signed the waivers-eligible Kaapo Kahkonen. Showing for a second year that he can at least break even in his starts will increase his standing in the organization further.
Jared Davidson (+6)
2024: #34 → 2025: #28
Davidson scored eight goals in 59 games with the Seattle Thunderbirds in 2019-20. After netting nine in 23 contests the next year, he piled up 42 goals in 2021-22 and earned a selection from the Canadiens for that explosion.
It turns out that offence was no fluke. He had 38 goals the next season, and last year with the Laval Rocket he had 24 of them to finish tied for second on the team.
Had he shown better production in the playoffs (four points in 13 games), he may have made an appearance in our countdown. Since he went a couple of years without being drafted before he became a strong offensive player, he’s now also 23 years old with just one year of eligibility left for the Top 25 Under 25, and that also factored into his ranking. Perhaps he can earn an appearance in his last attempt next summer, and the potential for him to see NHL minutes at some point this year could push him those few spots higher.
Owen Protz (+6)
2024: #36 → 2025: #30
Protz was drafted in the fourth round last summer as a player who did a lot of things well, other than moving around on the ice. Despite being slower than most of the opponents he faces, he’s still a powerful shutdown defenceman who understands how to close off angles to be a great defender.
In last summer’s Projects article, I said I believed there was more offence for him to unlock in his game. In 2024-25, he scored five goals and had 27 assists to finish just under the half-point-per-game mark with the Brantford Bulldogs.
The performance was enough to get him an invite to Team Canada for the World Junior Summer Showcase, at least making him an option for this year’s World Juniors even if he may not actually make the team. I think there is still plenty more potential for him to explore as he develops, and we just saw how physical he can be (maybe a little overly so; another area for improvement) at the Prospect Showdown. A place at 30th probably won’t be as high as he climbs in this series.
Rasmus Bergqvist (+6)
2024: #45 → 2025: #39
As the penultimate pick of the 2024 NHL Draft, there were no expectations on Rasmus Bergqvist to become anything of note for the Canadiens. However, a decent season with 12 points in 36 games allowed him to debut at 45th ahead of a handful of other players.
It was even less expected for him to make Sweden’s World Juniors team, but he rode some in-season chemistry with one of the top defence prospects in the world, Axel Sandin-Pellikka, to a place at the under-20 tournament.
Spending the majority of his time in the SHL last year (25 games) allowed him to rise six places even if he only contributed one point in that time. Back in the U20 league to start this season, he already has three points in two games including a couple of goals, so perhaps his rise won’t end at 39th.
Emmett Croteau (+6)
2024: #52 → 2025: #46
There was nowhere to go but up for Croteau after finishing 52nd of 54 players in 2024, but a rise of six places even from so close to the bottom is still significant. Late-round goaltenders usually debut low in the rankings, but a nondescript season in the USHL and a mediocre freshman college season had him as one of the lowest prospects in the system.
It’s still unlikely he becomes an NHL player, but a more impressive year posting a 13-4-0 record with a .903 save percentage with Dartmouth College suggests that he’s not a player who should be written off entirely. There are still six netminders above him in addition to Montembeault, so there’s a great deal of climbing needed for him to be seen as a proper prospect.
All 2025 Rises
| Player | 2024 Rank | 2025 Rank | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Thorpe, Tyler | 42 | 26 | 16 |
| Kapanen, Oliver | 19 | 13 | 6 |
| Dobes, Jakub | 24 | 18 | 6 |
| Davidson, Jared | 34 | 28 | 6 |
| Protz, Owen | 36 | 30 | 6 |
| Bergqvist, Rasmus | 45 | 39 | 6 |
| Croteau, Emmett | 52 | 46 | 6 |
| Fowler, Jacob | 11 | 7 | 4 |
| Hage, Michael | 13 | 9 | 4 |
| Xhekaj, Florian | 23 | 19 | 4 |
| Harris, Sam | 41 | 37 | 4 |
| Hutson, Lane | 5 | 2 | 3 |
| Rohrer, Vinzenz | 28 | 25 | 3 |
| Xhekaj, Arber | 14 | 12 | 2 |
| Smith, Jack | 53 | 51 | 2 |
| Demidov, Ivan | 2 | 1 | 1 |
| Guhle, Kaiden | 6 | 5 | 1 |
| Reinbacher, David | 7 | 6 | 1 |
Biggest Drops
There may not have been many big rises up the order, but there were several major slides down the rankings. Interestingly, the top five movers were all forwards this year, and four of them are players originally projected as centres who struggled to find their game last season.
Riley Kidney (-14)
2024: #29 → 2025: #43
Kidney has the ignominious distinction of leading the list of falling players for the second year in a row. Last year he fell from 19th to 29th; this year he plummets to 43rd.
He may be listed at 6’0″ and 190 pounds, but he plays like a much smaller player and doesn’t battle through contact. That didn’t affect him in his QMJHL days as he was able to post big point totals. We originally believed he would be able to carry some of that offence to the AHL even without a physical element to his game, but he had just 20 points in his first year.
Somehow the output was worse in his second season the pros, scoring just four goals and adding 12 assists in 56 games played. Head coach Pascal Vincent didn’t even write his number onto a lineup card in the post-season while a team led by prospects went to the conference finals. The second tier of hockey in North America is proving too great a challenge for the Nova Scotian, leaving little hope he’ll one day make it to the NHL.
Joshua Roy (-11)
2024: #9 → 2025: #20
There were big expectations for Roy last fall after he had turned a solid debut in the AHL into 23 games with the Canadiens, scoring four goals, adding five assists and showing off some good anticipation abilities on both defence and offence. His training camp couldn’t have gone any worse in Montreal as he seemed disinterested in competing for a spot, and suddenly the down performance he experienced in his draft season not only made sense, but served as precedent for what looks like a trend for him staying disengaged for long periods of time.
He produced 20 goals during the AHL regular season, but even then there were long stretches of games when he didn’t match his teammates’ compete level. Since that was the identity of the team that finished first in the regular season, it made Roy’s lacklustre effort stand out even more.
He was in danger of falling out of the Top 25 entirely based on his play during the regular season, but he ramped up his level in the post-season, netting four goals and six assists to finish second on the team in scoring. That performance at least cushioned his fall, but it’s consistency from game to game that everyone needs to see if he’s going to reclaim a place inside the top 10 as he enjoyed from 2022 to 2024.
Filip Eriksson (-10)
2024: #26 → 2025: #36
Eriksson was featured in this article last season after making the second-biggest leap of 17 places to sit just outside of the Top 25. This year he finds himself in the other section after falling 10 places.
It was his offensive outburst in HockeyAllsvenskan that led to last year’s jump, adding a critical element to the solid hockey sense that defines his game. But last year that offence was nowhere to be seen in the SHL, and even another return to Sweden’s second tier only brought five points in 10 games. That regression didn’t allow him to hold his place with other prospects showing more.
He’s played one game in the SHL so far this season, and has already eclipsed last year’s goal total with a hat trick, and is two points away from the six he had in 37 matches in 2024-25. If his offence has truly returned, and at the top level in Sweden, then we will see him erase this decline a year from now.
Filip Mesar (-9)
2024: #20 → 2025: #29
Debuting at 10th in 2022 as Montreal’s second selection in the first round that year, it’s been downhill for Mesar ever since. For the first time, he fell out of the Top 25 altogether.
The biggest concern with Mesar has been his size. He was able to overcome that in the Junior ranks, but the AHL has exposed just how much of a limitation that is on his game. He’s unable to survive contact from the opposition, and can only be effective if he has some space to work with. If he struggles to find that in the minors, he won’t find any in the NHL.
He’s on record saying he knows he needs to play more physically, but that mentality alone can’t overcome his slight frame. He needs to develop completely new strategies on how to play with and without the puck in close quarters, and those changes are going to require a lot of time and effort not just from him but from a coaching staff that is also trying to win in a professional environment.
Kirby Dach (-6)
2024: #4 → 2025: #10
Dach had been in the top five every year since he was acquired in a trade during the 2022 NHL Draft, but that run came to an end after a disappointing 2024-25 season. He had maintained a high spot at fourth in 2024 despite missing almost the entire previous campaign, but he didn’t look anything like the same player upon his return last year.
He produced 22 points in the 57 games he played, well under the 38 he had in year one with the Canadiens, and tied for 10th-worst in the league with a -29 goal differential. He seemed unable to see the ice as well as he had to start his Habs tenure, with passes more likely to find an opponent’s stick than a teammate’s, and things only slightly improved as the season went on.
There are still questions about whether he will be healthy enough to start the season even though he has returned to on-ice activities. The roster looks much different with him having a positive impact on a nightly basis, but there are questions about whether he is capable of performing at that level.
All 2025 Drops
| Player | 2024 Rank | 2025 Rank | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kidney, Riley | 29 | 43 | -14 |
| Roy, Joshua | 9 | 20 | -11 |
| Eriksson, Filip | 26 | 36 | -10 |
| Mesar, Filip | 20 | 29 | -9 |
| Dach, Kirby | 4 | 10 | -6 |
| Miller, Quentin | 35 | 40 | -5 |
| Smilanic, Ty | 50 | 54 | -4 |
| Sobolev, Daniil | 49 | 53 | -4 |
| Merrill, Ben | 44 | 47 | -3 |
| Mittelstadt, Luke | 39 | 42 | -3 |
| Tuch, Luke | 31 | 34 | -3 |
| Beck, Owen | 12 | 15 | -3 |
| Newhook, Alex | 8 | 11 | -3 |
| Slafkovský, Juraj | 1 | 4 | -3 |
| Vecvanags, Mikus | 47 | 49 | -2 |
| Khanin, Makar | 43 | 45 | -2 |
| Volokhin, Yevgeni | 33 | 35 | -2 |
| Trudeau, William | 30 | 32 | -2 |
| Koivu, Aatos | 25 | 27 | -2 |
| Farrell, Sean | 22 | 24 | -2 |
| Konyushkov, Bogdan | 21 | 23 | -2 |
| Struble, Jayden | 15 | 17 | -2 |
| Gordin, Alexander | 54 | 55 | -1 |
| Kostenko, Dmitri | 51 | 52 | -1 |
| Sawyer, Logan | 37 | 38 | -1 |
