#14 Prospect: Ryan Stone

Current Rank: #14Summer 2009: Not RankedI'm not quite certain where to slot Ryan Stone. It's fairly likely that 5 years from now he'll have played more NHL games than a few of the 13 kids slotted ahead of him on this list.It's also established that no matter what happens from here on out there is/was a time when Stone was one of the 12 best forwards on a big league roster. If he does that 82 times for the next 5 seasons then this ranking will be a large insult (history tells us 5 years from now there will be two or three men with over 350 NHL games in that time) but it is also true that because of his advanced age (for a prospect) Ryan Stone is what he is at this point in his career.Should he have a career, Stone will make it as a role player. He's a rugged winger, an honest player, a solid 3rd or 4th line option whose weaknesses (scoring, footspeed) are offset by toughness and an understanding that playing time is directly related to doing the little things that...