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Corey Pronman revealed his organizational rankings of all 32 teams’ prospects aged 22 and younger last week. This week, Pronman ranked the best young players – aged 23 and under – overall on teams’ reserve lists, meaning within an NHL organization, in or outside the league. Nitpicking and disagreeing with the list is part and parcel of reviewing and discussing the rankings.

Regardless of whether you agree with the ratings or not, the effort to compile the list is yeomen-like. Pronman defended his rankings on a podcast with Scott Wheeler, also of the Athletic, and Chris Peters of Flohockey this past Monday. It was a good listen and worth downloading on whatever podcast service you use. There are many others who you can read and follow for their rankings, but as we wind down the summer, I thought this would be a good conversation piece for each of the three New York area Metro teams as well as the league as a whole.

Like the first sets of blogs, I am going in alphabetical order. As a result, we began the series with New Jersey. In this blog, we cover the Islanders and will close out the group with the Rangers. As part of the series, I am adding where each team sat in the overall team rankings, plus adding in the blurbs for each player from the 23 and under column.

Pronman ranked the Isles 30th overall in his team rankings. Since the team has not made a first-round pick in the past four years, that ranking should come as little surprise. They found a possible gem in Aatu Raty, who was projected to be a first-round pick but dealt him to Vancouver to help acquire Bo Horvat.

All 32 teams prospects aged 22 and under ranked:

New York Islanders: #30:

The first and only player mentioned in the 23 and under column is Danny Nelson, who is at 137 and was selected in the second round this year. I might have added Samuel Bolduc and/or Willam Dufour to the list based on upside and gains made this past year. In the column, Pronman ranks the player’s skating, puck skills, hockey sense, compete and shot from below average to high-end.

Top prospects 23 and under:


Tier 8. – middle of the lineup player – #137 – Danny Nelson

Drafted in the second round, 49th overall in this past year’s draft, Nelson just turned 18 earlier this month. He can play either center or wing and projects to potentially be a second-line player if his offense continues to grow. If not, Nelson has a role as a third-line checking line player who should be a stalwart on the penalty kill. Nelson is a big (6-for-3) forward with solid speed and an excellent work ethic.

Skating – Average
Puck skills – Average
Hockey sense – Below average
Compete – Above average

Nelson’s toolkit is undeniably intriguing. He’s 6-foot-3, can skate, has good puck skills and can shoot the puck well. His work ethic is good, he has some physicality even for a big guy but I wish he was even harder. Nelson has shown he can kill penalties and was a go-to guy to kill penalties for the U18 team this season. I thought his actual play this season was inconsistent, and his lack of hockey sense showed at times around better players. Whoever drafts him will be drafting a lot of talent, and will have a unique opportunity to mold him into whatever position they think is best. He could be a third-line center, a second/third-pair defenseman or better at either position. He’s a unique case study, and there’s a case that he has a lot of room to develop, especially given how young he is relative to the draft class and the big jump in competition he made year over year.

This article first appeared on Full Press Hockey and was syndicated with permission.

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