With the trade deadline one week away, we are starting to see some younger players take on more prominent roles — or be part of a trade that brings a veteran to a contender.
For this week's edition of the Power Rankings, we are taking a closer look at each club's young pool of NHL talent. Please note that this includes 25-and-under players on the NHL roster but not prospects in the minors, NCAA, juniors or overseas leagues.
How we rank: A panel of ESPN hockey commentators, analysts, reporters and editors rates teams against one another — taking into account game results, injuries and upcoming schedule — and those results are tabulated to produce the list featured here.
Note: Previous ranking for each team refers to the most recent edition, published Feb. 17. Points percentages are through Thursday's games.
Previous ranking: 1Points percentage: 81.58%Next seven days: @ VAN (Feb. 25), @ EDM (Feb. 27), @ CGY (Feb. 28), vs. BUF (March 2)
Boston's brilliant season has been spearheaded (mostly) by its veteran contingent — with a couple of mid-20s exceptions. Charlie McAvoy (25) transitioned seamlessly back into the lineup post-shoulder surgery, Pavel Zacha (25) was an excellent offseason addition to the top six and Trent Frederic (24) is finding his way up front too. And we can't allow the strong play of Jeremy Swayman (23) to be totally overshadowed by Linus Ullmark's dominance, either.
Previous ranking: 2Points percentage: 75.00%Next seven days: vs. OTT (Feb. 24), vs. ANA (Feb. 25), @ VGK (March 1)
Carolina has an embarrassment of riches in the 25-and-under group. Sebastian Aho (25) is a point-per-game forward, Martin Necas (24) is producing a brilliant breakout season, Andrei Svechnikov (22) keeps tracking toward another
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