The 2025 NHL Draft Big Board – Compiled public prospect rankings

Curtis Isacke

12 months ago

Welcome back to NHL Draft Week here at Sound Of Hockey. Today, we present our annual Sound Of Hockey Big Board. We also made a mid-season version of the Big Board earlier this year, which you can check out here.

What is the Big Board? It’s a ranking that compiles reputable draft analyst and public scouting service lists. This year, we gathered ranking data from 20 sources. (See the complete list below.)

We consolidated the various ranks into a single composite ranking by a weighted geometric mean calculation. Why do we use geomean? If you’re curious you can find an applicable explanation from a different context here. Weights were assigned based on our assessment of the depth of experience, sourced reporting, or scouting insight factored into the component lists themselves. For example, Bob McKenzie’s list for TSN, which is built based on conversations with scouts, is weighted the most. The voluminous work done by independent scouts at Elite Prospects is next in line, and so forth.

The Sound Of Hockey Big Board also provides information on each player’s measurements, statistics, and playing experience for the 2024-25 season, mostly drawn from Elite Prospects, NHL Central Scouting, and the NHL Draft Combine.

All told, the Sound Of Hockey Big Board covers more than 9,000 draft-eligible prospects. (That is not a typo. It’s up slightly from last year when the Big Board covered approximately 9,000 prospects.) The version published here covers the top 500. The full version will be shared on the Sound Of Hockey Patreon.

Based on what we have seen, we continue to believe the Sound Of Hockey Big Board is the most comprehensive public source anywhere compiling draft-prospect-related information in one place.

We used the following 20 sources to build the final 2025 Big Board:

The Sound Of Hockey Big Board

Caveats on using the Big Board

At this point, a few more words on the Sound Of Hockey Big Board and its uses are likely in order.

First, as you scroll through the rankings on the Big Board, you will see that sometimes only the top-five ranked prospects are identified. This is because those rankings are behind a paywall. To get to Corey Pronman’s full ranking of prospects, for example, a subscription to The Athletic is required. While we utilized all of the individual rankings listed above to develop our composite list, we will not be sharing subscriber-only individual rankings in the public version of the composite big board.

Second, as you get to the player’s 2024-25 data, you will note that the Big Board displays only the date from the highest league reached by the player. (For example, Radim Mrtka’s line displays his 10 games in the Czech Extraliga, Czechia’s highest pro league, before coming to North America to play in the WHL for the Seattle Thunderbirds and compiling three goals and 32 assists in 43 games. The Czech Extraliga is viewed as a higher league than the WHL, so that is what appears as his highest level.) This is just for simplicity of presentation.

Third, the Big Board does not reflect our view on these prospects. We at Sound Of Hockey have read reports, watched some videos, and crunched a few numbers. I’ll be putting up more thoughts of my own before the draft, but that is not what this exercise is about. The Sound Of Hockey Big Board is simply a tabulation of the rankings of others. A player’s ranking has nothing to do with whether any of us here at Sound Of Hockey “like” the player or not.

If you’re looking for more on our preferences, we published a “data-only” watchlist earlier in the spring. We also published a top-eight mock draft after the NHL Draft Lottery, and plan to do a seven-round Kraken mock draft later this week.

Fourth, and finally, it bears emphasis that a “composite” ranking is not the be-all and end-all. In many ways, finding the “best” public list and trusting it is preferable. A consensus board cannot “explain” why one prospect is ranked higher than another, and it certainly cannot displace the work of scouts, draft reporters, or even number crunchers.

But a composite ranking can provide some added information. Think of it as the cherry on top of the sundae, not the sundae itself.

How so? In the first year of this Big Board I used the case of Brad Lambert as an example (coincidentally, the nephew of new Kraken head coach Lane Lambert). This year Ivan Ryabkin could be an instructive case. Both players are talented but viewed as risky for different reasons, leading to widely varying rankings on individual public boards. We synthesize that information with a composite approach that can exploit the wisdom of the crowd. Ryabkin’s final ranking may blend the upside and risk, placing him in a “fair” position.

Final thoughts

The 2025 NHL Draft is another strong year for Pacific Northwest hockey. Projected first-round picks Jackson Smith, Radim Mrtka, Braeden Cootes, and Carter Bear all spent most or all of their draft seasons playing for WHL clubs in Washington State.

The 2025 NHL Draft kicks off with Round 1 on Friday, June 27, at 4:00 p.m. PT. Rounds 2 through 7 start on Saturday at 9:00 a.m. PT.

In the meantime, study the Big Board, bookmark it, share it, and return to it often between now and the draft. Keep it close during the draft too because, in the past, the data has been a pretty strong indicator of what the Kraken (and other teams) will do, particularly early.

Who do you want the Kraken (or your preferred team) to select? Any misses or other suprises in the rankings? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below or on X @deepseahockey or @sound_hockey or BluSky @deepseahockey or @soundofhockey.com.

Header photo of Braeden Cootes courtesy of the Seattle Thunderbirds

Curtis Isacke

Curtis is a Sound Of Hockey contributor and member of the Kraken press corps. Curtis is an attorney by day, and he has read the NHL collective bargaining agreement and bylaws so you don’t have to. He can be found analyzing the Kraken, NHL Draft, and other hockey topics on Twitter and Bluesky @deepseahockey.