Upside Hockey's 2025 NHL Draft Rankings — January Edition
Our Top 224 rankings with a new number one rated prospect
Michael Misa Displaced As Number One Ranked Prospect
While the last two draft classes saw Connor Bedard and then Macklin Celebrini go their whole respective seasons as the #1 ranked prospects in their draft class and get drafted number one, for 2025 we have a third prospect to take the pole position.
Outstanding blueliner Matthew Schaefer has leap-frogged exceptional centreman Michael Misa into 1st overall in our latest rankings led by our Chief of Scouting Eldon MacDonald. Misa’s stay at number one is short-lived, but given the super strong season he continues to have, he’ll continue to be a threat to Schaefer spot at the top.
See the rankings just after the intro below.
Our mammoth quintessential rankings spreadsheet format is composed by the incomparable Chief of Scouting, Eldon MacDonald. We have already featured well over 350 prospects. Check back throughout the season as we add many tabs/sheets (subjects along the bottom) to this spreadsheet. In this edition, in the second column we have highlighted NHL Central Scouting's Midterm Rankings. There will be too many cool features to list; explore yourself with this top of mind:
Our exclusive rankings go well beyond the first round - over 350 prospects included in this version
Check out the tabs along the bottom such as Defense, Under 5'11, etc. for various unique rankings
Quick access to Elite Prospects profile linked for each prospect for updated stats - click on the respective prospect name
Unique prospect analyses as featured in our Substack Prospect Profile series (be sure you’re signed up to our eNewsletter here to keep getting these:
We have in-depth scouting profiles from our scout Trevor Curtis embedded/linked within the rankings spreadsheet. As the prospect profiles are completed on our dedicated 2025 profiles page, they will under the third column "UH" (Upside Hockey) - simply click on that to be taken to that respective profile. For the 2024 NHL draft, we completed over 240!
Photo: Our #6 ranked prospect Caleb Desnoyers (Courtesy of QMJHL)
Please enjoy and, as always, we appreciate any feedback from all of you Upsiders.
Screenshots — January Top 224 Rankings
For the full mammoth rankings spreadsheet check it out at our 2025 NHL Draft Headquarters. Beyond the Top 224 we have prospects on our watch list for the remaining players of interest.
Our minimalist-style first round table:
Readers spoke and we listened on this one: graphics designer extraordinaire Hunter Jones (Hunter Jones Design - he’s also designed our new logos and branding!) suggested we have a more simplistic, easy-to-read rankings table to pair with our extensive spreadsheet rankings format.
Our mammoth quintessential rankings spreadsheet format:
Viewing Tips
From our 2025 NHL Draft Rankings HQ at Upside Hockey, here are our tips for viewing the full rankings:
🔁 For optimal viewing on smartphone or tablet, turn your phone to landscape view; columns in the spreadsheet are frozen (i.e. won't move) up to and including the first column of linked videos, thus scroll through the spreadsheet rankings by swiping on the right side of this information-packed resource.
▶️ You can open up the spreadsheet rankings to a separate page by clicking the icon in the upper right-hand corner. This should open up the spreadsheet and you can select "open with" your platform of choice (Google Sheets works well).
We’re also now hanging out over on Bluesky if you’d like to follow up there.