Twice a year The Athletic’s Scott Wheeler releases his Top 100 drafted NHL prospect rankings. He dropped his summer edition yesterday and the Tampa Bay Lightning had not one, but two prospects in the list! While they lag fairly far behind Chicago’s eight ranked prospects, it’s still not a bad showing for a team that has drafted one player in the first round in once in the last seven years.
Based on their lack of high-end picks it’s no surprise that both players were actually drafted by other teams and acquired via trades.
Coming in at #65 is Sam O’Reilly
Wheeler is pretty impressed by his all-around game and projects him as a “well-rounded, complementary pro and effective 3C”.
He’s joined on the list by Conor Geekie at #83
Much like O’Reilly, Wheeler has Geekie pegged as a middle-six forward. A lot of his breakdown is recycled from his previous write-ups about the big forward, but they still ring true. Geekie has pretty good hands for a big man, and his skating is still a little below average, but it has improved.
Personally, Geekie seems ranked in the right spot, but O’Reilly seems a bit low. It’ll be interesting to see how perceptions change as O’Reilly enters the professional level.
Hockey News
2026 NHL Fan Survey [The Athletic]
We’ll stick with The Athletic for the next story. They are reaching out to the fans to see what they think about the state of the game. It’s your chance to provide some feedback about the game (and league) they we spend way too much time talking about.
Finnish prospects closest to NHL debut [The Hockey Writers]
Would we have included this link if they hadn’t put Benjamin Rautiainen number one? Probably not. So, good job appealing to our hockey bias. The writer does have some issues with Rautiainen’s size (or lack thereof) in regards to his chances of making his debut this fall.
Pridham joins Penguins [Pensburgh]
No, the Lightning haven’t traded one of their newest prospects already. Rather it’s Jack Pridham’s dad, Brandon, that is on the move as he reunites with Kyle Dubas in Pittsburgh. Per reports, he’ll be a hockey operations consultant tasked with handling contracts and cap management, a similar role he served in Toronto.
Macklin Celebrini on Sharks contract, Sidney Crosby, and EA Sports cover [ESPN]
The worldwide leader chatted with the young forward about the news that he will be on the cover of NHL26, playing in the Olympics, and other various hockey related topics.
