[Update 8/6/25: Jaydon Dureau has been removed from the selections. He apparently had not been tendered a contract and was a free agent. As he was not tracking in the Top 25 at his point, it won’t affect the final rankings…JG]
It’s the most wonderful time of the year. Its Top 25 Under 25 season! Okay, may not as much fun as the actual start of the season, but the beautiful thing about this series is that by the time we crown the number one Tampa Bay Lightning prospect under the age of 25, we’ll be well into training camp (checks schedule), yup, well into the first week of training camp!
Just like last year, you’ll have a voice in this process as well. In fact, you will have the only voice. Instead of balancing the writer vote and the fan vote, the entire ranking will be determined by fan vote. If y’all decide that Jack Finley is our number one prospect, that’s awesome.
Below will be a link for you to go to to help rank the prospects in the organization that qualify. Our criteria is for a player to be under the age of 25 by October 1, 2025 in order to qualify. They also have to be either under contract by the Lightning or on their reserve list. Players signed to an AHL-only contract do not qualify.
By our calculations, there are 44 43 players that qualify. If you want to rank all 44 43, go right ahead, the software we are using this year should make it a little easier than the ones we’ve used in the past. There are two players that are currently in the organization, but not on the list. The Lightning have the draft rights to Kyle Aucoin and Alex Gagne until August 15th. However, the team has confirmed to Raw Charge that they will not be offering either player a contract so they will become free agents.
Based on trades and players aging out eight players from last year’s final list won’t be on this one. That includes the #2 player, Isaac Howard (trade), and the #3 player, J.J. Moser (aged out). Other players that won’t be coming back due to age are Daniil Pylenkov, Declan Carlile, and Max Crozier. Lucas Edmonds, Gabriel Fortier, and Jesse Ylonen moved out of the organization.
We’re using some new software to tally the ballots this year. One of the quirks is that every prospect has to be ranked in order to submit the ballot. If you would like to rank all 44 43, please go ahead! You must rank at least 25 for your ballot to count, though. After you rank all the players you are comfortable with, please let us know how many you ranked.
There will also be a section where you can add your own thoughts if you’d like. Comments left in that field could be included in the write up of the prospective prospect (so keep it family friendly, y’all).
Voting will open until 11:59 PM ESTon Friday August 8th, so please share with any Lightning fans your may know. The more responses we get, the better idea of what you the fans think. Enjoy the voting, and as always, if you have any questions, please reach out in the comment section below.
Please click here for the ballot.
Happy voting!
