As NHL teams worked to finalize their opening-night rosters in recent days, a number of teenagers had their dreams delayed by a call into the general manager’s office.
The Ottawa Senators assigned Carter Yakemchuk to WHL Calgary. The Pittsburgh Penguins sent Harrison Brunicke to WHL Kamloops. The Nashville Predators returned Tanner Molendyk to WHL Saskatoon. The Toronto Maple Leafs assigned Easton Cowan to OHL London.
The odds of making an NHL team before celebrating your 20th birthday are heavily stacked against even the most talented teens.
Consider that at any given moment there are 400-plus teenagers whose rights belong to NHL clubs, and yet to start the 2024-25 season only 10 of those players are active members of an NHL roster. That’s just 1.4 percent of the league.
As the puck drops on a new season, here’s an introduction — or reintroduction — to the NHL’s youngest players.
Jett Luchanko, Philadelphia Flyers
Age: 18
Birthdate: Aug. 21, 2006
Position: C
Scoop: Luchanko is arguably the most surprising player to break camp with an NHL team given that the Flyers didn’t even expect the 2024 No. 13 pick to seriously challenge for a job when it began. But he skates well and fits a positional need, as colleague Kevin Kurz detailed nicely here, so Luchanko is on the precipice of becoming the youngest player in Flyers history. He’s not even two full months beyond his 18th birthday. Still, his “tryout” will continue for the foreseeable future as management closely tracks his progress and gathers additional insight into whether his development is best served in Philadelphia or with the OHL’s Guelph Storm.
Macklin Celebrini, San Jose Sharks
Age: 18
Birthdate: June 13, 2006
Position: C
Scoop: The No. 1 pick in June’s draft endured a grueling summer of travel and obligations and ended up being sidelined for a portion of training camp by a nagging lower-body injury. Fortunately, it didn’t prove to be serious and Celebrini looks poised to enter the season as San Jose’s top-line center. While that speaks to his tantalizing all-around ability, it also tells the story of a Sharks organization in transition and hints at the likelihood Celebrini won’t be eased into the world’s top hockey league. Tough matchups and a tough schedule lay ahead for a guy taking the big step up from Boston University.
Connor Bedard, Chicago Blackhawks
Age: 19
Birthdate: July 17, 2005
Position: C
Scoop: So, yeah, you might have heard of this guy. Once or twice. It really underscores how unique Bedard’s situation is, though, when you consider the immense expectations he’s already shouldering while still among the youngest players in the NHL. It’s being treated as almost a foregone conclusion that the Blackhawks center will eclipse the lofty 0.90 points per game mark he hit as a rookie, with some even starting to ask him about the possibility of matching Sidney Crosby and Connor McDavid by winning the Hart Trophy in his second season. The sky is clearly the limit for Bedard, who should benefit from the fact that Blackhawks management spent the summer making sure he’d be surrounded by more NHL-caliber talent. No pressure, kid.
Zach Benson, Buffalo Sabres
Age: 19
Birthdate: May 12, 2005
Position: LW
Scoop: Benson has just come through a second straight training camp where he earned rave reviews in Buffalo. A competitive player who doesn’t shy away from puck battles, he’s a candidate to get an increased role under new head coach Lindy Ruff after producing 11 goals and 30 points in 71 games as a rookie. The No. 13 pick from 2023 profiles as a pest who will give opponents fits. He was injured in Buffalo’s season-opening game in Czechia last week, but it isn’t believed to be a serious ailment.
Will Smith, San Jose Sharks
Age: 19
Birthdate: March 17, 2005
Position: C
Scoop: Fresh off a monster season at Boston College, where he had 71 points in 41 games, Smith will slot behind Celebrini down the middle of the ice for San Jose. He’s another much-needed beacon of hope for the organization. A strong playmaker with excellent puck skills, the fourth overall pick from 2023 has put up big offensive numbers everywhere he’s played and is expected to develop into a front-line NHL talent. The best-case scenario for San Jose would be seeing Smith and Celebrini push each other through their shared rookie campaigns.
Calum Ritchie, Colorado Avalanche
Age: 19
Birthdate: Jan. 21, 2005
Position: RW
Scoop: With the Avalanche down three of their top-six forwards to start the year in Artturi Lehkonen, Gabriel Landeskog and Valeri Nichushkin, opportunity came knocking for Ritchie. So far, so good for the No. 27 pick from 2023. Ritchie demonstrated enticing offensive flair during the preseason — scoring a goal against Utah that coach Jared Bednar called “insane” — but will need to prove that he has the defensive details needed to back up his pure skill in order to make his stay in Denver long-term. Ritchie falls under the category of needing to play for OHL Oshawa if he doesn’t stick with the Avalanche, so reaching the 10-game mark that burns a year off his entry-level contract represents the next NHL hurdle for him to clear.
Leo Carlsson, Anaheim Ducks
Age: 19
Birthdate: Dec. 26, 2004
Position: C
Scoop: It speaks to Anaheim’s hopes for turning the Swede into a dominant all-situations center that he is due to be a regular penalty killer in his second NHL season. That’s in addition to holding a spot on the top power play and lining up down the middle of the Ducks’ first line at five-on-five. The No. 2 pick from 2023 was eased into the lineup as a rookie — seeing a form of load management where he was intermittently scratched in the early stages of the season — but the restrictor plates are off now. Carlsson is the biggest source of hope for a Ducks franchise still in the middle stages of a rebuild.
Matvei Michkov, Philadelphia Flyers
Age: 19
Birthdate: Dec. 9, 2004
Position: LW/RW
Scoop: A Calder Trophy favorite for some and a strong candidate to end up in John Tortorella’s doghouse for others, Michkov is one of the more intriguing players you’ll find in the NHL. He’s had an air of mystery surrounding him dating back to his draft year, when teams had difficulty getting live viewings of his games or the opportunity to speak directly with him. The Flyers took Michkov at No. 7 in 2023 and convinced him to come to North America one year later. An elusive offensive player with quick hands and elite vision, he is a lock to land on the highlight reel this season. How much he’ll test the coach’s patience while doing so remains to be seen.
Samuel Honzek, Calgary Flames
Age: 19
Birthdate: Nov. 12, 2004
Position: LW
Scoop: A strong training camp performance didn’t just earn Honzek an opening-night job with the Flames — it landed him a spot on the top line alongside Nazem Kadri and Andrei Kuzmenko. What a difference a year makes. External expectations were low for the No. 16 pick from 2023 following an injury-plagued season that appeared to hinder his development, but he wound up finishing preseason as the team’s leading scorer with seven points. It’s worth noting that Honzek is eligible for an AHL assignment to the Wranglers without needing to pass through waivers. That was an easy option the organization could have taken to slowplay his development. But the 6-foot-4 winger left them with no choice but to give him NHL games right away.
Adam Fantili, Columbus Blue Jackets
Age: 19
Birthdate: Oct. 12, 2004
Position: C
Scoop: Just days away from his 20th birthday and making this list one entry shorter, Fantilli returns for Year 2 with the Blue Jackets focused on taking the reins as the top-line center. His rookie season ended in late January with a lacerated left calf, an injury that Fantilli told colleague Aaron Portzline severely tested his patience. The first spin around the NHL was a challenging one. But the No. 3 2023 pick now has a solid summer of training under his belt and should get plenty of opportunity on a Blue Jackets team desperate for growth from homegrown talent. A healthy Fantilli is a strong candidate for a bounce-back season.
(Photos of Macklin Celebrini and Connor Bedard: Ezra Shaw and Michael Reaves / Getty Images)
