The 2021 NHL Draft is the last one we will be re-ranking this week, with four years since it took place, and the development of those players starting to become clearer. Players eligible for this exercise had to have actually been drafted in the draft class mentioned, regardless of their first year of eligibility.
Tier 1: NHL All-Star
RankPlayerPosDraft PositionTeam
1
Luke Hughes
D
4
New Jersey
Tier 2: Bubble star and top of lineup
RankPlayerPosDraft PositionTeam
2
Dylan Guenther
RW
9
Utah
3
Wyatt Johnston
C
23
Dallas
4
Mason McTavish
C
3
Anaheim
5
Matty Beniers
C
2
Seattle
Tier 3: Top-of-the-lineup player
RankPlayerPosDraft PositionTeam
6
Kent Johnson
LW
5
Columbus
7
Owen Power
D
1
Buffalo
8
William Eklund
LW
7
San Jose
9
Matthew Knies
LW
57
Toronto
The 2021 NHL Draft was the draft most impacted by COVID, as it took place after seasons were shortened or outright canceled in many top leagues. Four years later, this draft looks like a mess. There isn’t a great correlation between the players’ ranking today and their draft slot. It doesn’t help that this was never the best age group on paper, and four years later, it looks worse than I thought it would be, with fewer than 30 players I think will have legit NHL careers. While I have Luke Hughes as the top player in his own tier, I think there are reasonable arguments for any of the top five players to be the top player in this class.
Tier 4: Bubble top and middle lineup
RankPlayerPosDraft PositionTeam
10
Logan Stankoven
RW
47
Carolina
11
Simon Edvinsson
D
6
Detroit
12
Brandt Clarke
D
8
Los Angeles
Tier 5: Middle-of-the-lineup player
RankPlayerPosDraft PositionTeam
13
Cole Sillinger
C
12
Columbus
14
Matt Coronato
RW
13
Calgary
15
Ryker Evans
D
35
Seattle
16
Jackson Blake
RW
109
Carolina
17
Mackie Samoskevich
RW
24
Florida
18
Zack Bolduc
C
17
Montreal
19
Vincent Iorio
D
55
Washington
20
Logan Mailloux
D
31
St. Louis
21
Sebastian Cossa
G
15
Detroit
22
Aatu Räty
C
52
Vancouver
23
Oliver Kapanen
C
64
Montreal
24
Olen Zellweger
D
34
Anaheim
25
Brennan Othmann
LW
16
New York Rangers
26
Colton Dach
C
62
Chicago
Tier 6: Projects to play NHL games
RankPlayerPosDraft PositionTeam
27
Nolan Allan
D
32
Chicago
28
Zack Ostapchuk
C
39
San Jose
29
Fyodor Svechkov
C
19
Nashville
30
Ryan Ufko
D
115
Nashville
31
Scott Morrow
D
40
Carolina
32
Shane Lachance
LW
186
New Jersey
33
Nikita Chibrikov
LW
50
Winnipeg
34
Ryan Winterton
C
67
Seattle
35
Jesper Wallstedt
G
20
Minnesota
36
Samuel Helenius
C
59
Los Angeles
37
Carson Lambos
D
26
Minnesota
38
Emil Lilleberg
D
107
Tampa Bay
39
Josh Doan
RW
37
Buffalo
40
Shai Buium
D
36
Detroit
41
Zachary L’Heureux
LW
27
Nashville
42
Joshua Roy
C
150
Montreal
43
Ville Koivunen
C
51
Pittsburgh
44
Andre Gasseau
C
213
Boston
45
Fabian Lysell
RW
21
Boston
46
Niko Huuhtanen
RW
224
Tampa Bay
Tier 7: Has a chance to play games
RankPlayerPosDraft PositionTeam
47
Ethan Del Mastro
D
105
Chicago
48
Caedan Bankier
C
86
Minnesota
49
Sean Behrens
D
61
Colorado
50
Stanislav Svozil
D
69
Columbus
51
Corson Ceulemans
D
25
Columbus
52
Tristan Broz
C
58
Pittsburgh
53
Isak Rosén
C
14
Buffalo
54
Chase Stillman
RW
29
Pittsburgh
55
Tyler Boucher
RW
10
Ottawa
56
William Strömgren
LW
45
Calgary
57
Xavier Bourgault
RW
22
Ottawa
58
Prokhor Poltapov
RW
33
Buffalo
59
Semyon Vyazovoy
G
163
Seattle
60
Francesco Pinelli
C
42
Los Angeles
61
Ville Ottavainen
D
99
Seattle
62
Tyson Hinds
D
76
Anaheim
63
Dylan Duke
LW
126
Tampa Bay
64
Sasha Pastujov
RW
66
Anaheim
65
Jakub Brabenec
LW
102
Vegas
66
Sam Lipkin
LW
223
Utah
67
Jaroslav Chmelar
RW
144
New York Rangers
68
Arseni Sergeyev
G
205
Calgary
69
Rasmus Korhonen
G
122
Utah
70
Aku Koskenvuo
G
137
Vancouver
71
Tristan Lennox
G
93
New York Islanders
72
Nikita Novikov
D
188
Buffalo
73
Danila Klimovich
RW
41
Vancouver
74
Samu Tuomaala
RW
46
Philadelphia
(Illustration: Demetrius Robinson / The Athletic; Top photos: Elsa, Ezra Shaw / Getty Images, Robert Edwards / Imagn Images)
Sep 11, 2025
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