Top 25 Under 25 Recap

Last week we wrapped up the Top 25 Under 25 series, with Mark Stone as the obvious number-one. Later this week we’ll reveal how our staff voted and the results of the reader poll, but for now, below is a quick summary of where everyone ended up and how they improved over last year. (Click the link on each name to read the write-up.) Here are some overall thoughts:

• Mark Stone, atop the list, is the only player to keep the same ranking from last year
• The biggest dropper, to no surprise, was Matt O'Connor
• The biggest riser was Christian Jaros, who went from no votes in 2015 to 16th place in 2016
• Nick Paul, Matt Puempel, and Curtis Lazar all fell two spots, likely due to other prospects moving ahead of them in our esteem
• Only four players in the top-25 saw their rankings fall over last year, likely due to a combination of trades (Shane Prince, Mika Zibanejad, Alex Chiasson), falling out of the rankings completely (Buddy Robinson, Ben Harpur), or leaving the organization completely, in the case of Patrick Wiercioch (who would've been too old anyway)
• Three goalies made the list, likely due to the lack of mid-quality prospects. That being said, the top end of the list looks very strong