Inside Wheeler’s Shocking Summer 2025 NHL Prospect Rankings: Who’s the True Future Star?

Casey, the 27th-ranked prospect on my 2022 draft board when he went 46th, had a bit of an up-and-down draft season, with a strong start and finish briefly overcast by some struggles in the middle, which prompted some scouts to question his top-two-round merits and his decision-making. I really liked the Devils taking a swing on him in the second round, though, and he sure looked like a top-two-round guy as a freshman and sophomore at Michigan, where he shined as a real catalyst from the back end with the puck and in distribution, finishing third amongst all NCAA D in scoring last year behind only Zeev Buium and Lane Hutson with 45 points in 40 games. He got off to a great start to his pro career as well, impressing me in Buffalo at the Devils’ rookie tournament and building on that to win an NHL job, quickly score his first few NHL goals, and then immediately become a top offensive defensemen in the AHL before a December upper-body injury sidelined him and slowed down his momentum.

Pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 161 162 163 164 165 166 167 168 169 170 171 172 173 174 175 176 177 178 179 180 181 182 183 184 185 186 187 188 189 190 191 192 193 194 195 196 197 198 199 200 201 202 203 204 205 206 207 208 209 210 211 212 213 214 215 216 217 218 219 220 221 222 223 224 225 226 227 228 229 230 231 232 233 234 235 236 237 238 239 240 241