It’s time for the second group of players in Broad Street Hockey’s Top 25 Under 25 in the middle of this 2024-25 season.
In this range of the typical ranking, there is usually a clash. A clash and mis-mash of AHL depth players who could serve some support roles in the NHL down the road, or some prospects that we feel good about but aren’t high-end enough to really shoot up the list.
It’s the same for this midseason ranking, unsurprisingly.
20: Alex Ciernik, LW/RW
Primary Team: Nybro Vikings IF, Allsvenskan
2024-25 Stats: 10 G, 21 Pts in 42 GP
Rank in Summer 25 Under 25: 20
Age: 20
Acquired: 4th round (120th overall) in 2023 NHL Draft
Jason M (Unranked): The native of Wolfsburg, Germany isn’t on my radar for perhaps the foolish fact he’s not a center, a position I’d like the Flyers to beef up sooner than later. Ciernik, who had concussion issues in 2023-24, fortunately has avoided those issues this season. For a player that has punched above his weight when it comes to the league levels and competition he’s played against, it’ll be interesting to see if his play-making skills can make the grade with the Flyers when the time arrives.
Maddie (Ranked #16): Ciernik’s behind the curve a little bit as far as his development goes due to the time he’s missed with injuries last season, and he’s definitely more of a long term project regardless, but I still find myself really intrigued by him as a prospect. He brings a ton of speed, and a potentially high-end offensive tool kit, and if he can figure it out at the pro level whenever he eventually graduates to North America, that would be a big boost for the organization. Now, a lot has to go right between now and then, but I’m also a bit predisposed to like a player of Ciernik’s profile, and I think that’s reflected here.
Thomas (Unranked): Having completed my ranking on gut reaction alone, I really don’t know why I left Ciernik off this list. Maybe it is just that he is already getting to an age where you have to prove you can be something of note or else you’re destined to reach a peak of being a solid top-division player somewhere in Europe. I understand Ciernik has had a rough injury history, but there just needs to be something else and a 20-year-old winger not lighting the world on fire in the Allsvenskan does not give me a whole lot of hope.
Jacob (Unranked): It’s really just a case of development being stalled by injury. CIernik is behind the 8 ball, and about to have to contend with a lot of new bodies after the Flyers cash in their stockpile of selections at the upcoming draft. The best case scenario sees him playing in Lehigh Valley two years from now at 22, and I just don’t think that unless he does something special in the Allsvenskan, he will ever get a serious look at an NHL job as an undersized forward in an organization that already has those in spades.
19: Jack Berglund, C
Primary Team: Farjestad BK, SHL
2024-25 Stats:
Rank in Summer 25 Under 25: 24
Age: 18
Acquired: 2nd round (51st overall) in 2024 NHL Draft
Jacob (Ranked #17): I struggle to get a read on Berglund, his measurables are enticing, and he puts up good numbers in the J20 Nationell as a 6’4 behemoth, but I’m just not sure what he is exactly “good” at yet. He’s still raw and has a lot of time to develop, but for now he seems to be a bit of an unknown. For some reason I like the sort of gangly potential that he provides as a middle to bottom six centre. I think if he can find some tools and become a little nastier playing with men in the SHL, there could be something there worth exploring.
Jason M (Ranked #14): Jack Berglund we hope will not be mistaken for Nic Deslauriers. He has somehow ended up with 25 penalty minutes in just two games with Sweden’s BIK Karlskoga. Aside from that stat, he’s with his third team in three different leagues in 2024-25, from the juniors to upper tiers. Berglund has size. And being just 18 and weighing over 200, he could fill out into something. Unfortunately he broke his hand and was out of commission for the World Juniors. Like most of these guys, time will be the judge. Hopefully it works out for him.
Cole (Ranked #18): The jury is still out on what Berglund really is as a prospect, but I didn’t want to hold it against him just yet, considering his draft position. There are some noticeable physical tools about Berglund, and the fact that he was apparently wearing way too large skates ahead of his draft year. We kinda just haven’t seen him in meaningful action against players his own age yet, as he was injured for World Juniors and plays in a league of men in the SHL now. Not sure about Berglund quite yet, but no reason for me to drop him down at the moment.
Maddie (Unranked): Berglund being unranked for me isn’t so much a knock on him a prospect as it is me leaving space on my ranking for players who are a bit older, a bit more advanced in their development, and also, like the guys have said, whose projection is coming to me a little more clearly. Like Jacob said, he’s still pretty raw, and with him being out with the broken hand up until just last weekend (and bounced around between levels to a frankly insane degree before that) it’s been hard to see any developmental progress from him. He’s still raw, and I’m hedging on him a little bit until I’m able to see a bit more. So it goes.
Thomas (Ranked #24): I did rank Berglund but I lean more towards Maddie’s point of view than some of the others that graded the young center higher. Maybe more than anyone in the entire Flyers system, there is a hard ceiling for what Berglund could be at the NHL level. He hasn’t shown a whole lot more than being a potential long-term bottom-six center who is Big and might be able to kill penalties, but that’s that. There are some interesting points like not fitting into his skates right during his draft year and weird injuries that have been pointed out, that make you scratch your chin a little bit and ponder about him becoming something else in a couple years, but for now it’s down here.
18: Spencer Gill, RD
Primary Team: Rimouski Oceanic, QMJHL
2024-25 Stats: 6 G, 33 Pts in 48 GP
Rank in Summer 25 Under 25: 25
Age: 18
Acquired: 2nd round (59th overall) in 2024 NHL Draft
Jacob (Ranked #13): I’m really high on Gill, the 6’4 smooth skating defender from Rimouski is very adept with the puck and has shown a willingness to move up the ice with conviction. If he can continue to develop his defensive game and fill into his frame more, he could become a real asset on the Flyers blueline with a high ceiling. He was a gold medalist with the Canadian U-18 team, and I’d look for him to maybe start to generate some buzz next year if he can make the World Juniors roster.
Jason M (Ranked #12): Of the prospects I’m excited to see, Gill is near the top of that list. He’s got size, he’s a Maritimer like myself, and he has put up 33 points with Rimouski in the QMJHL. He’s also a plus-30 over that time, second on the team and tops among defensemen. Gill isn’t a stay-at-home, bottom-pairing blueliner. If he remains healthy he should be a piece of the rebuild that could be a real gem when the time comes. Hopefully he doesn’t take as long to blossom as Sanheim did.
Maddie (Ranked #22): Gill’s another one like Berglund for me where his ranking is somewhat reflective of the fact that I just haven’t seen as much of him yet, but he’ll almost certainly move up after a full season of post-draft watching. Because Gill is definitely an intriguing prospect. There’s a lot to like in his skillset on its own, but also a lot to like about what it offers for the Flyers defense group in the big picture (that is, a bit of stylistic cohesion, but coming from a bigger player, for balance, which the organization is clearly prioritizing). His game certainly needs a lot of polishing, but there’s some really interesting potential there.
Cole (Ranked #17): Gill’s my favorite non-Luchanko pick of the 2024 draft class, and that hasn’t changed over the course of his QMJHL season with Rimouski. He’s a bit mistake prone still, but that’s to be expected with a puck-moving, raw defenseman in juniors that has a bit of a scoring touch. He’s got all the physical tools and skating ability to have high-end second pair upside, and the Flyers coaches (if Brad Shaw is still here in a few years time) can really maximize Gill’s skillset. Look for him to be even higher on the ranking come this time next year.
Thomas (Ranked #20): While I ranked him in the same vicinity as others, I am way less confident that Gill is something of note. Maybe it’s my bias against the entire notion of the QMJHL being able to produce high-end NHL players beyond the obvious ones and the fact that no one cares about defense over there means it is a crap environment for development. Or maybe it’s the fact that even in that environment, Gill is not even a point-per-game defenseman, which is typically what happens for any blueliner coming out of the QMJHL who is worth something. There is a reason why the only two defensemen taken out of the QMJHL in the first round through the last 10 years, are Thomas Chabot and Noah Dobson. And that there have been zero QMJHL players taken in the first round through the last two drafts. They just don’t have a lot going on there. Gill is still very young and has room to grow into something more, but I’m a little more hesitant on him.
17: Hunter McDonald, LD
Primary Team: Lehigh Valley Phantoms, AHL
2024-25 Stats: 2 G, 14 Pts in 49 GP
Rank in Summer 25 Under 25: 16
Age: 22
Acquired: 6th round (165th overall) in 2022 NHL Draft
Jason M (Ranked #9): Another imbiber of Danny’s and Keith’s Kool-Aid? Well, his game is not doing much offensively but knocking opponents on their backsides in his own zone. He should get a longer look in the Flyers’ training camp next September, particularly with Erik Johnson sent out to pasture and Egor Zamula not really solidifying a position among the three pairs. McDonald might need another year in the AHL, but it would be exciting to see if the fuss is real or just fuss. Note I also drooled over having Sanheim, Provorov, Morin, Haag and Myers in the pipeline when they were drafted. We know how that went.
Maddie (Ranked #18): Sort of picking up on Jason’s thought, unless he kicks it into overdrive down the stretch with the Phantoms, I would definitely say McDonald needs another year in the AHL, just for the fact that he’s still struggling some, even past the midseason point here, with his reads and the speed at which things are coming at him. The team’s hoping he can be a bruiser, and he certainly has the physical side of his game down, but at times it feels like it’s almost working too hard to overcompensate for times when he’s getting beat. But all of that said, with the Flyers’ defense group trending smaller, there’s value in finding and developing someone who can add a bit of balance to that, so McDonald’s certainly going to be given some runway, in hopes that he can grow into that role.
Jacob (Ranked #19): To me, McDonald screams Vincent Desharnais; a bottom pair, big bruiser who just doesn’t have any above average positive impact on the ice outside of being Big. Maybe the organization can wrangle the raw meanness and bravado of McDonald and at least have him serve as the 6th or 7th defensive option, but I don’t think the ceiling here. The thought process of developing a player like that within the culture of your own organization, rather than acquiring one down the line, is sound.
Thomas (Ranked #18): Here is where the balance of evaluation sort of kicks in. Gill is lower for me because he hasn’t shown a whole lot at a high level. Hunter McDonald was solid at North Dakota and now isn’t looking completely out of place in his first year of professional hockey this season. There’s just a larger sample size so I feel more confident in saying that he is higher in an overall ranking of every single player in an age group that is at vastly different periods of their development. Hunter Hit Big He Strong.
16: Aleksei Kolosov, G
Primary Team: Philadelphia Flyers, NHL?
2024-25 Stats: .870 sv%, 3.45 GAA in 15 GP
Rank in Summer 25 Under 25: 14
Age: 23
Acquired: 3rd round (78th overall) in 2021 NHL Draft
Jason M (Ranked #15): Aleksei Kolosov is 15 games into his NHL career and he might have become Morgan Frost 2.0: the goalie edition. At least for the Flyers. The three-goaltender rotation has come and gone and sees Kolosov down in Lehigh Valley with Sam Ersson and Ivan Fedotov ahead of him on the depth chart. The Belarus native didn’t make a splash to start. And with the solid performances seen by Carson Bjarnasson and Yegor Zavragin in their respective careers, Kolosov might be the odd man out even if the Flyers see him as a “bridge” goalie before Bjarnasson and/or Zavragin enter the picture.. He’s only 23, and has room to grow. But he hasn’t made a great first impression.
Cole (Ranked #10): There’s a lot going on with Kolosov, but I still believe in the player and the raw athleticism that Kolosov has. I feel like there’s a real good goalie in there somewhere, even with the dreadful NHL stats this year. At the same time, the only way that real good goalie is going to be the outcome is if Kolosov is actually playing and developing. And, well, that’s been a bit of a struggle this past year and remains incredibly clouded moving forward. Depending on how it all shakes out, could easily see Kolosov being a massive riser or faller on this list next edition.
Maddie (Ranked #11): I think Cole put it perfectly, that there’s just a lot going on here. Kolosov’s shown some flashes of potentially high-end play, but it’s also clear that he’s still a little raw and could use some further developing. Which, to be sure, isn’t surprising from a freshly 23-year-old goaltender in his first season in North America, but the fact that he isn’t getting the playing time at any level, for whatever reason, to continue tinkering with his game makes me wonder if that development is going to end up stalling out. Hopefully not! But time will tell.
Thomas (Ranked #21): Yeah, a lot going on. His whole situation certainly has put a mark on his reputation among the fan base, but when you really boil it all down, Kolosov is still just an average goaltending prospect. He is certainly athletic and has achieved a certain level overseas, but he is at the bottom of the three-headed goaltending prospect pipeline the Flyers currently have and he might just top out as a farmhand (so going back to Belarus).
