Please find below the link to my fully updated ranking of Nashville’s top 10 prospects for this upcoming season. Standing out is the number of players spending their prime development years in the CHL, the NCAA, or both. To see the CHL’s influence on this pool, look no further than #1-rated prospect Brady Martin (5th overall in 2025), who leveraged his time in Sault Ste. Marie of the OHL as a ticket straight to the Predators this season. Tanner Molendyk (24th overall in 2023), the 3rd-ranked prospect in this pool, likewise went directly from major junior hockey (Saskatoon/Medicine Hat of the WHL) to the professional game, and is projected to join Martin in Nashville this season.
In between Martin and Molendyk resides forward Wyatt Cullen (10th overall in 2026), who continues his meteoric rise through the ranks following a 6th/7th round draft projection early last season. He will continue his development this season at the University of Minnesota, where he will join fellow US National Team Development Program alum Brodie Ziemer (71st overall to BUF in 2024). Cullen will compete against Nashville prospects in d-man Cameron Reid (25th overall in 2025) and goaltender Jack Ivankovic (58th overall in 2025) at the University of Michigan, both of whom are OHL alum (Reid at Kitchener, Ivankovic at Brampton). Also, when Minnesota faces Michigan State University, Cullen will be squaring off against Nashville prospects in forward Ryker Lee (26th overall in 2025) and d-man Tommy Bleyl (31st overall in 2026). Lee is a USHL product (Madison Capitols), and Bleyl spent last season with the QMJHL’s Moncton Wildcats.
https://thehockeylawyer.net/team-stats/nashville-predators/