That one of the top prospect writers in the NHL media ecosystem snubbed Zach Benson is almost impossible to debate. Corey Pronman, senior NHL prospects writer for The Athletic, delivered a series of surprising takes in his latest “U23” series, ranking teams and players for the under-23-year-olds in their pipeline.
Perhaps the most shocking was ranking Benson 124th among all eligible players. Comparatively shocking, Pronman ranked Benson sixth in the Buffalo Sabres pool. Now, Benson should be counted as a believer in those players. He said as much in a recent interview. Comparatively, Corey Pronman ranking Zach Benson so low indicates he’s clearly not a believer in the smallish winger.
The minutiae of these types of rankings often are not worth debating. In this case, it’s worth making an exception. Pronman’s guidelines were:
All skaters who are 22 years old or younger as of Sept. 15, 2026, regardless of how many NHL games they’ve played, are eligible. Player heights and weights are taken from the NHL.
That’s it. As a result, that does make it a big pool. That might suggest that being ranked 124th isn’t actually that bad. If you peel back the onion enough, it smells pretty rotten.
The 2026 NHL Draft: Greatest of All Time?
Corey Pronman snubbed Zach Benson, sure. However, this is borderline ludicrous. It’s totally fair for each evaluator to have their own system, values, morals and merits in determining how they approach a project like this. The Athletic’s U23 rankings from Pronman are missing something when you peel back the layers: realism.
Pronman ranked 27 skaters from the 2026 NHL Draft ahead of Benson in this project. It’s fair to be bullish that a recently drafted player may exceed another player in the league at some point. After all, it happens every year. 27 of them? For context, Zach Benson has already played 211 NHL games. He was good enough to make the league as an 18-year-old, something that’s incredibly difficult to do for non-generational prospects. You’d have to go back to the 2019 NHL Draft, a full four years before Benson was selected, to find 28 players from a draft class who have played more games than Benson already has in his three-year career.
And, yes, games played is not a perfect calculator. Kaapo Kakko and Dylan Cozens lead the 2019 draft class for most games played. It’s unlikely anyone would peg those two (both top-10 picks) as the best players in the class. Still, this is a good tool. Coaches sure seem to like the undersized Benson. If one uses games played as the most basic metric to assess whether a coach likes a player, that much is clear.
Five players in the 2026 NHL Draft have a legitimate shot at playing in the league at age 18. That number rises if you include NCAA players who might sign pro contracts before the year ends. Pronman choosing 27 players from this draft class over Benson in this exercise is maybe the most egregious choice.
Is the NHL a Bad League?
The question is obviously tongue-in-cheek. Benson wasn’t an elite contributor during his first seasons in the league, but to carve out a regular role as an undersized 18-year-old, see that role grow in each successive season and have a 30-assist season on a playoff team is remarkable.
25 players on this list were drafted chronologically before Benson, meaning they should be more advanced as prospects and players. The Sabres drafted Benson 13th overall in 2023. He’s outperforming players drafted in 2021 and 2022 who are ahead of him on Pronman’s list. Some of those players haven’t been able to crack the NHL. Zach Benson is lapping his competition, yet still snubbed.
Yes, it’s worth noting that all players will have a slightly different growth pattern, timeline and organizational situation. That’s why it might be fair to say that at least one of the 25 players who fit this category of player might wind up having a better career than Benson. Is it likely? No, but at least the opportunity can be afforded. One of those players is Shane Wright. It’s absolutely possible the former fourth overall pick in 2022 rediscovers what made him a top-five pick, ultimately turning him into a much more valuable player than Benson.
The Zach Benson Snub Means He’s Ranked Behind NCAA Players
Is that the case for Charlie Stramel? Not to pick on Stramel, but he just spent four years playing in the NCAA, two of which were unmitigated disasters for a former top pick. Stramel transferred to Michigan State and found his game, finishing with 71 points in 74 career games. The Wild drafted Stramel eight picks after Benson. Stramel is seven months older and plays center. Yet the Wild, a notoriously center-needy team, never thought about signing Stramel before it was necessary. Pronman ranked Stramel at 42, a full 82 spots ahead of the clearly snubbed Zach Benson.
These 25 players are part of a group of 79 who, by definition, will never be able to match Benson’s early-career accomplishments. Is it possible that some of these 79 ultimately surpass Benson as a player? Sure. That’s an enormous number of players who didn’t play in the NHL at 18 or excel in the Stanley Cup Playoffs at 20. Ranking them all ahead of Benson feels not just like an oversight, but an insult to realism.
Zach Benson Snubbed? Forget About It
Experts exist. At times, they have the capacity to see things others do not. Corey Pronman is absolutely an NHL prospects expert. He lives in that world, spends time in that ecosystem, watches an enormous amount of hockey and is regularly in touch with scouts and front-office types. He deserves some benefit of the doubt.
This feels like a massive statistical oversight. And Zach Benson need not worry about it. Conservatively, half of the guys on this list will probably not have as good a career as Zach Benson. There’s a pretty decent chance that players ahead of Benson on this list will never play 211 games in their entire career. If anything, this list lacks the realism you’d expect from an expert-level analyst.
So, yeah, Zach Benson was snubbed.
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