It can take five years and a few hundred games to properly assess the strength, depth, and potential of an NHL draft class.
A unique and exciting cohort just crossed that threshold. Players in the class of 2020 were drafted virtually during the thick of the pandemic and made their earliest NHL debuts in empty rinks. They used the 2024-25 season as a launchpad to prominence.
It's still a little early to tell if the class boasts a future Hall of Famer. We'll see how Lucas Raymond, Tim Stutzle, and Jake Sanderson - three of the top five picks and the undisputed best talents - progress in their primes, but they've already taken strides toward superstardom.
With 80 points, Raymond was the scoring leader for the Red Wings and all NHLers under the age of 25. His complete offensive game blends power, burst, vision, and shooting, and he was a hot Detroit power play's lead facilitator. He'll trade high-scoring seasons for the next decade with the electrifying Stutzle, who reduced costly giveaways and matured into a defensively adept, top playmaking center as the Senators finally reached the playoffs.
Sanderson - a play-killer, breakout machine, and increasingly dangerous scorer - appeared on Norris Trophy ballots at 22 years old and finished 10th in the voting. His big goals gave the United States the lead in the 4 Nations Face-Off final and beat the Maple Leafs in overtime, charging up the home crowd as Ottawa avoided a first-round sweep.
Playoff performers taken in 2020 include Anton Lundell, the Panthers' overqualified third-line center and only young cornerstone who is within two wins of his second Stanley Cup. Seth Jarvis, a pure finisher and dogged checker, tallied a point in 12 of 15 Hurricanes postseason games. Brock Faber skated for 27 minutes a night and helped quiet Jack Eichel as the underdog Wild threatened the Golden Knights with an early exit.
The growth of the class was really on display in the Jets-Blues matchup.
The clever Cole Perfetti was able to save Winnipeg at the buzzer in Game 7 because he had his stick on the ice to tip a centering feed. Chippy presence Jake Neighbours had a three-point game earlier in the series as the Blues lit up Connor Hellebuyck. It's a shame Dylan Holloway was injured; after he signed an offer sheet to seize a greater opportunity in St. Louis, his career high in points instantly multiplied from nine to 63.
JJ Peterka fits fine in Buffalo, and the same goes for Marco Rossi in Minnesota, yet these restricted free agents are candidates to move this summer. Their breakout seasons came as the Sabres crashed in the standings and the Wild barely endured Kirill Kaprizov's long absence. They could ink extensions or be dangled for a nice trade return, but swapping either young forward at this stage of his rise sounds like a crushing, avoidable mistake.
Their draft class has unusual scoring depth: Nine members posted at least 50 points in 2024-25, their fifth season of NHL eligibility.
Few other cohorts were that productive at the same juncture. A close comparable is the '06 class headlined by Nicklas Backstrom, Claude Giroux, Phil Kessel, and Jonathan Toews.
This happened despite the stumbles of the top picks. There have been 41 forwards drafted first overall in the expansion era, and Alexis Lafreniere is only ahead of Doug Wickenheiser, Patrik Stefan, and Nail Yakupov in career points per game (0.51), according to Stathead. Quinton Byfield has yet to impose his will throughout a full season, though he's shown flashes of dominance as the Kings' second-line center.
Five years ago, COVID-19 scrubbed major tournaments and delayed their draft until October as scouts combed through video to finalize evaluations and pass the time. The placeholder ball for "Team E" won the first of two special lottery draws. That opened the drawing for the No. 1 pick to all clubs eliminated in the postseason's bubbled qualifying round.
Prospects wore suits to watch from the couch as the draft aired from NHL Network's New Jersey studio. The late "Jeopardy!" host Alex Trebek, a University of Ottawa graduate, announced Stutzle's selection. Overage forward Yegor Chinakhov was asleep in Moscow when the Blue Jackets grabbed him at No. 21, flabbergasting TV analysts who had to scramble to find his information.
The group has come a long way. Sanderson, Faber, Lundell, Raymond, Stutzle, and Peterka are shoo-ins for their countries' 2026 Olympic rosters, and Jarvis has a shot to represent Canada in Italy.
Certain peers seem ready for larger roles.
Goalies drafted far apart in 2020 - Yaroslav Askarov (No. 11) and Devon Levi (No. 212) - are AHL standouts who itch to start for the Sharks and Sabres. Call-ups Leevi Merilainen of Ottawa and Jakub Dobes of Montreal provided stretches of heroic netminding in 2024-25. Stashed in Russia for five years, KHL prodigy Alexander Nikishin finally crossed the pond to join Carolina and projects to be a dominant physical force.
This year's draft has one stud defenseman, consensus top prospect Matthew Schaefer, and is heavy on potential impact forwards. Each class charts its own path, but more than any other in recent memory, 2020 set a standard for these newcomers to pursue.
Nick Faris is a features writer at theScore.
