Tij Iginla No. 1, Montreal Canadiens among leaders in Button’s Top 50 NHL-affiliated prospects ranking

Kelowna Rockets forward Tij Iginla has had a mammoth season in the Western Hockey League, propelling him to the No. 1 spot on TSN Director of Scouting Craig Button’s top 50 list of NHL-affiliated prospects.

Iginla was the first-ever draft pick by the Utah Mammoth franchise in 2024, going sixth overall after a 47-goal, 84-point season in 2023-24.

However, double hip surgery ended Iginla’s year early last season after just 21 games. Now healthy, he has 40 goals and 85 points in 44 games in 2025-26 as Kelowna prepares to host this year’s Memorial Cup. Iginla also helped Canada win bronze at the World Juniors with eight points in seven games.

“He’s a tour de force,” said Button of Iginla. “His brain, his skills, his ability to impact a game in so many different ways – and he’s just getting better.

“Players are going to love playing with him in the NHL.”

The No. 2 ranked player on Button’s list is centre Anton Frondell, who was selected third overall by the Chicago Blackhawks in the 2025 NHL Draft.

Frondell has 19 goals and 27 points in 41 games with Djurgardens of the SHL this season.

“Frondell understands what is required to try and get on the right side of any situation in the game,” said Button. “With the puck, without the puck, defensively and offensively, penalty kill, power play.

“He just gets it front to back and everywhere in between, and he’s competitive. When I watch Anton play, I see so much of Sasha Barkov’s game.”

The 18-year-old shone at this year’s World Juniors with five goals and eight points in seven games as he helped Sweden capture the gold medal, the country’s first at the tournament since 2012.

The No. 3-ranked player is Michigan State winger Porter Martone, who is skating in his first NCAA season after being selected sixth overall by the Philadelphia Flyers in June’s draft.

Martone has 23 goals and 46 points in 32 games this year after spending the previous three seasons with the OHL’s Brampton Steelheads.

“He’s everything I thought he’d be,” said Button of Martone. “He reminds me a lot of Corey Perry. And like Corey Perry, he has that guile. They know how to get opponents off their game, unsettled, get the focus away from what their focus needs to be and yet never lose their focus.

“The whole is greater than the sum of the parts when it comes to Porter. When you put it all together, it’s unique and you want that on your team.”

Martone captained Canada to bronze at the 2026 World Juniors while scoring six goals with nine points in seven games.

Coming in fourth is Hershey Bears forward Ilya Protas, the younger brother of current Washington Capital Aleksei Protas.

Protas, a third-round pick by Washington in 2024, has seen his stock rise since being drafted.

In 2024-25, Protas scored 50 goals with 124 points in 57 games with the OHL’s Windsor Spitfires, including five goals and 25 points in 12 playoff games.

This season as a rookie in the AHL, the 19-year-old, who stands at 6-foot-5 and 201 pounds, has 24 goals and 48 points in 57 games.

“This kid is a hell of a player,” said Button of Protas. “He’s a damn good player in the American Hockey League. He’s big, rangy, smart, competitive and honestly, he is just still in the growing stages of his game.”

Rounding out the top five is goaltender Trey Augustine, a 2023 second-round pick (41st overall) of the Detroit Red Wings who is in his third season with Michigan State. The Red Wings actually have two goalies in the top 20 of Button’s list – Sebastian Cossa, currently playing for the AHL’s Grand Rapids Griffins is ranked No. 18.

Button has also identified two players who are on the rise and could climb next year’s ranking in Boston College forward Dean Letourneau (No. 13) and Barrie Colts defenceman Kashawn Aitcheson (No. 17).

Letourneau was drafted 25th overall by the Boston Bruins in 2024 out of St. Andrew’s College and struggled to make the jump to the NCAA last season.

As a rookie in 2024-25, the towering forward (6-foot-7 and 229 pounds) had just three assists in 36 games. This season, the 20-year-old has bounced back as a sophomore with 19 goals and 35 points in 34 games.

“He was never able to get his footing last year,” said Button of Letourneau. “There was too much growing in every area of his life, where he came from at St. Andrew’s College, stepping up to that level. And there was a lot of growing pains, literally and figuratively, for Dean Letourneau last year at Boston College.

“Now you watch him play and you see the physical maturity and his legs underneath him, he’s assertive, he’s sure of himself and he imposes himself and he becomes a really, really difficult player to play against.”

Aitcheson has had a big season as the Colts’ co-captain, scoring 27 goals with 64 points in 51 games after being taken 17th overall by the New York Islanders in June’s NHL draft. At the World Juniors with Canada, he had one goal and four points in seven games in a bronze-medal effort.

“I just absolutely love the way he plays,” said Button. “The way I describe Kashawn is he’s in it to win it. Everything in his game is just enthusiasm, competitive spirit and he’s no fun to play against. He’s a dyed-in-the-wool competitor.”

Where Canadian NHL teams are concerned, the Montreal Canadiens lead Button’s annual ranking with four prospects (Michael Hage at No. 6, Alexander Zharovsky at No. 20, David Reinbacher at No. 28 and Bryce Pickford at No. 38) and are tied with three other NHL teams for the league lead. Had this list been published at the start of this week, the Habs would have had been the outright leader with five.

Goaltender Jacob Fowler – who was originally Button’s No. 3-ranked prospect overall – was brought up from the AHL’s Laval Rocket on Wednesday as a regular call-up and looks to be a Bell Centre mainstay for a while. Skating in his first professional season, Fowler is 19-7-1 with a .916 save percentage and 2.23 goals-against average in 27 appearances with the Rocket.

Button credits Fowler, who was taken in the third round by Montreal in 2023, for helping to get the Canadiens’ season back on track in December when he was recalled with both Samuel Montembeault and Jakub Dobes struggling at the time.

In his first stint with Montreal, Fowler went 4-4-2 while recording a .902 save percentage and 2.62 GAA in 10 appearances before he was returned to Laval in mid-January. On Wednesday, he made 32 saves in a crucial 3-2 Canadiens win over the Ottawa Senators.

“He’s elite and he’s unflappable,” said Button of Fowler. “I think there’s three requirements for a goaltender to be elite. No. 1, you need to really have high IQ and be able to read the game and anticipate the game. And I think Jacob has that.

“No. 2, I think he’s got the athletic skills and everything that goes with being a good goaltender, from the quickness to the mobility, the footwork, hands, arms, everything that goes with it.

And No. 3, and this is really important, he’s just poised and settled. There’s no busy feet. He’s not trying to be Fred Astaire in the net. He’s just calm. Everything is calm around him. He doesn’t create problems for himself, and by extension, his team.”

Rounding out the Canadian NHL team contingent in Button’s ranking are the Calgary Flames with two prospects (Cole Reschny at No. 24, Ethan Wyttenbach at No. 39), and the Vancouver Canucks (Braeden Cootes No. 30) and Edmonton Oilers (Isaac Howard at No. 37) with one each.

Coming up empty in the Top 50 this season are the Ottawa Senators, Winnipeg Jets and Toronto Maple Leafs.

“The Winnipeg Jets have some prospects, (but) not in that elite category,” Button explained. “The Ottawa Senators’ Carter Yakemchuk has shown some real good signs, but is not quite there yet.

“And then we get to the Toronto Maple Leafs – and when we talk about ‘have-nots,’ they define that. The cupboard is bare, there’ no question about it. They’re trying to acquire some draft picks to try to get that cupboard a little bit more filled, but the reality of the situation for the Maple Leafs there are no prospects. There’s nobody that’s coming in there to give some hope, to give the team a lift with respect to youthful enthusiasm and skill. It just doesn’t exist.

“A big part of the Toronto Maple Leafs’ future is going to be acquiring picks and then making good on the draft picks, much like the Montreal Canadiens have done.”

Craig Button’s 2025-26 Top 50 NHL-affiliated Prospects