Trevor Connelly

November 2023: Connelly plays with unmatched confidence. He constantly tries to take on opponents one-on-one, pushes through checks with shoulder drops and great puck placement, and always goes for the throat with his offensive zone incursions. A major difference between Connelly last year versus this year, is that he is trusting his teammates a lot more to complete his plays. As a result, his playmaking game has grown and he has adopted a distributor role that fits his skillset better than the finisher role he was trying to force last year.

Despite the absurd skill level, there are some worrying setbacks in Connelly’s game. His defensive game is lackluster, the motor is very inconsistent, and there have been major questions with character that will likely have some teams very hesitant to bet on his upside, no matter how high it is. Developing a more mature game and showing whoever picks him that he can improve will be essential if he is going to reach his top-line ceiling. Hadi Kalakeche (November rankings: 19th overall)