The 2026 fall version of Second City Hockey’s Top 25 Under 25 rankings moves into the first group of prospects in the top 25 who were ranked on individual ballots submitted by SCH staffers and community voters.
No. 25 — Samu Alalauri
- Position: Defense
- Age: 18 (May 31, 2008)
- Acquired via: Third-round pick (66th overall) in 2026 NHL Draft
- 2025-26 team: Pelicans U18/U20 (SM-sarja)
- 2025-26 stats: 30 points (8 G, 22 A) in 50 regular season games, 1 point (1 A) in 4 playoff games
- Size: 6-foot-2, 220 pounds
- Contract: Unsigned
- Rankings: 23 (Eric), 25 (Dave, LBR), HM (SCH)
- Last T25U25 ranking: N/A
Alalauri spent most of last season playing for Pelicans U20 in Finland’s top junior league, where he took a significant step forward offensively. After managing just 5 points (2 G, 3 A) in 26 games at that level the previous season, Alalauri jumped to 25 points (6 G, 19 A) in 40 games in 2025-26. He also continued to establish himself as one of Finland’s best young defensemen, earning the Toni Lydman Award as the country’s U20 Defenseman of the Year for the second consecutive season.
Alalauri was a solid third-round selection for the Blackhawks because there’s a relatively high floor to his game. He’s a smooth-skating, mobile defenseman who moves the puck efficiently and already shows fairly mature defensive instincts. There are still questions about how much offense he’ll ultimately provide, but his dependability in difficult minutes throughout his young career gives him a solid foundation to build on as he continues to develop..
Considering Alalauri is one of the newest additions to the organization and still has a long developmental road ahead of him, starting at the back end of the rankings feels like a reasonable spot. He’ll take the next step this fall at UMass, where the Blackhawks can afford to let him develop at his own pace.
For a more in-depth look at Alalauri, please check out our post-draft deep dive profile:
No. 24 — Landon Slaggert
- Position: Left Wing/Center
- Age: 24 (June 25, 2002)
- Acquired via: Third-round pick (79th overall) in 2020 NHL Draft
- 2025-26 team: Chicago Blackhawks (NHL)
- 2025-26 stats: 7 points (3 G, 4 A) in 53 rgames
- Size: 6-foot-0, 181 pounds
- Contract: One year, $900,000 AAV (RFA)
- Rankings: 21 (LBR), 22 (Dave, SCH), Unranked (Eric)
- Last T25U25 ranking: No. 24, no movement
Slaggert spent the first few months of last season bouncing between Chicago and Rockford but, from late December until the end of the season, he stuck in the NHL. Slaggert wasn’t in the lineup every night but he finished the season with 53 games for the Blackhawks, recording 7 points (3 G, 4 A) while averaging 10:33 per game in a fourth-line role.
The lack of movement in Slaggert’s ranking is largely a reflection of what he proved during that stretch. At this point, there’s little question that he can play in the NHL, but it’s almost certainly as only a fourth-line player, considering he wasn’t able to move higher in the lineup on a pretty bad Blackhawks team. Still, Slaggert does enough well that there should be a role for him somewhere: he’s smart, works hard, plays with pace and has developed into a dependable defensive forward who can be trusted without the puck. The issue remains his limited offensive production, which puts a fairly firm ceiling on his projection unless that part of his game takes an unexpected and unlikely step forward.
It seems likely that Slaggert can establish himself as a full-time NHL bottom-six player, but whether that happens with the Blackhawks long-term is the questionable part. With an influx of younger forwards with similar defensive qualities — and potentially more offensive upside — coming through the system, he’ll have plenty of competition for that role going forward.
No. 23 — AJ Spellacy
- Position: Wing
- Age: 20 (Feb. 24, 2006)
- Acquired via: Third-round pick (72nd overall) in 2024 NHL Draft
- 2025-26 team: Windsor Spitfires (OHL)
- 2025-26 stats: 37 points (31 G, 35 A) in 51 games
- Size: 6-foot-3, 205 pounds
- Contract: Three years, $965,000 AAV (RFA)
- Rankings: 20 (SCH), 21 (Eric), 24 (Dave, LBR)
- Last T25U25 ranking: Honorable mention, up two spots
Spellacy remains an intriguing prospect because of the combination of size, speed and physicality he brings to the ice. The 2024 third-round pick spent last season back with the Windsor Spitfires in the OHL, continuing to round out his game while taking on a larger role. At 6-foot-3, Spellacy is an excellent skater for his size and plays with the straight-line speed and physicality that can make him disruptive all over the ice. He’s aggressive on the forecheck, willing to finish checks, is responsible defensively, and quite adept on the penalty kill, giving him several tools that should translate well to the professional level. His athleticism and work ethic also give him a fairly straightforward path towards becoming an effective checking-line forward.
AJ Spellacy with the short handed goal for the Windsor Spitfires
— The Blackhawks Cowboy (@CowboyNHL) March 28, 2026
After a rough start to the season, Spellacy has 10 points in the last 10
Games
Expect to see him in a Rockford jersey next season. #Blackhawks
pic.twitter.com/T3aosTyzPI
AJ Spellacy (#8) with a monster hit on his first shift pic.twitter.com/PhFCRcGj6U
— BHF (@BlackhawksFocus) December 26, 2025
That’s largely why Spellacy remained steady in this year’s rankings. There’s enough in his game to envision an NHL future, particularly in a bottom-six role where his physical abilities can be utilized. However, his ceiling remains limited by his lack of offensive prowess, as he’s only put up modest production in the OHL, going from 0.60 to 0.62 points per game year over year. Spellacy hasn’t shown enough consistent production or individual creation to project much beyond that type of role. His existing toolkit gives him a legitimate chance to carve out an effective NHL career but, at this point, that appears most likely to come as a checking-line forward.
No. 22 — Adam Gajan
- Position: Goalie
- Age: 22 (May 6, 2004)
- Acquired via: Second-round pick (35th overall) in 2023 NHL Draft
- 2025-26 team: Univ. of Minnesota-Duluth (NCAA)
- 2025-26 NCAA stats: .908 save-percentage in 33 games
- Size: 6-foot-3, 205 pounds
- Contract: Two years, $1.05M AAV (RFA)
- Rankings: 19 (Eric), 21 (Dave), 23 (LBR), 24 (SCH)
- Last T25U25 ranking: No. 23, up one spot
Like the two players mentioned above, Gajan remained fairly steady in this iteration of the rankings, which is a positive considering he didn’t even make the list a year ago. This past season was his best yet, especially early on, when his save percentage hovered around .920 throughout the first half of the season. He seemed to use his size, quickness and raw athleticism more effectively, particularly when it came to making difficult saves after plays broke down. However, consistency remains a work in progress for Gajan, as the latter half of his season wasn’t nearly as strong as the first, and his overall results at the NCAA level still haven’t always matched the quality of his physical tools.
That’s largely why Gajan held relatively steady in the rankings near the bottom. There hasn’t been enough progress to substantially raise his projection, but there also hasn’t been anything to completely diminish the potential in the first part of this past season. Goaltenders typically require longer development timelines anyway, and Gajan still has time to refine the technical aspects of his game and become more consistent.
For now, Gajan remains a legitimate NHL goaltending prospect with some nice tools, but he still has plenty to prove before it’s clear what his actual ceiling is. He’ll get his first opportunity to do so at the professional level this upcoming season with Rockford, which should provide a good test of how his game translates against tougher competition.
Wrote about Blackhawks goalie prospect Adam Gajan earlier in the season and his improved play. I imagine he joins Slovakia at the Worlds next month, too. https://t.co/jyd8f7dxTF
— Scott Powers (@ByScottPowers) April 1, 2026
No. 21 — Ethan Del Mastro
- Position: Defenseman
- Age: 23 (Jan. 15, 2003)
- Acquired via: Fourth-round pick (105 overall) in 2021 NHL Draft
- 2025-26 team: Chicago Blackhawks (NHL) | Rockford IceHogs (AHL)
- 2025-26 NHL stats: 1 points (0 G, 1 A) in 19 games
- 2025-26 AHL stats: 18 points (2 G, 16 A) in 45 games
- Size: 6-foot-4, 209 pounds
- Contract: Unsigned but with qualifying offer (RFA)
- Rankings: 18 (SCH), 20 (LBR), 23 (Dave), 24 (Eric
- Last T25U25 ranking: No. 18, down 3 spots
Del Mastro is one of the players to see the most movement over the past year in these T25U25 rankings. Just last summer, Del Mastro was in the top 12 thanks largely to an impressive 24-game stint with the Blackhawks in 2024-25 that suggested he was close to becoming an NHL regular. Unfortunately, he followed that up with a disastrously bad training camp last year which left him in Rockford for much of the season and seemed to stall some of his momentum within the Blackhawks organization.
Del Mastro ended up playing 45 games with the IceHogs, recording 18 points (2 G, 16 A) and acting as a steady and reliable defenseman who could be trusted in any situation. He was recalled a few times to Chicago throughout the season, but only got into the Blackhawks lineup consistently after the trade deadline, when several veterans were moved out and created room for younger players to get more opportunities. In those 19 NHL games, Del Mastro was decent, although he didn’t necessarily do too much to stand out among all the other young defenders in the lineup at the time. He still profiles as a dependable, steady defenseman with the size and defensive foundation to potentially handle NHL minutes, but he hasn’t had a large enough opportunity to really establish what he can be at that level.
Next season will be interesting: Del Mastro is no longer waiver-exempt, so he’ll either be on the Blackhawks roster, shipped out before the season begins, or the team will have to risk him being picked up by another team for free if he doesn’t make the team out of camp. As of the writing of this article, Del Mastro isn’t even signed with the Blackhawks, though they did give him a qualifying offer. The NHL potential hasn’t disappeared, but Del Mastro needs to take advantage of his next opportunity or risk continuing to slide down or out of the Chicago system.
2026 Blackhawks Top 25 Under 25 list (so far):
Honorable Mention: Samuel Savoie