As teams go through their cycles of contention, the importance of having a high-scoring young core can wax and wane. Then again, in a league which has had a relatively flat salary cap in recent seasons, getting production from your players on entry-level contracts (or second deals) is critical.
So in addition to an updated ranking of all 32 teams, this week we'll take a look at how much point production is coming from each team's 23-and-under group.
How we rank: A panel of ESPN hockey commentators, analysts, reporters and editors each send in a 1-32 poll based on the games through Wednesday, which generates our master list here.