The end of the season always marks the beginning of our annual prospect rankings. This was a big year for the Polish national team. Due to multiple issues, the white and red entered a transitional season. A new and younger squad went to the 2025 Division 1 Group A Worlds, but came up well short of the goal with a fifth-place finish. In a tight tournament, the depth of the Polish national team couldn’t win out. With more departures for the Poland on the way, they will have to once again dip into their depth and enter a rebuild. 

For Poland, they are starting to see the players from the 1997 to 2000 classes take over. Polish hockey has steadily declined in talent since its stronger presence in the 90s and early 2000s. These six years of classes offered some strong hope with a new level of talent emerging, including star players like Alan Lyszczarczyk, Dominik Pas, Kamil Walega, and Pawel Zygmunt. Three of the four earning chances to play in strong levels abroad that had not seen or rarely seen Polish skaters this century. 

Unfortunately for Poland, while the classes had some good names, plenty of those didn’t turn out. That is just the nature of hockey. Not even in the NHL, with millions of dollars poured into the scouting and development of players, do teams have a 100% success rate. This meant that Poland would look hard at the next generation, especially those in the 2001 to 2004 age group, entering their 20 to 23-year-old seasons. 

For the Tauron Hokej Liga, 2025 saw its lowest number of U23 players since 2013. That number is also heavily aided by the poor financial situation of Podhale Nowy Targ and STS Sanok, who used junior players on low-paying deals to fill their rosters. Without those two clubs, Poland would have only 32 U23 players who appeared in 10 THL games or more this year. 

Most U23 players in Poland currently play in the Mlodziezowa Hokej Liga (MHL). The league has fallen to a very poor level. The biggest issue is how little the league prepares players for the THL. If a player has not already debuted in the top league as a teenager, their odds of making it to the THL are almost non-existent. The graduation rate of players from what is supposed to be your U20 or second level of hockey is almost zero. The players already under a THL contract, spending their training with a top club, are the only ones who have a chance of making it in professional hockey. 

With the poor development of the MHL and that low graduation rate, I have chosen to reduce the list from the 80 players we have ranked in years past back down to 50. Not enough players are moving on to proper professional hockey to justify the extended list. Over the past few years, I have removed more players from the rankings due to retirement or playing zero games than those who are hitting 23 years old and aging off the list. 

I also wanted to take this chance to give a bit more information on how I create my list. Players receive three scores. Their career history (an average of their last three scores), present day (how they performed in 2025), and potential (where I project them to grow into). My scale runs 1 to 10, though its possible for a player to score higher than 10. Anything above 10 would probably require them being an actual NHL player though.

The three scores are combined in weighted fashion, with current play having the most weight, to then create the player score that is used to rank players on. 

These scores are mixed result of production, my opinion, and player grades. My opinion and grades do involve feedback from coaches, executives, media members, and others from around the hockey world. Production is not just taking into account games played and points. It judges who the points come against, how a player preforms against top teams/goalies, age in the league, how similar age players preform in the league, and other factors. This is not a perfect system by any means, but with the resources available in Polish hockey is, it works well. 

While I rank every player individually most players do score out pretty similar with very little difference between them. A majority of players currently fall in the area of being between a borderline THL player while having the ability to play on a top line of an MHL team.

Before we begin I will add more positive notes. First there is some junior talent in Poland that is coming. We saw this as Poland U18 went back to back at the U18s winning gold and promotion. For the first time ever, Poland U18 will play at the Division 1 Group A tournament. The second highest IIHF U18 tournament. The work on youth hockey has been improving in Poland and there some strong players coming. 

Lastly the players in the 09-11 classes are the best Poland has had. Quite a few prospects in those years show early legitimate NHL prospect potential. At Polish Puck, we try not to cover most players until they hit 16 years old, but we get so many inquiries from coaches and media outside Poland already talking or asking about those players. 

They are still a few years away, so let’s start with the 2025 Men’s U23 rankings. A class that may be weak on current top-end talent outside a few headliners, but makes up for it with a great U18 class that was able to win back-to-back promotions at the IIHF U18 World Championships. 

2025 Rules

Players had to be under the age of 23 and at least 16 years old on June 1st, 2025. We are only judging play that occurred before that date as well. Players are evaluated based on a combination of career history, current play, and potential. Skaters must have played at least five games to be considered. While the ranking is only my opinion, numerous coaches, staff, and other players contributed their thoughts on players. 183 players were considered for the list and reviewed. Fifty players received a ranking.

Players Ranked 50-26

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Thumbnail Photo via polskihokej.eu