2025 Top 25 Under 25: The Honorable Mentions

We kick off the 2025 Top 25 Under 25 with five honorable mentions. These five players just missed the official list but warranted mentioning as well.

Lina Ljungblom

by Geremy

This past season was a struggle for Lina Ljungblom and it showed in her ranking in the 2025 Top 25 Under 25. Ljungblom was ranked 14^th last year and now has dropped in the honourable mention category. A couple years down the line this may look like an overreaction based on her play and numbers. So far the SDHL to PWHL transition has not been an easy one for players. Last season Ljungblom cleaned up the SDHL awards as she took SDHL MVP, SDHL Forward of the Year, Swedish Women’s Player of the Year, and finished first in SDHL playoff goals. Having been taken by Montreal in the 2023 PWHL Inaugural Draft with the last pick in the draft and needing to wait a year before coming over the hype for Ljungblom was understandably high.

Not like her international resume was lacking either. She’s named a top three player for Sweden at the 2023 WHC and 2024 WHC. Ljungblom is also named an assistant captain for Sweden at the 2024 WHC. Reminder this is all before she’s even 23 years old! Then she joins the PWHL this season and while she’s given top six minutes it just doesn’t go well on the surface. One of Sweden’s counted on goal scorers only scores three goals in 29 PWHL games. There’s plenty of hope for the future and a rebound for Ljungblom. She had a 6.7 SH% which is low especially for her skill level. Montreal has more options for the second line center spot and will take pressure off Ljungblom ideally. Lastly, always bet on talent and Ljungblom is talented.

Hanna Thuvik

by Geremy

Where Lina Ljungblom is looking to figure out the transition from being a talented forward with high potential to reaching that potential, her Swedish teammate Hanna Thuvik is looking to follow in her footsteps. It’s been quite the interesting career so far for Thuvik especially when it concerns her SDHL career. She joins Göteborg HC as a 16yo in the 2018/19 season. For those that don’t know Göteborg HC was the long running worst team in the SDHL. To say every game was full of adversity for the Göteborg HC squad would be an understatement and potentially detrimental to a young players success.

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A year later at 17yo Thuvik gets to wear an ‘A’ for Göteborg HC. She had respectable numbers at Göteborg HC with 27 points in 68 games. Thuvik obviously knew though that the best place for her development wasn’t at Göteborg HC so she moves to Brynäs IF and after two seasons she explodes. Her past three seasons in the SDHL Thuvik had put up 98 points in 97 games. We’ve yet to see her take a big step forward in the international game but that’s why she’s an honourable mention instead of actually making the list. Keep an eye on Thuvik as she looks to be a huge part of a stacked Brynäs IF team and a Swedish Olympic team.

Caitlin Kraemer

by Geremy

Honourable mention today, Top 10 Under 25 player tomorrow. A hot take? Possibly. Would be a huge jump for Kraemer but she’s in the perfect position to make that jump. She’s the second youngest player on Team Canada’s Olympic camp roster. She absolutely crushed records set by Marie-Philip Poulin at the U18 WJC’s. She has all the skill and talent you could ask for. Good skater, fantastic shot, and great size. The Canadian response to Joy Dunne or Laila Edwards.

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The 19 year old forward joined the NCAA last year with all the hype you can imagine of someone who scored 20 goals in 11 U18 WJC games. Only Kendall Coyne Schofield scored more goals (22) and needed four more games to do it. Kraemer joined the University of Minnesota-Duluth and had about as good of a season as you could ask for. On the fourth best team in the NCAA’s best conference Kraemer finished second on her team in goals behind super senior Olivia Mobley. For her efforts Kraemer is named the WCHA Rookie of the Year and NCAA Rookie of the Year. Kraemer is the name to watch on this list for biggest jump next year.

Akane Shiga

by Melissa Burgess

After her rookie season in the PWHL, Akane Shiga signed with Luleå in the SDHL for the 2024-25 season. Her speed and offensive prowess shined through on her new team, where she finished third in scoring behind only Petra Nieminen and Viivi Vainikka. Shiga became just the ninth Japanese player to score a goal in the SDHL & finished the season with 31 points, including 22 assists.

What a goal from @JPN_Ice_Hockey! 😮🇯🇵 #WomensWorlds #IIHF pic.twitter.com/C7Cjg4hQMA

— IIHF (@IIHFHockey) April 10, 2025

Shiga continued to play a critical role on the international stage. She registered six points in three Olympic qualifying games for Team Japan, helping her national team secure a spot in the 2026 games at Milano-Cortina. She also scored two goals in four games at the World Championships before suffering a lower-body injury that required surgery.

This is the second consecutive season that Shiga has been named an honorable mention on The Ice Garden's Top 25 Under 25 list. She is set to return to Luleå for another SDHL season.

Jocelyn Amos

by Melissa Burgess

An impressive sophomore season saw Jocelyn Amos nearly double her offensive production on a talented Ohio State squad. Amos, who has never missed a game in her Buckeyes career, finished second on the team with 52 points, including 27 goals and 25 assists. She also continues to impress in the faceoff circle, as she was third in the country with 470 faceoff wins last season.

It came as no surprise then when, last month, Ohio State officially named Amos as one of the team's captains for the upcoming season alongside Emma Peschel. It's a well-deserved honor for the junior forward, who is a well-rounded player particularly lethal on special teams. She led the country last season with 10 power play goals and 18 power play points, and her three shorthanded goals in her collegiate career are good for sixth in OSU program history.