2025 NHL Draft Hypelist: The top 32 plus a few angry notes about the James Hagens discourse
Let's end a talking point. And get to the rankings.
I’m gonna bring some smoke here for a second, so feel free to skip this indulgent preamble if you just want to read my amateur rankings. Thanks to the Florida Panthers seeing so much success, we’re now reading and hearing more than ever about whether certain prospects can “produce in the playoffs.” Or whether they have the size to be “successful when it matters.”
Forgive me. This is just stupid. Thankfully I don’t have to spend too much time talking about this since a photo does so much more. Jack Eichel. Ryan O’Reilly. Sam Reinhart. If they’re such winners, how could they be on such a loser team? Listen. I’m not saying that drafting for a player whose production can potentially translate into the postseason isn’t worth a discussion. I’m saying that if you’re not a playoff team, you don’t get to make that distinction. You don’t have that luxury, not to mention — it’s probably easier for a skilled player to develop a playoff profile than it is for playoff performer to develop the skill needed to get you to the playoffs in the first place.
What I find so obnoxious about this logic is that it assumes the regular season is somehow beneath the discussion about player value. Yes, it’s better to win a Cup. But so few teams are ever able to achieve that in the first place. The regular season is not just where you figure out your systems, and your chemistries. It also has a forwarding effect into the postseason for home-ice advantage, and matchups. More to the point, how many redlight performers burst onto the playoff scene right away? Development happens (or doesn’t) at every point in a player’s career, and that includes developing playoff experience that can be further leveraged into playoff effectiveness. Ever look at Matthew Tkachuk’s postseason production prior to Florida? Hardly the stuff of legend. Anything change? Yea. The quality of the team.
Since I need more target practice for this demented talking point, how about the Boston Bruins’ drafting record? Dean Letourneau. John Beecher. Jakub Zboril. All players with size, and ‘playoff chromosomes’ or whatever. How many years did it take for teams to realize that you can’t just draft Milan Lucic, because there is the only one Milan Lucic? What about Arizona/Utah? Conor Geekie. Barret Hayton. Brendan Perlini. They’ve drafted a lot of gritensity and size over the years, and yet the players positioning them to finally get over the hump are 5’10 Clayton Keller and 5’10 Logan Cooley. James Hagens is cut from that cloth, and it’s why this talking point needs to die one of those Final Destination deaths.
Didn’t ya’ll ever see that mediocre Kevin Costner movie? “I got 52 Tarzans out there, I could use a Jane!” It’s hard enough distinguishing nature from nurture in a player’s skillset. And it’s even harder cutting through stereotypes and scouting biases. Adding another one that has to do with the playoffs for nonplayoff teams — where earning the opportunity to fail must come first — feels like the modus ponens of galaxy brain syndrome. You are beggars, my nonplayoff friend. Not choosers. This is all just poser talk. Enough with it.
How I Rank
There’s nothing special about my own ranking system. In fact, as you will see in short order, my rankings are quite dumb. But my rankings do have a little added ingredient.
Every player ranked here will have a player class and a player type. Here ‘player class’ refers to either a generalist, or a specialist. I define a ‘generalist’ as an impact player that tends to work within a spectrum of broad skills. Conversely, a specialist is an impact player that tends to work within a spectrum of specific ones. This does not mean that a player can’t be both. Nor is it a value-assessment. Nico Hischier is what I could consider a generalist, while Thomas Harley would be considered a specialist. Their games contain elements of both despite leaning one way over the other.
When it comes to player types, here I’m stealing directly from Louis Boulet’s work on player types in the NHL, and his badge system. While his work is mostly theoretical, he is nonetheless working with data to approximate player styles as they relate to who generates offense as well as production (efficient attacker), players who transition more effectively than others (elusive carrier), strong tertiary players (pillar of support), chance creator/distributors (scoring threat) PP/PK specialists, and more. For a full glossary, you can click here. A lot of these will seem intuitive, but they are meant to allude to more specificities within certain player archetypes. For each type I’ve listed two: one primary, one secondary.
This is not based on any kind of deep dive into the scouting process, or anything stats-based I’ve created on my own. I’m neither an analyst, nor a scout, no matter how hard I pretend to be. I’m a writer. This is my way of hopefully adding language to the process. I feel like distinguishing between generalists and specialists is a lot cleaner than referring to players as one-dimensional, two-way, or hybrid. I like using Boulet’s badgework to cut through comps, since no two players are ever alike, and doing so always feels inaccurate at best, and misleading at worst.
You’ll see a lot of cribbing from Mitch Brown and Lassi Alanen’s tracking project (which I’ve written an explainer card for), as well as Will from Scouching for more data and film analysis. An assist from Corey Pronman and Scott Wheeler at The Athletic obviously. Major thanks to the invaluable YouTube resource that is ProspectShifts. And of course — EPRinkside’s 2025 Draft Guide. It’s not quite Proust, but it’s just as massive.
#1 Matthew Schaefer
Position: LHD
Profile: 6’2, 186lbs
League: OHL
Player Class: Generalist
Player Type: Efficient Attacker, Elusive Carrier
All of their strengths. None of their weaknesses. Schaefer is exactly as good as they say. Usually, there’s stuff to nitpick in a defender. Even the top defensive picks in recent years: Rasmus Dahlin, Aaron Ekblad, Owen Power, Jake Sanderson, Cale Makar, Miro Heiskanen. With Heiskanen and Sanderson, it was questions about their offense. With Dahlin and Makar, their defense. You could technically say that about Schaefer’s offense. After all, he didn’t produce in his D-1 year. But watching him (and given his extremely young age), there are simply no holes in his game. He’s one of the strongest territorial defenders to come out of any recent draft. He has an explosive edge in transition, exquisite puck control, and the reads to match. I don’t believe Schaefer at number one is so clear cut due to how much time he missed, but his on-ice presence leaves no doubt. I also love how peculiar his game is. I feel like peculiarity is more defining than who a player is comparable to, in the same way nobody has Dahlin’s puck control, or Makar’s wheels. Nobody has Schaefer’s frenzied concentration of movement. Islanders are getting a real one here.
#2 Michael Misa
Position: C
Profile: 6’1, 182lbs
League: OHL
Player Class: Generalist
Player Type: Efficient Attacker, Elusive Carrier
The difference between Misa and Schaefer is a lot closer than what I tend to hear. Again, I’m with the crowd on this one: Schaefer is that good. But Misa is very much in the same tier. It’s not just about his comps, and his production in the OHL historical record next to names like Patrick Kane, John Tavares, and Jason Spezza. It’s also just how surgical his attack is. There’s a reason why the criticisms tend to boil down to “lacks urgency” and “unengaged” or “never took over a game.” Elite players don’t always need to be obvious. This is where Misa gives me shades of a faster, bigger, Wyatt Johnston. His ability to take control at the macro and micro levels of the game with his vision, routes, and raw athleticism means he’s never having to leverage all his traits, all at once. He’s engaged in all the areas that are translatable, such as along the wall, activating on contact, and puck misdirection. Like Jeff Speakman before him, he is…the perfect weapon1. Also, Gabriel Foley has a really good piece on why Misa belongs in the number one conversation.
#3 James Hagens
Position: C
Profile: 5’10, 186lbs
League: NCAA
Player Class: Generalist
Player Type: Scoring Threat, Efficient Attacker
For all the bloviating about size and playoff potential, Hagens is quite well-rounded, and extremely responsible. He processes plays at an elite rate, which ensures that his high level speed matches his pro level positioning. While his playmaking is the hallmark of his game, it’s less about his vision and creativity (which he has), and more about the confidence and strength in his passing. There are no second guesses to the way he links his threat level across the ice. If you’re a nonplayoff team who doesn’t like his profile for the playoffs, then lots of luck getting there with a 40-point center instead of a 70-80 point one. I do believe the criticisms are valid. I just don’t see how these criticisms don’t apply to everyone else below him (because boy do they ever).
#4 Porter Martone
Position: RW
Profile: 6’3, 204lbs
League: OHL
Player Class: Specialist
Player Type: Dynamic Creator, Elusive Carrier
Martone may be the the biggest x-factor of the draft. It’s easy to see how a hulking, 6’3 playmaker may be ahead of players like Misa and Hagens, even if that’s a massive stretch. Nonetheless, there’s a lot to like here. Martone doesn’t necessarily play the power forward game, and he’s not the smoothest skater (I don’t think it’s as bad as people say: stronger conditioning here could go a long way), but everything else is bonkers. He’s the proverbial dual threat, able to snap shots at the net as effectively as he can makes plays for others; directly and indirectly. Just as critically, his pace and processing allow him to work his offense in all three zones. It’s worth noting that his primary pivot was Angus MacDonell — a Dallas sixth rounder punching waaaay above his weight.
#5 Lynden Lakovic
Position: LW
Profile: 6’4, 200lbs
League: WHL
Player Class: Specialist
Player Type: Elusive Carrier, Dynamic Creator
When the aesthetic doesn’t match. So I’ll catch some heat on this one. A lot is made of small players who fell further than they should have — Lane Hutson, Cole Caufield, Alex DeBrincat, Logan Stankoven — but there’s a history of big players falling too: Thomas Harley, Valeri Nichushkin, Aliaksei Protas, Tage Thompson, Jason Robertson, Kirill Marchenko. There’s usually a reason too: the small player who should be fast plays paradoxically big, or the big player who should be physical plays small. This is the Lakovic story, and why I have him so high. He’s a big dude who plays an elite small man’s game, cutting through the competition in subtle, creative, and composed ways. There’s an economy of motion unlike anything I’ve seen in recent years, so yea. I’m going there.
He’s like a playmaker’s version of Kirill Marchenko. If you think the world of Martone, why isn’t Lakovic in the same conversation? Yes, the OHL is a better league. But Martone was on a stacked Brampton team. Lakovic was running with also-rans. On an NHL squad with a premiere center to capitalize on his ability to jailbreak multiple lanes with his movement and puck support — I pick a kid like that every day of the week and twice on domingo.
#6 Jake O’Brien
Position: LW
Profile: 6’1, 172lbs
League: OHL
Player Class: Specialist
Player Type: Dynamic Creator, Efficient Attacker
When you think about the traits that define a playmaker, you typically don’t find them all at once: vision, execution, small-area ability, area passing, celerity — whatever words for ‘effective AF’ in the thesaurus you can find, it applies. O’Brien is one of the most natural playmakers I’ve seen, frankly, in years. The way he’s able to forward the puck up ice in such a diverse amount of ways, and so consistently through traffic, is unlike any player in this draft. If his skating were a bit smoother, he’d be in Hagens’ tier. He’s the player I’m least comfortable placing this high, but in terms of upside, few players have more raw potential.
#7 Jackson Smith
Position: LHD
Profile: 6’4, 199lbs
League: WHL
Player Class: Specialist
Player Type: Elusive Carrier, Pristine Puck Mover
I’m a little biased here. Two years ago, I thought I was seeing something special in Thomas Harley. It’s not that I see anything special, per se, in Jackson Smith. It’s that Smith’s movements are scarily similar to Harley at times. Yes, I know my rule about comps. Obviously, Smith is nothing like Harley in terms of explicit offense. But defenders need to be able to transition, and execute in all areas of the ice in order to both shorten and lengthen possessions when need be. Smith does that. It’s not just players like Harley, that skew offense, but players like K’Andre Miller, who skew defense. These smooth-skating defenders who check every box except “offensive ceiling” I’m just done underestimating. Call me when they grow out of fashion.
#8 Carter Bear
Position: LW
Profile: 6’0, 179lbs
League: WHL
Player Class: Generalist
Player Type: Efficient Attacker, Puck Police
I have to admit. Sometimes you can’t unhear something, and it sticks, creating a bias that you know probably isn’t helping you make your assessment as rationally as you’d like but also feels too connected to the truth for you to ignore — Brandon Hagel. Ever since hearing that comparison, I haven’t been able to unsee the similarities. Obviously, Bear is very different in some subtle and some overt ways, but he is easily one of the most blistering forwards in this draft. He does everything at an extremely high level, and he does so while being a two-way force. An endless forward at any level this high is top 10 material, and arguably the kind of player who ends of having a more successful and more productive career than some of the forwards ahead of him.
#9 Victor Eklund
Position: LW
Profile: 5’11, 169lbs
League: Allsvenskan
Player Class: Generalist
Player Type: Possession Snatcher, Pillar of Support
Is he exactly like his brother, William? Not quite. But he is similar. And look at that dude. (Eklund had 58 points last season.)
While Eklund is a bit slight, his game is less about obvious offense, and more about the residual offense that is created from zone to zone through an endless forecheck, and just enough craftsmanship with the puck to capitalize when needed. Don’t be surprised if he ends up very similar to his brother in terms of efficiency in all three zones at the pro level.
#10 Brady Martin
Position: C
Profile: 6’0, 186lbs
League: OHL
Player Class: Generalist
Player Type: Efficient Attacker, Gritty Grinder
Martin will very likely go higher. While I don’t like him as much as the players above (and some below), I do think the hype is real. A lot is made about Martin’s physicality. Yes, he’s physical. And yes, when leveraged effectively, that’s a good thing. But it’s also just a bonus. The real attraction here is his vision. What he lacks in creativity compared to the other top playmakers, he makes up for in his positioning and strength, taking the puck through lanes with velocity and not just aggression.
#11 Benjamin Kindel
Position: C
Profile: 5’10, 180lbs
League: WHL
Player Class: Specialist
Player Type: Efficient Attacker, Elusive Carrier
There’s always “that player.” Barzal. Larkin. Connor. Caufield. Boldy. Somebody who passes the sniff test of a top player but falls anyway because a small collection of teams focus on their needs, don’t prioritize certain strengths in proportion to what their prospect pool already has, or is listening too much to their own bubble’s campfire gossip column. Kindel is, of course, nothing like those players, but he’s got everything except for Superfluous Manliness. You’d think a player with 114 points across the regular season and postseason would be making more noise. As a player that routinely creates, and has an offensive process that routinely executes, Kindel is that player.
The criticism is fair: he doesn’t have the speed you’d want in a player his size. He’s also prone to doing too much. But I think he belongs in the top 10 discussion, and he’s in that discussion with Lakovic for “guy who never should have fallen that far.”
#12 Roger McQueen
Position: C
Profile: 6’5, 198lbs
League: WHL
Player Class: Generalist
Player Type: Dynamic Creator, Scoring Threat
McQueen should absolutely be higher. If he had been healthy, he’s a can’t-miss top five pick. He’s got movement, he’s got playmaking, he’s got a heavy shot. He creates space for himself and others at a level comparable to the best forwards in the draft. What the heck gives? Back injuries are different than other injuries. I keep seeing comparisons to Cayden Lindstrom, which I find odd — a herniated disc is very different than a pars fracture. So I reached out to an old friend and medical nerd on BlueSky and she was kind enough to send me this reply when I asked about the difference and long term impact. (TL;DR it’s really not as bad as it sounds, but any issue with the back is never as good as it should be)
Very different, but back injuries in general are weird. Imaging findings often have no relationship to functional pain. Spondylolysis is the technical term for what McQueen has, which can progress to the even more fun name spondylolisthesis. www.childrenshospital.org/conditions/s...
A study on that in ice hockey players: pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC...
Herniated discs are reasonably common among NHLers but soft tissue injuries in general have more long term effect than bony injuries (like spondy). Here's a very recent study on discs and NHLers. pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC...
That particular article made me laugh because they tried to use advanced stats, which probably plays well in ortho journals but as a decidedly non-ortho person its so jarring to see in a medical article. Long story short - minor versions of both spondy and disc problems probably heal just fine. Spondy that gets caught in the fracture only stage (before the slipping stage) is any other stress fracture. Discs more often progress to surgery. Anything that needs an operation is suspect because the back hates everything, and progressing to needing back surgery for anything means it probably won't hold up.
#13 Radim Mrtka
Position: RHD
Profile: 6’5, 218lbs
League: OHL
Player Class: Generalist
Player Type: Puzzle Piece, Shutdown Stalwart
Mrtka’s another divisive player. Which is odd, because he’s one of the safest players in this draft. Looking at players like K’Andre Miller, Mattias Ekholm, or his closest comp (Lian Bichsel), Mrtka’s profile is ideal as a defender whose value is contingent upon the profile of his partner. This does not make him a passenger. On the contrary, I would argue that the hallmark of a good defender is not “invisibility” but their ability to forge chemistry with others. Mrtka has that in him. He’s mobile for his size, crafty enough with the puck to execute clean breakouts, and overall lacks the one thing you don’t actually care that much about in a top four defender: production. I do believe offense and defense are intimately linked, and they tend to work both ways, but Mrtka’s production wasn’t so meager as to make me question a complete lack of vision or acumen to his three-way game.
#14 Justin Carbonneau
Position: RW
Profile: 6’1, 205lbs
League: QMJHL
Player Class: Specialist
Player Type: Scoring Threat, Puzzle Piece
If this list were simply about raw goal impact, Carbonneau would be near the top of the list. His shot, and midrange threat level is up there with the best, but his control of the puck allows him to pivot to different attacks on chances for himself or others. In some ways this is both a blessing and a curse, as he can be eager to power through multiple defenders. Being a little more patient, and waiting for lanes to open up instead of snowplowing through each will go a long way.
#15 Caleb Desnoyers
Position: C
Profile: 6’1, 178lbs
League: QMJHL
Player Class: Generalist
Player Type: Pillar of Support, Pristine Puck Mover
Desnoyers checks a lot of boxes for teams looking for tools. He’s younger than most of his peers and twice as mature. He has a good read of each play, and identifies pressure points in opposing defenses quickly, and swiftly. Shoot. Pass. Forecheck. What’s not to love? For me. A lot. The best players — regular or postseason — shorten the neutral zone offensively and defensively, and Desnoyers is lacking in a major way here. I see favorable comps to Elias Lindholm and Anton Lundell, as if similar profiles like Barret Hayton and Jesperi Kotkaniemi never existed. Again, I don’t like comps. And he’s none of them in many ways. But Desnoyers is much more of a project to me. These toolsy players tend to be pure boom/bust, and his rising of the draft feels artificial. In the same way certain names being around longer creates a familiarity bias, Desnoyers really feels like the beneficiary of a next-in-line effect. This is a good player, hence #15. But I just think a lot more development needs to go into key areas that aren’t always as easy a fix as they sound.
#16 Anton Frondell
Position: C
Profile: 6’1, 204lbs
League: Allsvenskan
Player Class: Generalist
Player Type: Scoring Threat, Puzzle Piece
Perhaps another hot take. Any team picking Frondell below this range is probably stoked: he plays a heavy game, and is a lot slicker in his movement than he gets credit for, and has an even heavier shot. My main issue here is that he’s not dynamic enough to be picked above this range. In fact, he’s explicitly weak in transition. NHL-level shooters need to be dynamic away from the puck in order to hide the dynamics of their shot, and Frondell simply doesn’t have that in my amateur view. I still have him high because I think he can be maximized well depending on where he ends up — either next to playmaking wingers, or next to a playmaking center. Any team that has a keen eye for player clusters and interlinking skills among teammates will benefit.
#17 Blake Fiddler
Position: RHD
Profile: 6’2, 180lbs
League: WHL
Player Class: Generalist
Player Type: Pillar of Support, PK Specialist
It’s important not to fall in love with player types, but it’s equally important to know when a player fits into that type at a higher level than others. The era of the mobile shutdown defender is upon us, and Fiddler is a great example of one. I have Fiddler higher on my list because I think his defense is legitimately high level. He positions his body against the rush in ways that allow him multiple options to select from in order to rattle the puck away, and mirror attacker movement for optimal pressure. That he has four-way mobility simply amplifies his numerous efficiencies.
#18 Cullen Potter
Position: C
Profile: 5’9, 172lbs
League: NCAA
Player Class: Specialist
Player Type: Elusive Carrier, Scoring Threat
Yes, Potter lacks size and questions about Potter’s vision and decision-making are totally valid. But Potter has exactly what you want to see out of smaller players, with his superb skating and ability in transition. Essentially, Potter checks all the boxes of a short king. He may lose puck battles. But he can win the war for you. I’m not super comfortable with this rank, but #18 is exactly where the tiers break apart for me and become much more homogenized. Taking a gambit on the most talented player within this range feels like the right one.
#19 Braeden Cootes
Position: C
Profile: 5’11, 183lbs
League: WHL
Player Class: Specialist
Player Type: Puck Police, Gritty Grinder
When scouts talk about off-puck movement, there are few better representations of high level off-puck movement than with Cootes. Able to create advantages by disrupting options with body positioning, or getting open with swift lane switches, Cootes is a terror on both sides of the puck for the opposition. It’s a game that naturally lends itself to the kind of strong two-way center profile that has been a hallmark for smaller defensive centers like Philip Danault and Jean-Gabriel Pageau.
#20 Bill Zonnon
Position: LW
Profile: 6’1, 185lbs
League: QMJHL
Player Class: Specialist
Player Type: Efficient Attacker, Pillar of Support
Another pick I’m higher on than most. Zonnon is the rare player this late in the first round where I find myself asking: what does this kid lack? The answer I keep going back to is: nothing. He works hard. His attacks are layered. He has vision. He plays with pace. He doesn’t just attack. He sequences attacks for his teammates. There’s a drive and velocity to his game that is right there with the best forwards in this draft. This is a player whose offense relies on making adjustments, which is exactly what pro hockey requires. No, he’s not a smooth skater. But he has too many quality traits to be held back by lack of footspeed, and it just seems like the better his teammates, the better he — and they — will be.
#21 Cole Reschny
Position: C
Profile: 5’10, 183lbs
League: WHL
Player Class: Specialist
Player Type: Dynamic Creator, Puzzle Piece
Of all the players in the first round, Reschny is the player I’m least comfortable not only putting this high, but putting in the first round. This is why nobody pays me money to do this. Even in breakfast tacos. A small, slow playmaking center? And yet the boxscore makes no distinction. Reschny not only produced at a high level but he produced at a high level in the big games. And then there’s Will’s tracking data, which is bonkers.
Reschny is a high level stuff-doer. A playmaker by trade, craft, and birthright, Reschny does what playmakers do which is facilitate the puck up ice with an efficiency opponents can’t stop. For me the issue is squaring the production with the NHL-level projection.
#22 Kashawn Aitcheson
Position: LHD
Profile: 6’1, 199lbs
League: OHL
Player Class: Generalist
Player Type: Gritty Grinder, Puzzle Piece
Sometimes you draft with your heart. Having seen Aitcheson more than anyone on this list, “heart” is the first word that comes to mind when thinking about the player. He has the highest Give-A-Shit O’Meter (or “dawg” as the kids — mostly those with kids now — say) of anyone in this class. He’s not just physical. He’s got a 70’s action movie mean streak, like Jimmy Doyle before him; a player who would have been at home opposite Bob Probert and Tie Domi.
However, he’s also a modern defender. The Barrie Colts were one of the most boring offensive teams to watch. In addition, they had zero forward wizardry on their roster, and even the players they did have who could score weren’t maximized. So for me, it’s not the 26 goals that stands out (quite obviously a byproduct of an inflated shooting percentage) but the 33 assists. Aitcheson has a real playmaking streak that’s less about creativity and more about function. This is the kind of offense that can and will translate. So while a lot is made about this fun goals + hits profile, I don’t see that at all. He’s intense and engaged with each shift, and that drives his pressure offense more than anything.
Defensively, he’s much more of a mixed bag here. Hits and physicality do not equal good defense. I think Aitcheson has good in-zone defense, but I don’t think he has good rush defense. He can stop plays before they begin, but more complex attacks expose his lack of footspeed. In addition, despite his ultraviolence, he’s not Sasquatch or something. I have troubling seeing his trademark physicality working against bigger NHLers. Charlie McAvoy is the only player with his profile that can lay the proverbial boom, and that’s aided by McAvoy’s superior edgework. There’s a legit player lurking here, but I have trouble seeing a top-four defender without significant development.
#23 Shane Vansaghi
Position: C
Profile: 6’2, 212lbs
League: NCAA
Player Class: Generalist
Player Type: Gritty Grinder, Puzzle Piece
Aitcheson isn’t the only throwback in this draft class. Michigan State’s Vansaghi is the other. Yes, he’s a power forward, which sizepilled GM’s will go cuckoo for coco puffs over. But I can actively see it here. In addition to playing with power, Vansaghi has the necessary soft touch and intelligent reads to turn strength into strategy. He’s a heady player who made the most out of his meager minutes. While his playmaking could improve, I don’t think it’s the weakness Mitch Brown’s tracking data makes it seem (to be fair, not every passing metric makes him look bad either): he was clearly his line’s prime mover. Don’t be surprised if Vansaghi has a breakout Draft+1 year in a bigger role.
#24 Cameron Reid
Position: LHD
Profile: 6’0, 183lbs
League: OHL
Player Class: Generalist
Player Type: Puck Mover, Pillar of Support
Are these small puck movers going out of style? This generic question has been on my mind for years (as a Stars fan, the Julius Honka wars took a piece out of us all), but I also wonder about the reverse: as the big men develop small men traits, when does the pendulum shift back — when do the small men develop big men traits, like being more of a shutdown stalwart? Even small, dynamic movers expected to go late in this draft seem to have this trait (I’m thinking Lasse Boellius and Luka Radivojevic). Is Reid part of the new breed? Will’s tracking data certainly makes a preliminary case.
Reid might fit a certain type on the surface — small, quick, puck mover who can generate up ice — that I’m sure some GM’s are tired of, but underestimate him at your peril. He seems to play against type, and he excels at something better than offense and defense: he excels at controlling territory.
#25 Malcolm Spence
Position: LW
Profile: 6’1, 193lbs
League: OHL
Player Class: Generalist
Player Type: Gritty Grinder, Puck Police
One thing I don’t want to be guilty of is bias. Yes, this developing Panther Effect where now scouts think they can identify Deep Playoff Run Genes is for the damn birds (although birds deserve better so maybe something else), but there’s no doubting that some players fit certain molds. So if you’re looking for a super productive forechecking winger, then come get your man. I think there’s real saucework to Spence’s puck handling, making him more of a classic dual threat than just a forechecker that can show up on the boxscore. I get the feeling that conditioning could really boost his stock, but this deep in the first round, you take a player like this and run.
#26 Theo Stockselius
Position: C
Profile: 6’3, 196lbs
League: J20 (Djurgarden)
Player Class: Generalist
Player Type: Pillar of Support, Puzzle Piece
Here’s another player type I always like to look for: that second rounder who belongs in the first. Last year alone, off the top of my head — Igor Chernyshov, Cole Hutson, Andrew Basha, Harrison Brunicke, Nikita Artamonov. Stockselius definitely feels like one of those players. His profile hits all the right notes: a tall, rangy playmaking center who leverages his tools for that shift-to-shift territorial advantage. While this is a no-no in the scouting world, I would never trust myself to think merely watching a player every shift gives me a complete understanding of who they are. So yes, it’s important to watch spreadsheets too, however preliminary the data (our entire impressions of these players, video or data, is preliminary). And the data screams first-round material.
#27 Joshua Ravensbergen
Position: G
Profile: 6’5, 191lbs
League: WHL
Player Class: N/A
Player Type: Eyesight 20/20, Fitness Fanatic
I won’t pretend to know the first thing about scouting goalies. Instead I’ll just leave you with this blurb from Wheeler.
Ravensbergen’s a rare southpaw as a right-catching goalie. He moves very smoothly in the net for his size. He’s smart in his reads and anticipation. He can go post-to-post or low-to-high to get to difficult saves with his length and has definite room to get more powerful through his pushes. He's got a competitive fire. He reads the play well and fills the net to take away options from shooters with sharp, challenging angles. He’s got some natural standout attributes and the size to match. He’s a competitive kid. I’ve seen him look vulnerable, or get frozen, or give up low-danger shots through his body (including at the WJSS, where he wasn’t at his best), though, as well. His upside is real, though, and there is untapped potential in his game if he can get into the gym and really build up his body.
#28 Ryker Lee
Position: RW
Profile: 6’0, 181lbs
League: USHL
Player Class: Specialist
Player Type: Scoring Threat, Puzzle Piece
Lee is another player I just don’t think belongs in the second round. While the Small, But Not Fast problem is there in Lee’s game, everything else is jampacked with details. Not just an elite playmaker, Lee is good with his routes, making him a presence on every shift with or without the puck — not to mention, he can shoot it. I’d be more confident in Lee graduating than Reschny if we’re looking to make bold claims. Confident and dynamic is a hell of a combo, and Lee is all that.
#29 Ivan Ryabkin
Position: C
Profile: 5’11, 201lbs
League: USHL
Player Class: Specialist
Player Type: Scoring Threat, Puzzle Piece
I get it. Ryabkin had a super disappointing draft year following his brilliant D-1 season, apparently didn’t interview well2, and prompted questions about his fitness. I’m not pretending like this is irrelevant because it’s not. It would be nice to focus on hockey — perhaps even live in a world where professional hockey players don’t need to get advice from Twitter. But we don’t. So the red flags are real. However, so is Ryabkin’s talent. At his best, he’s a confident playmaker with a goal scorer’s touch. At his worst, he’s the disconnected controller meme. I do think there’s a lot more to Ryabkin’s game than just offense, and it’s there in the preliminary data. But the lack of a neutral zone presence might be the most damning evidence of all. I’m still taking a chance on him though. A lot of the draft “headcases” like Tony DeAngelo, Ryan Merkley, and Trevor Connelly brought non-hockey problems into the fold, whereas I’ve never heard anything like that about Ryabkin. Maturity doesn’t seem to be his problem. Development is. The former can get you out of the latter.
#30 Kurban Limatov
Position: LHD
Profile: 6’4, 198lbs
League: MHL
Player Class: Generalist
Player Type: Pillar of Support, Puck Police
All the glowing stuff I said about Fiddler applies to Limatov. His body positioning against the rush is polished, and educated. One thing that really separates Limatov from a lot of other defenders (and why I debated a player with a similar profile like Jacob Rombach, along with putting him even higher) in my view is that sense of urgency. I get that smart work beats hard work, but sometimes hard work is the smart play3. Limatov isn’t just mobile for his size. He snaps toward retrievals, further leveraging his size and speed. Add in a quarrelsome element when it comes to pressuring opponents, and you have who I would argue is the darkhorse of this draft4.
#31 Sascha Boumedienne
Position: LHD
Profile: 6’1, 184lbs
League: NCAA
Player Class: Specialist
Player Type: Pillar of Support, Puzzle Piece
Boumedienne might be the most confusing player on this list. Everything about his game screams ‘second rounder.’ I guess it’s hard to pass on the classic safe player. And that’s Boumedienne. He’s less of a puck mover or rusher, and more of a puck bearer. He’s a mature player who doesn’t overstay his welcome from possession to possession, but still has enough athleticism to extend possessions for his team. He’s not the most exciting player, but NHLers don’t always need to be. An honest shift can go a long way.
#32 Henry Brzustewicz
Position: RHD
Profile: 6’1, 203lbs
League: OHL
Player Class: Specialist
Player Type: Pillar of Support, Scoring Threat
Brzustewicz is your classic, toolsy defender. There’s nothing special to his game except his impact. He moves well, makes a strong first pass, and has good instincts on the carry. Defensively, there aren’t many holes either. He doesn’t really get beat on the outside, tracks opposing forwards either on the rush or the forecheck, and does it all with composure. While this draft has been criticized as weak, there’s a lot of depth at center, and on defense, and Brzustewicz is a good example of another player who may not be a superstar, but he will add value.
I’d see myself out, but I still have a ton of these to get through.
I’ll never understand how I’m supposed to look down on the teenagers instead of the adults asking aggressively stupid questions.
Sorry for sounding like one of those lame corporate talk-at-you types (I believe they’re called motivational speakers or something).
Which means Carolina will pluck him in the third round just like they did Nikishin.