2025 Draft Boards

[Voodoo Glow Skulls]

he's not a flashy pick. he's a safer, high floor pick who has mostly projectible traits. he's intelligent, positions himself well, and works hard. once he fills his frame out, he should be a reliable two-way center who can excel in a shutdown role, but his game is responsible enough to play him up and down the lineup. i see his upside as a guy like lars eller. he isn't truly great at any one thing, but he's pretty good at a lot of things.


that's fair. like i said, take my opinions with a boulder of salt. i like hillstrom more than the guys i have ranked after him, but i've also been wrong about players every year i've tried doing this.

edit: 2024, 2023, 2022, 2021​

Keep making your rankings.

I enjoy reading them.

 

[nbwingsfan]

Conditioning issues.
Attitude issues.
Compete issues.

Thanks but no thanks.

We need skill in the worst way. We’ve had like 100 safe mid round picks who have turned out horrible.

It’s worth the risk

 

[Holden Caufield]

1) Schaefer
2) Misa
3) Frondell
—————
4) Martone
5) O’Brien
6) Hagens
7) Martin
8) Desnoyers
———— (Big tier break)
9)McQueen
10) Mrtak
11) Eklund
12) Reschny
13) Smith
14) Bear
————
15) Fiddler
16) Cootes
17) Nesbitt
18) Kindel
————
19) Carboneau
20) Lakovic
21) Aitcheson
22) Reid
23) Hensler
————
24) Ryabkin
25) Horcoff
26) Schmidt
27)Brzustewicz
28) Gastrin
29) McKinney
30) Spence
31) W. Moore
32) Ravensburg

 

[Rzombo4 prez]

We need skill in the worst way. We’ve had like 100 safe mid round picks who have turned out horrible.

It’s worth the risk

Within reason though. If a kid is so dysfunctional that you know on draft day he won't put in the work to become an NHLer either because he is lazy, uncoachable or a headcase, you aren't taking a swing on skill, you are throwing away the pick.

 

[lilidk]

We need skill in the worst way. We’ve had like 100 safe mid round picks who have turned out horrible.

It’s worth the risk

We have ASP, Buchelnikov, Kiiskennen, Plante , planty smarts and skills. We also have Lombardi, Finnie, Danielson

 

[nbwingsfan]

Within reason though. If a kid is so dysfunctional that you know on draft day he won't put in the work to become an NHLer either because he is lazy, uncoachable or a headcase, you aren't taking a swing on skill, you are throwing away the pick.

You don’t “know” any of that though.

All these things were said about Conor Garland, and then you add that he’s tiny to boot.

Now he’s a top 6 forward.

These guys are 17/18 years old. Some grow out of it

 

[nbwingsfan]

We have ASP, Buchelnikov, Kiiskennen, Plante , planty smarts and skills. We also have Lombardi, Finnie, Danielson

Outside of ASP and Bulchelnikov (which who knows how that’ll translate/when he comes over), none of them project as anymore than fringe prospects who may make the top 9.

Danielson has a higher ceiling, but it isn’t because of his great offensive potential.

 

[lilidk]

Outside of ASP and Bulchelnikov (which who knows how that’ll translate/when he comes over), none of them project as anymore than fringe prospects who may make the top 9.

Danielson has a higher ceiling, but it isn’t because of his great offensive potential.

There's possibility that none of them makes it, but same time they progressing very well and who knows , we could have already next Datsyuk and Zetterberg in our system

 

[OgeeOgelthorpe]

We need skill in the worst way. We’ve had like 100 safe mid round picks who have turned out horrible.

It’s worth the risk

Here’s a project for you: Name one player that has been noted to have compete, attitude and conditioning issues that has made the league and had prolonged success.

Hell, find a guy that had 2 of the 3 that became a successful NHLer in the last 20 years.

 

[HisNoodliness]

Here’s a project for you: Name one player that has been noted to have compete, attitude and conditioning issues that has made the league and had prolonged success.

Hell, find a guy that had 2 of the 3 that became a successful NHLer in the last 20 years.

I have to admit, I tried and struggled. Some scouts criticized Marchand for being immature, taking shifts off and not having the conditioning necessary for a player of his size, skillset and play style, but he also had people raving about his determination and willingness to do anything to win. I don't think anyone has ever said anything nice about Evander Kane's personality. Like Marchand though some people saw him as too competitive rather than not competitive enough. I don't think anyone ever questioned his conditioning and physical traits. Some scouts saw Kaprizov as unmotivated, inconsistent and out of shape.

None of those guys were as widely criticized as Ryabkin is. For every scouting report against them, there was at least one for. Perhaps in the NHL, you could criticize Kucherov for all of these things, but not as a prospect as far as I can tell.

I hate to admit it, but you win this time Ogee. Ryabkin was a solid option for me in the second as a boom/bust pick and now I think I'd rather just avoid him.