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HF Habs: 2025 NHL Draft: Part II

WeThreeKings said:
I'd be surprised if Hensler did.. being a right shot defenseman ain't gonna make up for the fact he doesn't have Smith's potential. Mrtka has a lot of projection so that makes sense.
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TBH I don't really see a particularly high ceiling for Smith either. Kind of a jack of all trades, master of none type of defenseman. What's he great at?

I don't think he's a better LD than Buium or Dickinson (neither went top 10) and at the very least least Silayev has more elite traits and a projectable role.
 
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Playmaker09 said:
TBH I don't really see a particularly high ceiling for Smith either. Kind of a jack of all trades, master of none type of defenseman. What's he great at?

I don't think he's a better LD than Buium or Dickinson (neither went top 10) and at the very least least Silayev has more elite traits and a projectable role.
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Different drafts though.. there's Schaefer at the top and then it's very questionable defenseman. The thing with Smith is that he's got a lot of tools and he's still figuring out how to use them to be productive.

That's still a better profile than Hensler who has only regressed, if anything.
 
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WeThreeKings said:
Different drafts though.. there's Schaefer at the top and then it's very questionable defenseman. The thing with Smith is that he's got a lot of tools and he's still figuring out how to use them to be productive.

That's still a better profile than Hensler who has only regressed, if anything.
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I personally feel like those are the exact types of defensemen you take flyers on in rounds 2-4 and odds are one of them develops better than Smith anyway.
Between that and the UFA/trade route, there's just too much supply of LHD to justify taking a guy like that that high IMO.
 
Playmaker09 said:
I personally feel like those are the exact types of defensemen you take flyers on in rounds 2-4 and odds are one of them develops better than Smith anyway.
Between that and the UFA/trade route, there's just too much supply of LHD to justify taking a guy like that that high IMO.
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I disagree. He's got a lot of things going for him. He's the second best D in the class on tools alone.

Not someone I'd scream for us to draft, but if he's the best of that tier left, you go BPA.
 
JadedRandom said:
If Misa was drafted out of the CHL, his draft rights would be 2 years as usual.

But if he went on to the NCAA after another year in the OHL, his rights would be extended for an additional 4 years, meaning that Michael Misa's rights in that scenario could theoretically be held for 5 years by the team that signs him.

At least that's my understanding of it.

And the reason behind such a rationale is that this hypothetical Misa situation would basically be the exact same scenario as a guy from the USHL getting drafted, spending another year in the USHL for some reason, and then getting into the NCAA or 4 years.

But it's basically never gonna happen in Misa's case. He'll sign an ELC quickly, probably go back to the OHL for one year, and then basically be done with Major-Junior.



Except that Jackson Smith is a left-handed shooter and should be drafted in the top-10, ergo the Canadiens likely won't have the opportunity to draft him.

The way the draft is shaping-up, the top-2 defensemen for 2025 are LHDs (Schaefer, Smith), but we need not even concern ourselves with those guys; there's no way we get a shot at drafting them with the way our season has gone.

Aitcheson could be available when we pick as the current #3 best defenseman of this year's draft in my opinion, except that as another LHD he wouldn't fit a need for us at all.

The good thing though is that Radim Mrtka has been playing a lot better of late for Seattle (he's surpassed Hensler for me now), and has elevated his game in such a way recently that I actually think he'd be a very good option for us in the top 10-18.

The Thunderbirds are still a pretty bad team in the WHL so when you watch them play they tend to get hemmed-in quite a bit, but even under those circumstances Mrtka has exhibited much better all-around play of late and actually helps tilt the ice for Seattle now.

Mrtka shows faster/more efficient decision-making with the puck on his stick (I'd say that he deserves his statline now, instead of benefiting from circumstances offensively against weak teams before), defends more effectively, and just manages the puck a LOT better.

I really can't emphasize that last improvement enough.

Mrtka's recent change in approach, where he's become more patient and poised on the ice, has led to less turnovers/losses of possesion for his team (also more low-event shifts for him, but that's a good thing for a defenseman as you can't/shouldn't always force a play).

Again, I think this is a gigantic development for Mrtka and was one of the main gripes I had before in projecting him as a future top-4 defenseman in the NHL (turnovers/game management made me doubt his hockey sense a bit though I liked how he defended most of the time).

In fact, it wouldn't surprise me at all if Mrtka ends up being a possible top-10 pick (still like Smith and Aitcheson more though personally) if he continues the way he has the last three weeks or so.
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Hockeydb has Smith as right shot
 
skidcells said:
If he finishes at around 1 point per game pace he will go before 12. Yakemchuk, Korchinski, Mateychuk are examples of ppg D from the whl that went 12 and above in very recent times (2022 onwards).
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He's currently at 20 points in 22 games after crossing the pond mid-way through the season. Someone else said is too, but his team is bottom 3 in the league in the WHL.

Also the fact he's right-handed and 6'6"... that's huge for teams
 
Goldenhands said:
Wang is the D version of last year Dean Letourneau, yeah the mix of size and skating is pretty attractive, but he is positionally quite lost when he plays for Oshawa, multiple times its like he is unaware of the treaths on the ice, you see opposite fowards exploit his rawness and lack of defensive awarenesses. Nothing to do with Silayev who was already a stud on the back end in the KHL at 18 yrs old. Wang will likely get drafted late 1st round like Letourneau last year, maybe around 20th OV because thats a weak draft.
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He's apparently only been playing hockey for 5 or 6 years so he's still super raw, but he's such a freak athlete that I could definitely see a team take him very early in the second round at the latest. He's the very definition of a project.
 
Hensler would concern me a bit in that he will already have one NCAA year under his belt and he could pull an "American guy not wanting to play in Canada" thing on us in a couple years. It hasn't happened to us yet, but that doesn't mean it won't.
 
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HuGort said:
Hockeydb has Smith as right shot
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HockeyDB is often wrong on the small details, this instance wouldn't be the first time by far.

Here is some Jackson Smith footage from this Summer, if you still want to see for yourself. You will see that Smith isn't a rightie at all.



Unless you were trying to say that Jackson Smith is a leftie that plays the right side. Which would be accurate in some situations for Smith this season.

But Smith's just better as a pure LHD and very much not at all a " TJ Brodie type". More specifically, Smith isn't the kind of unorthodox defenseman that actually plays better on his off-side rather than his more natural, native side of the defense.

If a team wants to make the most out of Smith's talents, they would then be better served planning to give him some spot in their long-terms plans for LDs.
 
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Pompeius Magnus said:
He's apparently only been playing hockey for 5 or 6 years so he's still super raw, but he's such a freak athlete that I could definitely see a team take him very early in the second round at the latest. He's the very definition of a project.
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he's been in Canada for 5 years but has been playing since he was 4

www.nhl.com

2025 NHL Draft notebook: Wang emerging as intriguing prospect | NHL.com

6-foot-5 King defenseman regarded as 'arguably one of the best skaters' in OJHL
www.nhl.com www.nhl.com
 
Haoxi Wang will bust.. it's just a bet on taking tools and making them into a hockey player. It works better in Football than it does it Hockey. Too many reads that have to be made all the time while in motion.
 
WeThreeKings said:
Never a good sign for a draft when someone does mid-season rankings and only lists 24 players.
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Yeah, it is not a deep draft at all. Most players in late 1st are late 2nd/3rds in other years.

Montreal is only 4 pts from an 8th OA draft pick. If the Canadiens can't stick with the other teams for a WC spot, then hopefully, we sell & fall back enough to get at least a top 8 pick.

Either that or trade the current picks to strengthen team.
 
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