2025 NHL Draft Thread

[statswatcher]

who was bpa at pick 2 in the 2014 draft? draisaitl? point? a russian goalie? a few years ago you wouldn’t have even considered reinhart in the conversation even though he was actually picked in the position, but ten years in and he’s a 50 goal scorer and a cup champion.

 

[hawksfan50]

Just watched a YouTube(Scouching) where Will Scouch was asked his opinion on the 2025..
Of course namedvtje usual suspects Hagens ,Friedel,Rybakov ,Misa(I think he forgorMartobe) ..but he classified the 2025 draftcas basically a lot of smaller good forwards and a lit of big and lanky dmen.

Mentioned a stringer draft for Sweden but also a lot of goid big Russian dmen..

 

[dreadpirateroberts]

If there is a Askarov-level goalie prospect, they should definitely consider drafting him if one’s available. I’m not sure either Commesso or Gajan project as high level starters

 

[Kevin Musto]

If there is a Askarov-level goalie prospect, they should definitely consider drafting him if one’s available. I’m not sure either Commesso or Gajan project as high level starters

No idea about Gajan, but Commesso has Crawford-level upside.

 

[cassac]

If there is a Askarov-level goalie prospect, they should definitely consider drafting him if one’s available. I’m not sure either Commesso or Gajan project as high level starters

Why do you think that they do not project as high level starting goalies?

 

[Florida Blackhawks]

I mean... why not right? Pronman already posted his very, very early list.

Pronman: A way-too-early 2025 NHL Draft ranking

A lot can change in the next 12 months, but with the 2024 NHL Draft in the books, let's turn the page to the 2025 group.

www.nytimes.com

Next years draft will definitely be more forward friendly than this years. Would love to see the Hawks grab one of those top power forwards in the draft (or you know, just win the lottery and pick Hagens).

2025 NHL draft talk already? Hockey never sleeps and is getting big in the desert.

The thing is the best prosepect are teenagers. The NHL should make the minimum draft age be 20 as there is some physical development between the age of 18 and 20. Take out some of the guess work.

 

[No Fun Shogun]

 

[Paul Allen]

2025 NHL draft talk already? Hockey never sleeps and is getting big in the desert.

The thing is the best prosepect are teenagers. The NHL should make the minimum draft age be 20 as there is some physical development between the age of 18 and 20. Take out some of the guess work.

The NHLPA would never go for that.

 

[DisgruntledHawkFan]

2025 NHL draft talk already? Hockey never sleeps and is getting big in the desert.

The thing is the best prosepect are teenagers. The NHL should make the minimum draft age be 20 as there is some physical development between the age of 18 and 20. Take out some of the guess work.

You'd be punting on two drafts in order to do that.

 

[MicronMega]

If there is a Askarov-level goalie prospect, they should definitely consider drafting him if one’s available. I’m not sure either Commesso or Gajan project as high level starters

Ravensbergen will be the top goalie drafted in 2025. The Raven!

 

[feichter33]

For goalies, here's an early list:

2025 NHL draft goalie ranking - Elite Prospects

User submitted ranking at Eliteprospects.com - 2025 NHL draft goalie ranking

www.eliteprospects.com

Daigle and Harenstam are the ones I've heard/seen the most of. Elite skills, but both lack polish and composure. I don't think no matter what you spend you are any closer then Drew or Adam.

Personally, I thought this previous draft would be a good time to take a depth prospect, but the good ones went way higher then I thought.

 

[hawksfan50]

James Hagens (C) seems a consensus #1...despite his size..

After that Porter Martone,RW ,Anton Frondell(C) Ivan Ryabkin seem to be early picks in the top 4...the rest of the top 10 seem to be among Mathew Schaefer (LD,)Logan Hensler( RD)Jacob ihs Wozniak (RW ), Michael Misa(LW),Malcolm Spence (LW),Roger McQueen (C)

I you probably can jumble the order from6 to tem..but it us very early.


The rarly consolidated early rankiing or #11is Caleb Desnoyers a Center with Moncton of the QMJHL..

HOWEVER...I see that a lot of earlylists still have this kid listed as 6'1,163lbs ....it turns out in the Daily Faceoff early Ranking that just came out 4 days ago they report him with a lot more growth and muscle now = 6'2 190..while they rank hin at #11 like the early consolidated ranking posted on eliteprospects com (EP itself ranks him 13th ...but EP has not updated his new height and weight @) so maybe a litbofblisys were unaware of his new measurements when their lists came out!)...inane casecthat could bump him up into thectop ten and I'd he really dominates this season he coukdcrise to a top 5)...

I really like the scouting reports on Desnoyers...aside from the 200ft game where he excells defensively,offensively he is a cerebral tactician with high end playmaker and puck handling skills...I didcread 1 report of a weakness needing to improve..that was lack of explosiveness..but he makes up for it with a powerful stridecand goodcedgesxand quick feet..Compete level and pace are high..
So given all the hockey I.Q plus skill,compete and alresdycadvanced defensive game,and now that he already is 6'2 190 ,if he doninates and puts up big numbers thus seadon he shoukd be a contender in the 6-10 range and maybe top 5 by tge end of thec2024/25 season.

We should keepa focus on this kid.

A goalie could go in roundbone...
DAIKY faceoff has Joshua Ravensbergen of Oronce George WHL ranked at#28 at this early stage. HE COULD be target for the Hawks with our Toronto 1st Rounder...likly mid to late 20s s ...

We are not a Russian an shop..only occasional picks from Russia(our Russian scouts must feel like Maytag repairmen.. hardly ever called on at the draft table ...but a couple of big rusdian dmen could park interest late first with the Toronto pick if we do not use it on a goalie:

Artyom Vilchinsky is 6'6 240 LHD who skates well...physical...separates opponents fromthe puck ..but nerds work on his decision making ..has some good tools..Hevis an early #22on the DailyvFaxeoff ranking..

Kurban Limatov is a 6'4 187 LHD ...mobile dman ..I have heard 1 scoutingv eport that likes hom better than Vilchinsky..

We will see where these big dmen endvup by the east of thec34/25 ranking before thec2025vdrsft.

And of course there will be surprises and late risers..

Just hope the Hawks fill outvtheirecdraftvpool..

Needs...op six wibgerxwith Size skill scoribg physicality powr winger.
Aniother er candidate to challenge Boisvert for 2C with size 2 way game plus skill and scorong.

Anotger LHD to develop since Rockford shoukd deplete with graduations to the Show by next sesson...EdM Allan ,KK back up
..So pipeline needs more flowing back in forc3 -5yearsxdown thecroad.

More RHD for the pipeline...

Gotta keep the pipeline flush with talent coming.to develop 3-5,years out from 2025 draft.

Also goalie need for pipeline since we skipped a draft notvtakingbone ...just in case Cpmesso ;so Derulo oand Gajan all fail to take axspotvin the show as a diffetence-maker goalie .

So we still need pipeline flow at every position ...

 

[MicronMega]

Hagens, Martone, Misa or Hensler with the first 1st and Ravensbergen, Potter, Gastrin or O'Brien with the second 1st

 

[Sacha BOXviert]

Davidson doesn't want to be the Leafs. He's only going to tank for Mckenna in 26 if he has to.
Bedard+Depth>>Core stars $$

 

[statswatcher]

Davidson doesn't want to be the Leafs. He's only going to tank for Mckenna in 26 if he has to.
Bedard+Depth>>Core stars $$

i’ve wondered in my mind if the example of the laffs played any part in the decision to go for lev instead of demidov. gm’s are always fighting the last war so the cup finals might have been influential as well. high end talent got the oilers to the final, but depth and goaltending won the kitties a cup. if i’m kd, my goal is to build a team much closer to the florida model than the edmonton or toronto model.

 

[WarriorofTime]

Florida "model" is interesting because they are basically a combo of Tank/Rebuild (picked top 3 in 4/5 years from 2009-10 through 2013-14), being aggressive in trades for pending UFAs that didn't want to extend (Tkachuk, Reinhart), cast-offs that turned into Home Runs (Forsling, Verhaeghe) along with extremely buy-low homerun trades (Bennett, Montour), taking a big Free Agent swing in an area of need (Bobrovsky) along with smaller free agent moves (Rodrigues, Ekman-Larsson, Mikkola, Kulikov, Stenlund, Stolarz).

I guess the moral of the story is more about being aggressive and taking advantage of all avenues to improve a team and not get stuck on any plan or strategy.

 

[x Tame Impala]

Florida "model" is interesting because they are basically a combo of Tank/Rebuild (picked top 3 in 4/5 years from 2009-10 through 2013-14), being aggressive in trades for pending UFAs that didn't want to extend (Tkachuk, Reinhart), cast-offs that turned into Home Runs (Forsling, Verhaeghe) along with extremely buy-low homerun trades (Bennett, Montour), taking a big Free Agent swing in an area of need (Bobrovsky) along with smaller free agent moves (Rodrigues, Ekman-Larsson, Mikkola, Kulikov, Stenlund, Stolarz).

I guess the moral of the story is more about being aggressive and taking advantage of all avenues to improve a team and not get stuck on any plan or strategy.

Makes you wonder if drafting outside of the top 5 picks you get from tanking is a little overrated. As are prospects in general. You can use that capital to get NHL players instead that are more proven commodities. You lose some cap space efficiency in doing this but it's clearly a viable strategy.

Bobrovsky is also a really interesting case because his contract was looked at as an albatross until the last two seasons. Goalies really are voodoo. I'm not sure how I'd feel about KD giving out a mega contract to an elite goalie (Shesterkin reportedly wants $12.9m AAV!! lol ).

 

[WarriorofTime]

Makes you wonder if drafting outside of the top 5 picks you get from tanking is a little overrated. As are prospects in general. You can use that capital to get NHL players instead that are more proven commodities. You lose some cap space efficiency in doing this but it's clearly a viable strategy.

Bobrovsky is also a really interesting case because his contract was looked at as an albatross until the last two seasons. Goalies really are voodoo. I'm not sure how I'd feel about KD giving out a mega contract to an elite goalie (Shesterkin reportedly wants $12.9m AAV!! lol ).

It's back to back Stanley Cup Champions that weren't overloaded with their own draft picks, which is a bit interesting, although Florida still has many elements of tank/rebuild -> ??? -> Profit.

Looking backwards in time, Florida had somewhat of a "break through" into the Qualifying Round in 2019-20 (season before Zito took over). They finished 10th but were eliminated in the Play-Ins.

Their team at the time was

Forwards (sorted by points)
Jonathan Huberdeau - former 3rd overall pick
Aleksander Barkov - former 2nd overall pick
Mike Hoffman - traded for a 2nd, 4th and 5th
Evgenii Dadonov - former 3rd round pick, returned with Florida still holding his rights after a 5-year KHL stint
Vincent Trocheck (traded away at that season's trade deadline) - former 3rd round pick
Frank Vatrano - traded for a 3rd round pick
Brett Connolly - Medium-level Free Agent Signing
Noel Acciari- Small/Medium-level Free Agent signing
Brian Boyle - Small Free Agent signing
Erik Haula - Trade Deadline Acquisition (part of Trocheck deal)

Defensemen (sorted by ATOI):
Aaron Ekblad - former 1st overall pick
Anton Stralman - Medium-level Free Agent Signing
MacKenzie Weegar - former 7th round pick
Keith Yandle - traded for his soon to be expiring UFA rights, signed to a big contract
Riley Stillman - former 4th round pick
Mark Pysyk - traded as part of a Draft Day trade-down with Dmitry Kulikov and Pysyk also swapping teams in the deal.

Goaltender:
Sergei Bobrovksy - Expensive UFA deal

Kind of a bit remarkable how Zito transformed that group into the 2023-24 superpower. Their 2021 Trade Deadline was one for the ages (Brandon Montour for a 3rd round pick, Sam Bennett and a 6th Round Pick for Emil Heineman (2nd round prospect from the prior draft that ultimately hasn't made it yet) and a 2nd round pick)

 

[razor ray]

2025 NHL Draft Rankings: Extremely early top 32

The 2025 NHL Draft doesn’t have a date, location or format just yet. But it’s never too early to look...

www.dailyfaceoff.com

 

[razor ray]

 

[Wally1112pac]

View attachment 893462

As of right now it's a forward heavy top 10. Hopefully Hensler and Schaefer have great seasons to push some of the forwards down a spot or 2. Still think we'll be picking around 5.

 

[Bubba88]

Makes you wonder if drafting outside of the top 5 picks you get from tanking is a little overrated. As are prospects in general. You can use that capital to get NHL players instead that are more proven commodities. You lose some cap space efficiency in doing this but it's clearly a viable strategy.

Bobrovsky is also a really interesting case because his contract was looked at as an albatross until the last two seasons. Goalies really are voodoo. I'm not sure how I'd feel about KD giving out a mega contract to an elite goalie (Shesterkin reportedly wants $12.9m AAV!! lol ).

You need to get the star player. If this happens with Top 5 Picks or later doesn't matter. Get the foundation. You will have a higher chance with that Top 5 Pick.
I think keeping the 1st round picks will keep your window open for longer because of the talent you get that replaces depth you will lose during that time. Imagine Stan never signed Bickell and kept Teuvo. This would have kept our window open for longer.

After finding your star players (Stamkos/Hedman) with the high picks you have to hit on others (Vasilevski/Kucherov/Point) and fill out the roster with depth pieces or veterans.

I actually think tanking is overrated as is every pick after round 1. When it comes to our tanking, it was needed to get a new GM and a new lockerroom. You need to get rid of all that was left and went to war for years and years.

I'm always more fan of a retool than rebuild - as long as you have identified your core that isn't 32+ years old.

 

[dj Mahoney]

Let's All go wayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy back to a different Davidson making the #3 pick overall and #11

 

[ndgt10]

Hawks will be picking outside top 8 and will miss out on the top rated forwards.

 

[Wally1112pac]

Hawks will be picking outside top 8 and will miss out on the top rated forwards.

Maybe next year.