2025 NHL Draft Thread

[statswatcher]

Honestly over the skating obsession

Several good prospects we passed over in recent drafts because of "Skating" concerns who seem to be very much thriving as prospects and other teams weren't all that concerned

I would rather use 2nd on a high upside/talent guy with skating issues than draft another Misiak or Gajan

i'm fine with picking up fastest player available in the 2nd and 3rd rounds like what they did with spellacy and mustard. more swings on high end goal scoring talent in the first is what i want. i've softened on the boisvert pick somewhat, but looking at eiserman's 7 goals in 11 games for BU stings when you think about how badly this team needs goals.

 

[Kevin Musto]

i'm fine with picking up fastest player available in the 2nd and 3rd rounds like what they did with spellacy and mustard. more swings on high end goal scoring talent in the first is what i want. i've softened on the boisvert pick somewhat, but looking at eiserman's 7 goals in 11 games for BU stings when you think about how badly this team needs goals.

In neither case with Spellacy or Mustard were they guys that only had speed.

The problem is drafting players that only have speed, and no other worthwhile traits.

 

[statswatcher]

In neither case with Spellacy or Mustard were they guys that only had speed.

The problem is drafting players that only have speed, and no other worthwhile traits.

yeah i don't want them to draft more misiaks either.

i take it that kd was, like me, someone who hated that the late era bowman blackhawks were always painfully slow teams on the whole. he probably took the two years between 2018 and 2020 watching brent seabrook get burned by a rapidly accelerating nhl to heart, and now he's on a mission to violently swing the pendulum all the way to the other side.

so far what he has to show for it is a mess of good to mediocre middle six forward prospects and an intriguing but by no means unquestionable collection of future d. very important draft this year. he's going to have to either hit a home run in the first or get lucky afterwards to salvage it. he hasn't shown that we can expect anything superlative from him.

 

[ClydeLee]

i'm fine with picking up fastest player available in the 2nd and 3rd rounds like what they did with spellacy and mustard. more swings on high end goal scoring talent in the first is what i want. i've softened on the boisvert pick somewhat, but looking at eiserman's 7 goals in 11 games for BU stings when you think about how badly this team needs goals.

Unless you have legitimate concerns Eiserman is another Oliver Walhstrom

 

[statswatcher]

Unless you have legitimate concerns Eiserman is another Oliver Walhstrom

sure. it's worth remembering that it's still very early. lots of things will change between now and when the blackhawks are a competitive hockey team. we will see how everything shakes out.

 

[Kevin Musto]

Unless you have legitimate concerns Eiserman is another Oliver Walhstrom

They're both one dimensional players, but Eiserman can skate and Wahlstrom couldn't.

Eiserman could at least become a Phil Kessel type.

That just wasn't going to happen for Wahlstrom.

 

[Hattrick Kane]

Seems like a pretty bad draft outside of the top 5, which works for the Hawks.

Still I won’t be shocked if the Hawks don’t end up with an extensive report on Jake O’Brien. Playing on the same team as Lardis and Vanacker, they’ll know exactly what they’re getting if they’re interested in him.

 

[TheFridge]

Seems like a pretty bad draft outside of the top 5, which works for the Hawks.

Still I won’t be shocked if the Hawks don’t end up with an extensive report on Jake O’Brien. Playing on the same team as Lardis and Vanacker, they’ll know exactly what they’re getting if they’re interested in him.

I don't think O'Brien plays with the pace they've prioritized.

 

[HjamSandwich]

Love Schaefer but I'm only taking him if you know Korchinski isn't in the long term plans and you deal him for a young forward. Otherwise I'm not doing it.

Give me Misa. Love Hagens but another small, skilled forward in the pipeline would be rough.

Making any decisions based on Korchinski seems silly.

 

[TLEH]

Schaefer just plays a position we have a lot of, but he's my favorite prospect I've seen so far this year. Everyone knows I'm not a Korch guy and D take longer so you're resetting there, but I have this feeling that Schaefer is gonna be a really good 1.

We can't ignore forward anymore though, so if you're not feeling good about moving Korch for a forward then you just take Misa or Martone.

 

[CanadianHawks]

Scheaffer looks like a Heiskanen clone. If he’s on the board you take him.

 

[MTU34]

For my money Schaefer is the best defenseman to enter the draft since Dahlin.

Given where the current needs of the roster lie I’d love to walk out of this with one of the big 3 forwards but if you’re in a situation where Schaefer is BPA you just take him and figure out the rest later. There’s ways out of the logjam it would create (Moving Korch for forward help, etc)

 

[Crow]

Honestly over the skating obsession

Several good prospects we passed over in recent drafts because of "Skating" concerns who seem to be very much thriving as prospects and other teams weren't all that concerned

Like who?

 

[hawksrule]

Like who?

Perhaps there are others, but Perreault is the obvious one who comes to mind.

 

[clydesdale line]

Making any decisions based on Korchinski seems silly.

Maybe you should reread that.

 

[Hattrick Kane]

Perhaps there are others, but Perreault is the obvious one who comes to mind.

Perreault (along with Leonard) are off to much slower starts now that the team they’re on isn’t nearly as stacked as last year.

So let’s hold off on declaring victories and losses. And I’m no fan of the Moore pick.

 

[Blackhawkswincup]

Andrew Cristall is another who's stock as prospect has risen since draft as has his production

Just saying when you have 2nd/3rd rounders taking risks on guys who don't fit this ideal of "Fast" talents may pay off

Brett Hull was a guy who a lot of scouts didn't have high opinion of among others

​

 

[Sacha BOXviert]

Schaefer last 6 games: 3G, 8A - 11 points, 7 those points coming from 5vs5.
The kid is just starting the season

 

[GIADF]

Andrew Cristall is another who's stock as prospect has risen since draft as has his production

Just saying when you have 2nd/3rd rounders taking risks on guys who don't fit this ideal of "Fast" talents may pay off

Brett Hull was a guy who a lot of scouts didn't have high opinion of among others

​

Cristall would have been nice, but at this point I wish we took virtually any forward over Gajan.

 

[WarriorofTime]

Andrew Cristall is another who's stock as prospect has risen since draft as has his production

Hawks took Bedard first overall, a small skilled, put up a zillion points in Junior guy. It's not the worst thing to use other draft spots on bigger forwards, even if there are other small, skilled put up less points than Bedard but still a lot of points in Junior guys (and they did take a guy like that in Lardis in a third round, Kantserov also arguably fills that archetype with the Russian Junior production). Then you have Nazar who was a high pick the prior year. Obviously not every pick is going to be a hit, but when building out a prospect pool and eventual roster, a diverse player skillset is going to be very important rather than just sorting by Amateur Production even if they're the prettiest prospects to follow before they ascend the Pros (and then time will tell who can carryover their junior scoring the easiest).

 

[Kevin Musto]

People here now talking about how nice it would have been if we drafted Cristall...

Where have I heard that before?

 

[ClydeLee]

Most named people haven't risen their stock at all... it rose to who?

Guys at junior levels with great scoring ability but questions about compete, skating, speed, defense, and size.... continue to score a lot.

That's not changing or rising draft view. That's being at the same level unless they've answered the ???s.