2025 NHL DRAFT Thread

[Darkstar]

If Blackhawks ended up with the top pick , would Kyle D or should he entertain a trade ? Philadelphia has Oilers and Avalanche 1st rders along with their own and a few 2nd rders as well. A slide to 7th overall isnt ideal so that would really have to be sweetened .

If Kyle from Chicago tries to trade the #1 pick, he should be fired. This isn't a deep draft and I still think Misa and Schaefer are clearly above the others. If anything, we should be trading up back into the top 15 with Toronto's pick+, because the dropoff is pretty steep in the 15-20 range.

 

[Darkstar]

This might be a less popular opinion, but I think Schaefer will be a franchise level defenseman. I mean a defenseman that will be a top 15 defenseman in the league for a long time. He is that good in my opinion. I'd be very happy to win the lottery this year even if that means we cannot win Mckenna next season.

I think it goes;


Schaefer
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Frondell/Misa/Desnoyers/Martone/Hagens/Eklund
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Mrtka/O'Brien/Martin/Bear/Mcqueen

I think he's one of the best Dman prospects I've seen in quite some time. I think he can be a true #1 Dman, something I can't say about some of the top Dmen in the past few drafts.

 

[Toews2Bickell]

If KD gets the first pick and does not take a hard look at schfaer. that would be crazy he was voted the best skater in the OHL in a coaches poll. and does not turn 18 till mid AUG. is 6-3 and by most accounts he has no flaws. If he wants a forward he needs to trade down if we get the 1st pick. Ideally with who ever gets #2 with the threat that we are also talking to picks 3 and 4 about a swap. Lets for fun say SJ ends up at #3 and we view Misa hagens and frondell all the same. swap picks and add 1 of Musty or Igor chern. both big wingers.

top 6 forwards are easier to get than franchise defensemen, they rarely hit the market unless its a request trade situation...take Schaefer if he's that guy and then designate 26/27 as the years to address forward, if they don't get silly then you're looking at that being the start of what should be a very real contention window if they add 2 high caliber forwards in 26/27 via draft, doesn't even count on all the additional picks/prospects and cap space they already have to address it...this should be a 5 year teardown, they still need more time regardless

 

[pvr]

Take Schaefer if he’s that good, and the bpa. Forwards are easier to get through the draft, trade, and free agency. Hawks have a boatload of promising forward prospects. Just one out of three or four needs to hit.

Schaefer and Vlasic on left d, Levshunov and Rinzel on right d. Korchinski, Kaiser, Del Mastro, Allan, Crevier, or others to fill the defense out. Set for the next decade, give or take.

Trade the ones who don’t fit.

 

[Muffinalt]

Schaefer - Rinzel
Vlasic - Levshunov

Would be really disgusting to be fair.

Disgusting enough to make me forget about our forward problems for a while.

Edit: actually 'problems until the other forward prospects are ready' is better wording. Coz we do have a lot of nice ones already.

 

[Cashman]

Schaefer - Rinzel
Vlasic - Levshunov

Would be really disgusting to be fair.

Disgusting enough to make me forget about our forward problems for a while.

Edit: actually 'problems until the other forward prospects are ready' is better wording. Coz we do have a lot of nice ones already.

If they draft Schaefer, I would have to think Korchinski is traded for a forward this offseason.

 

[Castle8130]

I think he's one of the best Dman prospects I've seen in quite some time. I think he can be a true #1 Dman, something I can't say about some of the top Dmen in the past few drafts.

The only defensive prospect that was better in my eyes was Dahlin and I've been looking at prospects since the 2017 draft class.

 

[Cashman]

top 6 forwards are easier to get than franchise defensemen, they rarely hit the market unless its a request trade situation...take Schaefer if he's that guy and then designate 26/27 as the years to address forward, if they don't get silly then you're looking at that being the start of what should be a very real contention window if they add 2 high caliber forwards in 26/27 via draft, doesn't even count on all the additional picks/prospects and cap space they already have to address it...this should be a 5 year teardown, they still need more time regardless

If you do no speed this up, and Bedard does not re-sign , what then? You have to accelerate this a little. You can not keep growing this organically. Schaefer is 17yrs old, no way a 17-18yr old DMan plays in the NHL. He is gonna need 1-2yrs of seasoning.

 

[Hattrick Kane]

If you do no speed this up, and Bedard does not re-sign , what then? You have to accelerate this a little. You can not keep growing this organically. Schaefer is 17yrs old, no way a 17-18yr old DMan plays in the NHL. He is gonna need 1-2yrs of seasoning.

Bedard doesn’t have a choice. He can sign a long term deal, he can sign 1 year deals until he’s free agent eligible, or he can sit until he pulls his head out of his ass.

But let’s be 100% clear. Bedard is going nowhere for a long time.

 

[ColbyChaos]

Take Schaefer if he’s that good, and the bpa. Forwards are easier to get through the draft, trade, and free agency. Hawks have a boatload of promising forward prospects. Just one out of three or four needs to hit.

Schaefer and Vlasic on left d, Levshunov and Rinzel on right d. Korchinski, Kaiser, Del Mastro, Allan, Crevier, or others to fill the defense out. Set for the next decade, give or take.

Trade the ones who don’t fit.

[Citation needed]

 

[TLEH]

The only defensive prospect that was better in my eyes was Dahlin and I've been looking at prospects since the 2017 draft class.

Most hyped in the last 25 years or so would be Dahlin, Bouwmeester, Doughty. Even though Doughty went #2 he was crazy hyped. Ekblad went #1 but not sure he was as hyped as those guys.

 

[TheFridge]

Bedard doesn’t have a choice. He can sign a long term deal, he can sign 1 year deals until he’s free agent eligible, or he can sit until he pulls his head out of his ass.

But let’s be 100% clear. Bedard is going nowhere for a long time.

If Bedard decided he didn't want to play another game for the Blackhawks, they would have no choice but to trade him. There seems to be this illusion amongst fans that teams have control. They don't. Bedard sitting out would tank this franchise, their entire marketing strategy is: come watch Bedard! The only jerseys you see in the UC are legacy jerseys and Bedard jerseys. That's why you don't let the relationship get strained to that point and I'm not overly concerned about that with Bedard and the Hawks. But again, if he said this off-season that he'd never play for the Hawks again, the Hawks would absolutely have no choice but to trade him.

 

[Toews2Bickell]

If you do no speed this up, and Bedard does not re-sign , what then? You have to accelerate this a little. You can not keep growing this organically. Schaefer is 17yrs old, no way a 17-18yr old DMan plays in the NHL. He is gonna need 1-2yrs of seasoning.

doubt he forces his way out