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2025 NHL DRAFT Thread

Who should we pick 3rd overall (assuming Schaefer and Misa are gone)?

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from Scott wheeler’s mail bag:

In terms of point production, how would you rank the top 5-10 forwards in the draft? — Bill J.

This is an interesting one. It also serves as a bit of a fantasy hockey question as well. I think I’d go something like this:

1. Michael Misa
2. James Hagens
3. Porter Martone
—
4. Jake O’Brien
5. Caleb Desnoyers
6. Roger McQueen
7. Anton Frondell
8. Victor Eklund
9. Justin Carbonneau
10. Brady Martin



How would you rank this year’s top centers (Misa, Hagens, Desnoyers, Frondell, etc.) to the top centers from the last couple of drafts? — Michael J.

Relative to where I was at on them pre-draft, it probably looks something like this:

1. Connor Bedard
2. Macklin Celebrini
—
3. Adam Fantilli
4. Michael Misa
5. Leo Carlsson
6. James Hagens
7. Will Smith
—
8. Berkly Catton
9. Caleb Desnoyers
10. Anton Frondell
HM. Jake O’Brien
 
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RememberTheRoar said:
from Scott wheeler’s mail bag:

In terms of point production, how would you rank the top 5-10 forwards in the draft? — Bill J.

This is an interesting one. It also serves as a bit of a fantasy hockey question as well. I think I’d go something like this:

1. Michael Misa
2. James Hagens
3. Porter Martone
—
4. Jake O’Brien
5. Caleb Desnoyers
6. Roger McQueen
7. Anton Frondell
8. Victor Eklund
9. Justin Carbonneau
10. Brady Martin



How would you rank this year’s top centers (Misa, Hagens, Desnoyers, Frondell, etc.) to the top centers from the last couple of drafts? — Michael J.

Relative to where I was at on them pre-draft, it probably looks something like this:

1. Connor Bedard
2. Macklin Celebrini
—
3. Adam Fantilli
4. Michael Misa
5. Leo Carlsson
6. James Hagens
7. Will Smith
—
8. Berkly Catton
9. Caleb Desnoyers
10. Anton Frondell
HM. Jake O’Brien
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Way too high on O'Brien but he properly credits Hagens as a really skilled young forward.
 
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DisgruntledHawkFan said:
Saying any of these guys don't have first line potential is wild. Unlikely sure but there's some crazy gifted kids. Hagens absolutely 100% has first line potential.
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It does seem stupid to ignore Hagens simply because of his size. There are three other top-six spots that you can put guys with size and you can have the smaller skill in Bedard, Hagens, and Nazar.
 
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RememberTheRoar said:
It does seem stupid to ignore Hagens simply because of his size. There are three other top-six spots that you can put guys with size and you can have the smaller skill in Bedard, Hagens, and Nazar.
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It’s not just his size. He did not impress in college. Showed a real lack of hustle, which we know is a no go for the Blackhawks.
 
Hattrick Kane said:
I won’t be shocked if it’s Desnoyers. He’s having a really good playoffs. And the latest impression you make can really affect draft position if it’s close.
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Same, Desnoyers ticks alot of boxes and has been climbing the rankings for sure.

I won't be disappointed if it is Desnoyers as that means that the brass identifies one of Nazar, Moore, Bedard are permanently going to move to the wing.

He does have a winning pedigree that is for sure!
 
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Hattrick Kane said:
It’s not just his size. He did not impress in college. Showed a real lack of hustle, which we know is a no go for the Blackhawks.
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He is going roughly in the same range he was twelve months ago. Him and Misa. PPG in the NCAA in your D-1 isn't unimpressive he's just getting raked because if he impressed over last year he's the consensus #1 pick.

People are treating him like he's Kris Versteeg without the snarl when the upside is Jonny Gaudreau.
 
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DisgruntledHawkFan said:
He is going roughly in the same range he was twelve months ago. Him and Misa. PPG in the NCAA in your D-1 isn't unimpressive he's just getting raked because if he impressed over last year he's the consensus #1 pick.

People are treating him like he's Kris Versteeg without the snarl when the upside is Jonny Gaudreau.
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He played with Leonard and Perreault who were two of the best college players this year. It’s absolutely unimpressive, especially for someone who was said to have Gaudreau upside. He was far from a one man team, so it’s not really an excuse.
 
Larmer83 said:
It's possible that Frondell could be a PP monster. He's got a violent one-timer and can adjust to passes to find his sweet spot. He knows how to find those prime areas.
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Don’t see that his shot is any better than Boisvert (maybe worse), and either Boisvert or Lardis is capable of playing the PP. He has to be more than that to draft him. That being said, I certainly believe that he’s much better than the hyperbolic negativity that Musto is spewing about him.
 
DisgruntledHawkFan said:
He is going roughly in the same range he was twelve months ago. Him and Misa. PPG in the NCAA in your D-1 isn't unimpressive he's just getting raked because if he impressed over last year he's the consensus #1 pick.

People are treating him like he's Kris Versteeg without the snarl when the upside is Jonny Gaudreau.
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You're describing Potter, not Hagens.
DisgruntledHawkFan said:
He's Cooley to me. No problem taking that at 3.
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Cooley tried a lot of wild shit in his draft year. Almost to a frustrating degree where you needed him to reign it in.

But that's how he got better.

Hagens can be so by the numbers that you're begging him to try something new. There's good stuff in his bag, but not a lot of it. He's easy to figure out.
DisgruntledHawkFan said:
That said I love Desnoyers. Musto again poisoned the well. Give me the 65 point two way demon upside guy every single time. You can't love Catton like I did and not love Desnoyers.
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I see a lot about Desnoyers being a "two way demon" or "Toews-like" and I just don't know where it's coming from.

He could become a good two way player at the NHL level one day, but right now he can be pretty passive in his own end. I catch him puck watching.
 
pvr said:
Don’t see that his shot is any better than Boisvert (maybe worse), and either Boisvert or Lardis is capable of playing the PP. He has to be more than that to draft him. That being said, I certainly believe that he’s much better than the hyperbolic negativity that Musto is spewing about him.
Click to expand...

Boisvert fights hard to get any space in the NCAA and is more of a slick opportunist with a mean streak who relies on his reads. Frondell makes his space off his frame and protects the puck like an NHL'er already but doesn't read the game at speed (yet?) the way lots of high draft picks do. Very different prospects.

And in the North Dakota games I watched Boisvert also had a lot to be desired in his own zone in terms of complete play compared to teammates. I think his coach saw that and limited his deployments too. And that's fine, hoping for a big step from him this year. The NCAA is good for hamfisting proper play into the young guys.

The thing with Frondell is simple...will he have an advantage to develop better skills in the NHL because of his physical ability to make space? Or, is he at his peak now? For high pick forwards their problem isn't skill more often that not, it's that they can't find the space to be elite with grown men coming at them like **** on a fly. And, really skilled forwards often fail in the playoffs because too many of them can't take their play to that next level of competitiveness. Frondell might have the later but we don't know if he has the former as he'd have to evolve mentally. His English could be worse though, ha!

The top of this draft is a really tough call no matter what. I would not want to be on the hot seat for these picks.

I want the Hawks to logjam the pool with potential and am less worried about #3 or any specific pick in general. If they underwhelm at the top? They need to find the gems elsewhere.
 
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If Desnoyers is our guy he needs to marinate for years. He's got potential but if he's rushed at all I can see him losing confidence is his offensive skills in a heartbeat since it doesn't come as natural to him.

Would I trust KD to send him back to juniors?...
 
ello said:
If Desnoyers is our guy he needs to marinate for years. He's got potential but if he's rushed at all I can see him losing confidence is his offensive skills in a heartbeat since it doesn't come as natural to him.

Would I trust KD to send him back to juniors?...
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College would be better…fewer games, more time to train, better and more physically mature competition, faster pace.
 
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clydesdale line said:
I'm a big Frondell fan. Always have been. But Desnoyers is making me change my mind quite a bit. That kid is a gamer. Has that Toews factor. Just wins. Then you add in his skinny frame. He is gonna put on muscle and will likely get more explosive in his skating.
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I said this about few days ago and I'm not changing my mind. Desnoyers is a gamer. And I like how it went from like 5 of us voting for him to now 8 lol.

I would say my top 4-5 from what I've seen is Schaefer, Misa, Hagens/Desnoyers, Frondell. I interchange between Hagens and Desnoyers now. I'm still a big Hagens fan too. Let him carry his own line next season and watch the numbers go up.
 
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