2025 NHL DRAFT Thread

[Toews2Bickell]

Remember 11 years ago Florida drafted Ekblad... their 4th top 3 draft pick in 5 years. They had 1 small boost season of being good between when Tallon brought Campbell/Versteeg and others in, but it was a flash in the pan.

Brought it up because people are pointing out 6 years straight we have Florida teams in the cup final. 1 of those two teams picked top 3 from 08-2014 every year, but 2012. So yeah, it can take awhile but it's what is needed. Sure you could be Buffalo, but also Buffalo as soon as they got Reinhart &Eichel signed and added vets to try to build a winner, but it was too soon and backfired. O'Reilly & E.Kane wanted out. Vets like Okposso just ate cap. Any talk of speed up a rebuild is always negative to me.

Didn't they also sign Taylor Hall to a 1 year 9m deal and then gave Skinner a 9m AAV deal lol...you make great points though about FLA and TB

 

[Darkstar]

Drops the gloves but can't fight.

Getting your clock cleaned by Misa ain't scaring anybody in the nhl.....

Lol. You mean Misa drug him down. He's a better fighter than Iginla, who got worked by Catton. He's no true power forward but he ain't Charmin soft like Strome or Daze. Some of the player comps on here are laughable.

 

[ColbyChaos]

Didn't they also sign Taylor Hall to a 1 year 9m deal and then gave Skinner a 9m AAV deal lol...you make great points though about FLA and TB

They very much did and they had to buyout skinner lmao

 

[Mjul Qvist]

Some of the player comps on here are laughable.

Yep! Just like Frondell is next Tuomo Ruutu.

 

[PCAisBest]

Lol. You mean Misa drug him down. He's a better fighter than Iginla, who got worked by Catton. He's no true power forward but he ain't Charmin soft like Strome or Daze. Some of the player comps on here are laughable.

Martone isn't a fighter, like at all. Misa was the aggressor, got the throws while martone turtled the entire fight then Misa threw him down from momentum. Martone also got worked by Danford so this whole "power forward" or "true power forward" drivel with Martone is just a myth not unlike Bigfoot lives in the Rocky mountains. I think the Russian with the attitude problems is more a power forward then Martone.

I can care less if he's a better fighter then Iginla, I don't think much of him either.

Is martone sawft? No, but he ain't scaring anybody on the other bench, either.

 

[Darkstar]

The "fight" only lasted a few seconds before the takedown. Are you sure you aren't a YAF author not a streamer? The point, before you sperged out, is that he isn't a perimeter player.

 

[HawksDub89]

Ignoring that slight against God himself, yeah I do think Martone and Hagens are the braindead easy choices.

I really don't get why the Hawks are seemingly hellbent on Desnoyers and Frondell. They're overthinking it.

Positional value.

Not my opinion, but I’m guessing that’s the reasoning. The ultimate kick in the sack will be when Frondell is moved to wing and Martone ends up a better player at wing.

I’m on the record saying I’m fine with any of this group, but Frondell over Martone is passing up on a higher ceiling. So they better be confident he’s a C.

 

[Chuck Testa]

Desnoyers is not someone you take 3rd overall.

Can't afford to f*** up a 3rd overall selection.

I'm not saying that Desnoyers isn't/won't be good. But I am saying that he isn't worth a f***ing 3rd overall pick. In my opinion.

I'm also not sold on Frondell either. Likewise w/ Desnoyers, I'm not saying he isn't or won;t be a good player. Just not somebody I want to see the Hawks pick at 3rd overall.

The choice would have been so much more locked in if they stayed at 2 ffs.

 

[hawksrule]

Not trade away elite talent like Hagel and Debrincat for starts......

What if they could have gotten P.K. Subban in return?

 

[Deputy McRizzy]

I feel like I read so many conflicting opinions on Martone that I’m starting to hope they just go a different direction.

Does he have multiple fights under his belt or just the one?

 

[Kevin Musto]

Positional value.

Not my opinion, but I’m guessing that’s the reasoning. The ultimate kick in the sack will be when Frondell is moved to wing and Martone ends up a better player at wing.

I’m on the record saying I’m fine with any of this group, but Frondell over Martone is passing up on a higher ceiling. So they better be confident he’s a C.

Yeah Frondell will play wing.

But even if Desnoyers is a center, he's going to be a 50 point player at most.

Martone has that 70+ point upside. At that point positional value is irrelevant. The gap there is too big.

 

[Kevin Musto]

I feel like I read so many conflicting opinions on Martone that I’m starting to hope they just go a different direction.

Does he have multiple fights under his belt or just the one?

He has 2 or 3 from this season.

But there's more from years past.

 

[PatFoleyBarTab88]

The biggest folly is assuming those teams will pick top 5 next year. Isles jumped 10 spots and the Kraken will likely get a bit better next year. Your premise is basically trading 3rd overall for a pick in the teens next year which would get any gm fired

If Sorokin gets hurt Islanders probably finish last and the Kraken are clearly the worst roster in the Pacific so...

 

[Kevin Musto]

just for the record, Martone isn't a good fighter

he's willing to do it but I don't know if I've ever seen him win a fight, at least convincingly

 

[Sinbad]

I think Desnoyers has probably played his way out of consideration for number 3 pick with the Memorial Cup. He never stands out particularly well to me when he goes up against competition outside of the QMJHL (which has gotten really weak as a junior league recently)

Funny thing is Desnoyers has been widely praised for how he plays when representing Canada at international events. A glue guy that everyone loves to play with.

 

[WarriorofTime]

I don’t think it’s fair to suggest he’s been poor outside of the QMJHL either. He’s been a key contributor to gold medal winning Canadian teams at several events

Agreed not "poor" just not particularly standout. Key contributor is nice but when playing in pretty strict age restricted tournaments, I think you'd expect a guy that's a third overall pick to stand head and shoulders above.

Hockey Canada U17 Tournament (all 2007 borns): 5 points in 8 games, in a three-way tie for 3rd on Canadian team in points

2024 IIHF U18 Tournament (2006/2007 births event): 5 points in 5 games, in a three-way tie for 8th on Canadian team in points (note Martone had 17 points, Hagens broke records with 22 points in the same event that year)

2024 Gretzky U18 Tourament (all 2007 borns): 5 points in 5 games, 5th on Canadian team in points

2025 IIHF U20 Tournament (mostly 2005/2006, but 2007 borns have a shot of sneaking in): Not selected, not viewed by fans/media as being a "snub" or in consideration (note Hagens had 9 points in 7 games in same event that year. Martone at least made the Canada team.)

It's fine to be a "key contributor" and "glue guy", and it'd be one thing if we're talking about a guy at like the 9th draft slot. But for a 3rd overall pick, I think it's fine to think he should be a bit more of an impact player.

Memorial Cup just seems more of the same. When level of play is stepped up outside of his league play, he takes a step back in terms of impact. With such a premiere draft slot, I think you just want to see more.

 

[Putt Pirate]

I really don't care if any of these guys are 'fighters'. I just want them to put up with the net front abuse, board battles, and not play like a bitch in those situations. And score.

 

[Deputy McRizzy]

just for the record, Martone isn't a good fighter

he's willing to do it but I don't know if I've ever seen him win a fight, at least convincingly

I wouldn’t even care if he won or lost. If he’s got the mentality to jump in that’s really what matters most to me.

 

[Kevin Musto]

I wouldn’t even care if he won or lost. If he’s got the mentality to jump in that’s really what matters most to me.

it's his captain mentality

he'll stand up for his guys

this season he went up against Aitcheson, Danford, and Misa... so he's not afraid of anyone

 

[Mjul Qvist]

Yeah Frondell will play wing.

This is clearly not certain. Time will tell.

 

[BHFAN92]

Schaefer, Misa, trade the pick

 

[Mjul Qvist]

Schaefer, Misa, trade the pick

Schaefer, Misa, pick BPA

 

[Larmer83]

This is clearly not certain. Time will tell.

Far be it for me to concur with Musto but from watching game play Frondell's best position will be on the wing. His top attribute is clearly his shot and playing him at center will underutilize that talent.

 

[bwanajamba]

Agreed not "poor" just not particularly standout. Key contributor is nice but when playing in pretty strict age restricted tournaments, I think you'd expect a guy that's a third overall pick to stand head and shoulders above.

Hockey Canada U17 Tournament (all 2007 borns): 5 points in 8 games, in a three-way tie for 3rd on Canadian team in points

2024 IIHF U18 Tournament (2006/2007 births event): 5 points in 5 games, in a three-way tie for 8th on Canadian team in points (note Martone had 17 points, Hagens broke records with 22 points in the same event that year)

2024 Gretzky U18 Tourament (all 2007 borns): 5 points in 5 games, 5th on Canadian team in points

2025 IIHF U20 Tournament (mostly 2005/2006, but 2007 borns have a shot of sneaking in): Not selected, not viewed by fans/media as being a "snub" or in consideration (note Hagens had 9 points in 7 games in same event that year. Martone at least made the Canada team.)

It's fine to be a "key contributor" and "glue guy", and it'd be one thing if we're talking about a guy at like the 9th draft slot. But for a 3rd overall pick, I think it's fine to think he should be a bit more of an impact player.

Memorial Cup just seems more of the same. When level of play is stepped up outside of his league play, he takes a step back in terms of impact. With such a premiere draft slot, I think you just want to see more.

I mean at risk of stating the obvious, the job isn't to just pick who is the best at scoring against teenagers. If you take Desnoyers at 3 it isn't necessarily because you think he's likely to out-perform Hagens or Martone in raw production, it's a projection that he will get close enough as a scorer and bring other defensive and play-driving elements that they may lack that will make him the more valuable player.

He's apparently playing with a wrist injury at the Memorial Cup so hard to gauge his production there. He was quite good against London imo and one of the better players on his badly outplayed team against MH. (Worth keeping in mind as well that these are teams that absolutely tore through their own leagues, not just typical non-Q competition.) Guess we will see how he does the second time around against London tonight.

 

[Mjul Qvist]