Pre-Game Talk: 2025 NHL Draft Thread

[kimzey59]

There's a smooth-skating 6'6" LHD from Beijing in this draft, Haoxi 'Simon' Wang, committed to Boston University next season. Too bad the Blues don't currently have any 2nd or 3rd round picks. Kid has size and upside according to scouts.

Since he's actually a real prospect and committed to Boston U for next year(https://www.eliteprospects.com/player/885160/haoxi-wang), I'm going to assume this wasn't an attempt at humor and give a quick shoot out to two other Chinesse born prospects that look to have some upside: Xiang Wen(solidly built Offensive D at Shawnigan Lake Prep) and Louis Gu(goalie at Kelowna U18 Prep).


Chinese hockey is growing slowly, but it is starting to grow. Good for the game.

 

[Mike Liut]

There's a smooth-skating 6'6" LHD from Beijing in this draft, Haoxi 'Simon' Wang, committed to Boston University next season. Too bad the Blues don't currently have any 2nd or 3rd round picks. Kid has size and upside according to scouts.

We’ll have a couple 2nds after we trade Saad and Leddy

 

[Linkens Mastery]

We’ll have a couple 2nds after we trade Saad and Leddy

Both players have full NTC. I wouldn't hold my breath for either player to be traded before next offseason

 

[Majorityof1]

Both players have full NTC. I wouldn't hold my breath for either player to be traded before next offseason

And an extra year. They go to Partial NTCs after the draft. It's possible we could use that to leverage a trade. Give me 3 playoff teams you'd go to at the TDL or I'll trade you to one of the 16 teams in a few months.

The issue for me is retention. I don't think we'd retain for a whole extra year for just a 2nd. That means we'd need to find a team they'd waive to, who wants them for an extra year, can afford the cap hit now and next year, etc, or is willing to pay more for retention. It's too many moving parts to assume they'll for sure be moved before the next draft.

 

[Linkens Mastery]

And an extra year. They go to Partial NTCs after the draft. It's possible we could use that to leverage a trade. Give me 3 playoff teams you'd go to at the TDL or I'll trade you to one of the 16 teams in a few months.

The issue for me is retention. I don't think we'd retain for a whole extra year for just a 2nd. That means we'd need to find a team they'd waive to, who wants them for an extra year, can afford the cap hit now and next year, etc, or us willing to pay more fir retention. It's too many moving parts to assume they'll for sure be moved before the next draft.

Agreed

 

[HighNote]

That's a big Wang

 

[PerryTurnbullfan]

UPSIDE - 2025 NHL Draft Rankings

Upside Hockey's 2025 NHL Draft Headquarters

www.upsidehockey.com

If you don't venture around on other forums, then this is about as thorough of information that you can get on the draft along with elite prospects.

 

[PocketNines]

I'm hoping to get more impressions of WHL D Mrtka, Fiddler and Smith. Fiddler is on Jecho's team so is easier to incorporate

 

[PerryTurnbullfan]

I'm hoping to get more impressions of WHL D Mrtka, Fiddler and Smith. Fiddler is on Jecho's team so is easier to incorporate

Fiddler hasn't looked bad at all. He definitely looks top 4. A D-man I like is KaShawn Aitcheson. He may be better at the NHL level with his piss and vinegar. Carlos Handel did an excellent job keeping Pekarcik in check in the game I watched. He would be a solid right handed 4-6 guy with a good first pass. Two forwards I really like in this draft are Eddie Genborg and Arvid Drott. I've been impressed with Caleb Desnoyers watching Pekarcik play on a different line.

 

[Mike Liut]

sounds like the top 5 of elite talent is lacking in this draft, but 6-12 is probably where the Blues will be drafting. It seems like these will be typical upper echelon level players. A few really good centers and a few really good defenders are in that range this year, which are both areas of need.

 

[PocketNines]

sounds like the top 5 of elite talent is lacking in this draft, but 6-12 is probably where the Blues will be drafting. It seems like these will be typical upper echelon level players. A few really good centers and a few really good defenders are in that range this year, which are both areas of need.

I agree, they are not going to be worse than san jose, anaheim, chicago, columbus or montreal it's a bridge too far

 

[PerryTurnbullfan]

I'm hoping to get more impressions of WHL D Mrtka, Fiddler and Smith. Fiddler is on Jecho's team so is easier to incorporate

Fiddler reminds me a lot of Rob Blake if you remember him from the Kings. They did a stellar job on D versus McKenna and company. He outshined him.

 

[Mike Liut]

Fiddler reminds me a lot of Rob Blake if you remember him from the Kings. They did a stellar job on D versus McKenna and company. He outshined him.

Blake was a beast

 

[kimzey59]

sounds like the top 5 of elite talent is lacking in this draft, but 6-12 is probably where the Blues will be drafting. It seems like these will be typical upper echelon level players. A few really good centers and a few really good defenders are in that range this year, which are both areas of need.

Don't know if I would agree with that.
This year lacks a strong #1. That said, there is VERY little separating any of the top 9. One hot streak from any of them will result in a massive shift in the rankings.

And if you were to combine this years draft with last year's; I'm not sure anyone other than Celebrini would even make the top 10(maybe Demidov if you ignore the Russia factor but that's it IMO).

 

[Mike Liut]

Roughly a .500 record puts you drafting around #8-9. That shouldn’t be a problem for us. I doubt we are even a .500 team.

 

[DatDude44]

Matthew Schaefer would be a god send for us. Potential Josi type of player in my initial viewings. Probably a floor around Cam Fowler

 

[Mike Liut]

Matthew Schaefer would be a god send for us. Potential Josi type of player in my initial viewings. Probably a floor around Cam Fowler

He’s going top 5. We’d have to move up.

 

[Blanick]

Matthew Schaefer would be a god send for us. Potential Josi type of player in my initial viewings. Probably a floor around Cam Fowler

I think there is a very realistic possibility that he ends up being #1 overall. Hagens is very far from a lock like Bedard or Celebrini were.

 

[kimzey59]

Matthew Schaefer would be a god send for us. Potential Josi type of player in my initial viewings. Probably a floor around Cam Fowler

If only he were a righty.

 

[Majorityof1]

Matthew Schaefer would be a god send for us. Potential Josi type of player in my initial viewings. Probably a floor around Cam Fowler

Can you imagine this fan base with Josi? They hate offensive talent. God forbid a dman has 70 points, they'd run him out of town with pitchforks. They'd make thousands of pleas to trade him, harp on evert turnover even though he'd touch the puck more than most players and make up BS stories about his priorities. This fan base deserves a Roman Polak more than a Roman Josi. Cause all that matters is grrr, toughness.

As for that floor, seems a little optimistic. It's a rare player who bottoms out as a 1000 game Top4/pair D

 

[PocketNines]

Passed out watching Carter Yakemchuk and Jackson Smith last night. Calgary at Tri City. The report MN shared said Smith was supposed to be in the mold of Yakemchuk. Yakemchuk was clearly an NHL caliber talent in this game, and Smith was pretty involved but not as standout dominant. Obviously there's an age difference, but mostly it was the offensive assertiveness of Yakemchuk in the zone especially on the power play which stood out. (size & speed too)

Can't say I watched the whole game but saw a sizeable portion. Smith is certainly a potential NHL player and he is the guy spearheading the rush pretty often. Need several more viewings

 

[kimzey59]

Can you imagine this fan base with Josi? They hate offensive talent. God forbid a dman has 70 points, they'd run him out of town with pitchforks. They'd make thousands of pleas to trade him, harp on evert turnover even though he'd touch the puck more than most players and make up BS stories about his priorities. This fan base deserves a Roman Polak more than a Roman Josi. Cause all that matters is grrr, toughness.

As for that floor, seems a little optimistic. It's a rare player who bottoms out as a 1000 game Top4/pair D

Not true at all.
Blues fans LOVE Al MacInnis.


What is true is that we demand an effort in the defensive zone.
It's why we hated Housley and ride Kyrou so hard.

 

[Majorityof1]

Not true at all.
Blues fans LOVE Al MacInnis.


What is true is that we demand an effort in the defensive zone.
It's why we hated Housley and ride Kyrou so hard.

You have to go back to a Hall of Famer who last played for the Blues 20+ seasons ago to find an example. Point proven?

What measure are you using for effort? Kyrou gives effort. He just gets zero slack from a vocal group on here. One mistake or "lazy" play (even one where he was on the end of a long shift) and he loses all the credit for multiple games worth of effort.

 

[bleedblue1223]

You have to go back to a Hall of Famer who last played for the Blues 20+ seasons ago to find an example. Point proven?

What measure are you using for effort? Kyrou gives effort. He just gets zero slack from a vocal group on here. One mistake or "lazy" play (even one where he was on the end of a long shift) and he loses all the credit for multiple games worth of effort.

Shattenkirk was pretty well liked when he was here. And to Kyrou, it's not that people expect him to be O'Reilly or Steen, but more similar to Tarasenko, who was much more responsible with the puck IMO.

 

[kimzey59]

You have to go back to a Hall of Famer who last played for the Blues 20+ seasons ago to find an example. Point proven?

What measure are you using for effort? Kyrou gives effort. He just gets zero slack from a vocal group on here. One mistake or "lazy" play (even one where he was on the end of a long shift) and he loses all the credit for multiple games worth of effort.

I went back 20+ years to illustrate a point.
We loved Chopper. We hated Housley.

There have been plenty others over the years.
We love Broberg.
We loved Petro.
Krug was winning a lot of us over until his body fell apart.
We loved Shattenkirk.
We loved Dennis Wideman.
Heck; we liked Colaiacovo.

There have been plenty of non-physical "offensive" defensemen that Blues fans have loved. The difference is that we can see the effort from those guy while we don't see it from a guy like Perunovich.

Another thing to consider is that Blues fans largely aren't stat watchers. Especially with regards to advanced stats. Effort is judged by the eye test for most of them; but when you're showing up as a -30 it's a little hard to overlook.

As for Kyrou; other than one troll who is mostly just being mocked, most of us freely acknowledge that Kyrou has come a long way in terms of his defensive play. His track record isn't great so it's going to take an extended run to wash himself completely clean of it(which hasn't happened yet), but he's absolutely made big strides and we acknowledge and respect that for the most part. Conversely; even on the same team, we love Bobby Tommy. And he's not even remotely a "physical" player either. What separates them is the visible difference in effort. We see Thomas trying to outwork people. We've only recently started seeing that from Kyrou and it's still inconsistent.

Blues fans relate to "hustle" and "effort". It's not about being physical.