Bob McKenzie Pre Season 2025 Draft Rankings

[ORRFForever]

He'll be centering Perreault and Leonard. I think any concerns over his size are silenced by mid-December, if not sooner.

Also,

Crosby 5’10, 175 (post)
Stamkos 5’11, 176 (post)
Bedard 5’10, 183 (pre)
Hughes 5'10, 170 (post)

The scout Bob quoted should have been reminded of this and then allowed to offer a follow-up response clarifying what he said why he said it.

Stamkos is 5'11 ?

 

[ORRFForever]

6 Canadians in Bob's Top 10. 11 in the Top 20. Not too shabby.

Canada's been averaging 15 1st Round Picks since 2020. Looks likely again in 2025.... and 2026.

 

[Steve Kournianos]

Stamkos is 5'11 ?

According to the 2008 Hockey News Draft Preview he was

 

[Juxtaposer]

According to the 2008 Hockey News Draft Preview he was

A more salient point is that among the four guys you listed (Crosby, Stamkos, Hughes, Bedard), only Crosby is a true center. Stamkos has played the best years of his career at wing, Hughes played mostly wing last season, and Bedard is already getting questions about if he should move to wing because he's quite poor defensively in addition to being small.

I actually like Hagens' chances to stick at center more than Stamkos/Hughes/Bedard because he's much more committed defensively than any of those guys, but I absolutely think it's a fair question to ask. There are almost zero 5'10" centers in the league. It's like, Crosby, Point, end of list.

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

A more salient point is that among the four guys you listed (Crosby, Stamkos, Hughes, Bedard), only Crosby is a true center. Stamkos has played the best years of his career at wing, Hughes played mostly wing last season, and Bedard is already getting questions about if he should move to wing because he's quite poor defensively in addition to being small.

I actually like Hagens' chances to stick at center more than Stamkos/Hughes/Bedard because he's much more committed defensively than any of those guys, but I absolutely think it's a fair question to ask. There are almost zero 5'10" centers in the league. It's like, Crosby, Point, end of list.

Shouldn’t we be referring to Hagens as 5’11 now? For the record, I agree with your short centers point, although I would say it’s below 5’10, not 5’10, that is the turning point.

 

[Czechboy]

Shouldn’t we be referring to Hagens as 5’11 now? For the record, I agree with your short centers point, although I would say it’s below 5’10, not 5’10, that is the turning point.

Somebody get Benak some lifts..

 

[Steve Kournianos]

A more salient point is that among the four guys you listed (Crosby, Stamkos, Hughes, Bedard), only Crosby is a true center. Stamkos has played the best years of his career at wing, Hughes played mostly wing last season, and Bedard is already getting questions about if he should move to wing because he's quite poor defensively in addition to being small.

I actually like Hagens' chances to stick at center more than Stamkos/Hughes/Bedard because he's much more committed defensively than any of those guys, but I absolutely think it's a fair question to ask. There are almost zero 5'10" centers in the league. It's like, Crosby, Point, end of list.

Whether he plays wing or center shouldn’t matter. Chances are the team drafting him this year will already have at least two blue-chip center prospects anyway, so who cares if he’s a perennial 80-point winger at 23 or 24.

The implication that his size should be concern for teams drafting him is ludicrous.

Hagens’ pre-combine listing is 5’11, 176. He’s going to add muscle by June and he plays a tough, inside game.

Draft-year ht/wt:

Barzal 5’11 (post)
Aho 5’11 (post)
Suzuki 5’11 (post)
Thomas 5’11 (post)

 

[Juxtaposer]

Shouldn’t we be referring to Hagens as 5’11 now? For the record, I agree with your short centers point, although I would say it’s below 5’10, not 5’10, that is the turning point.

If he's truly 5'11", then sure. But as you know I've watched a lot of Hagens and unless he's grown since the U18 (which is definitely possible) then I don't quite believe 5'11".

Whether he plays wing or center shouldn’t matter. Chances are the team drafting him this year will already have at least two blue-chip center prospects anyway, so who cares if he’s a perennial 80-point winger at 23 or 24.

The implication that his size should be concern for teams drafting him is ludicrous.

Hagens’ pre-combine listing is 5’11, 176. He’s going to add muscle by June and he plays a tough, inside game.

Draft-year ht/wt:

Barzal 5’11 (post)
Aho 5’11 (post)
Suzuki 5’11 (post)
Thomas 5’11 (post)

As a fan of one of those teams who has two blue chip center prospects, I personally don't care if Hagens ends up a winger or center if my team ends up with 1st overall and Hagens is still the clear-cut BPA at the end of the year, but what about, say, the Flames? If I were a Flames fan, I would be very invested in whether Hagens will end up a center or winger. And while Hagens is definitely big enough that I have no concerns that he'll play, it'll definitely be a talking point.

 

[Dominance]

As a fan of one of those teams who has two blue chip center prospects, I personally don't care if Hagens ends up a winger or center if my team ends up with 1st overall and Hagens is still the clear-cut BPA at the end of the year, but what about, say, the Flames? If I were a Flames fan, I would be very invested in whether Hagens will end up a center or winger. And while Hagens is definitely big enough that I have no concerns that he'll play, it'll definitely be a talking point.

To your point - this will especially be the case if his closest competition come June has an enormous size advantage and comparable skating. Obviously McQueen will not be scoring 4 goals a game all season, but if he puts up 1.5-1.75+ P/GP and shows well internationally, that 6’5” 195 foundation could put him over the top for some teams.

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

If he's truly 5'11", then sure. But as you know I've watched a lot of Hagens and unless he's grown since the U18 (which is definitely possible) then I don't quite believe 5'11".

This isn’t some random website listing. NHL Central Scouting reportedly measured him and probably weighed him too. It’s been four months since the U18’s (1/3 of a year). Not at all unreasonable he’s grown since then.

And look, we might be talking about 1/2 an inch or 3/4 of an inch that takes it from 5’10 to 5’11. He was 5’10 for essentially like a year or more in the NTDP listings. Hard to believe he didn’t grow at all in that long span of time, if he wasn’t done growing. Might’ve been that he went from like 5’9.5 to 5’10.25 in that span. And maybe now the new jump is from 5’10.25 to the now listed at 5’10.75 (5’11) rounded up. Sometimes these height listings are on the margins of both extremes, and the change from one height to the next is not a full inch.

I don’t know. It seems believable to me anyone could grow that type of amount in four months, or even like a month.

 

[landy92mack29]

With how good Jackson Smith looked game 1 I expect him to push for a top 10 pick