C Roger McQueen - Brandon Wheat Kings, WHL (2025 Draft)

[Bubbles]

It's eerie that he shares many parallels to another Wheat Kings player in the past, Nolan Patrick.

Not necessarily style, but the way it's been unfolding.

Big, right handed centre that can skate. But also injury prone.

For those that remember, Patrick was rated no. 1 pretty much all season despite missing the entire season more or less. The main difference was that Patrick was dominant in his D-1 season and whatever bit of the D season.

McQueen remains in the top 5 of most lists and hasn't shown YET the dominance.

 

[frontsfan67]

It's eerie that he shares many parallels to another Wheat Kings player in the past, Nolan Patrick.

Not necessarily style, but the way it's been unfolding.

Big, right handed centre that can skate. But also injury prone.

For those that remember, Patrick was rated no. 1 pretty much all season despite missing the entire season more or less. The main difference was that Patrick was dominant in his D-1 season and whatever bit of the D season.

McQueen remains in the top 5 of most lists and hasn't shown YET the dominance.

People were only high on him from his real good start which I believe included a 4G opening night? And then he cooled down and has 8G and 3A for 11P in 8 games then got hurt. I have a hard time believing he would be a goal per game 30+ games in. We saw how misa cooled down in particular(was averaging 2 goals a game for a small chunk of the start)

He should be in the 5-15 range. Big gap because he’s been injured and some teams may feel they’d rather take a guy who was consistent the whole year rather than injured half of it. The thing he really has going for him is his size though and you can’t teach that.

 

[PattyLafontaine]

People were only high on him from his real good start which I believe included a 4G opening night? And then he cooled down and has 8G and 3A for 11P in 8 games then got hurt. I have a hard time believing he would be a goal per game 30+ games in. We saw how misa cooled down in particular(was averaging 2 goals a game for a small chunk of the start)

He should be in the 5-15 range. Big gap because he’s been injured and some teams may feel they’d rather take a guy who was consistent the whole year rather than injured half of it. The thing he really has going for him is his size though and you can’t teach that.

I don't thinka team can take higher than 16 with his bulging disc. Lindstrom hasn't even played this year and his timeline is unknown so it would be negligent to take a flyer on McQueen unless you have a second pick in the first round.

 

[frontsfan67]

I don't thinka team can take higher than 16 with his bulging disc. Lindstrom hasn't even played this year and his timeline is unknown so it would be negligent to take a flyer on McQueen unless you have a second pick in the first round.

Yeah good point. A LOT of questions regarding him but if he can stay healthy it could be a steal. If he can’t I could see bust potential

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

If he doesn’t return soon, he’ll become a big risk, especially given what we’ve seen with Lindstrom. If Lindstrom’s injury saga didn’t happen, maybe the risk wouldn’t seem as high.

 

[MichaelFarrell]

If he doesn’t return soon, he’ll become a big risk, especially given what we’ve seen with Lindstrom. If Lindstrom’s injury saga didn’t happen, maybe the risk wouldn’t seem as high.

At least Lindstrom is a better player. I haven’t been all that impressed with McQueen at this point. Other than height, I don’t see the hype. I don’t see a top 4-5 guy in this draft.

 

[Bounces R Way]

He's a giant right handed center that plays with an edge, can score, and skates well. Right or wrong he'll probably be drafted fairly high.

 

[majormajor]

He's a giant right handed center that plays with an edge, can score, and skates well. Right or wrong he'll probably be drafted fairly high.

If teams think McQueen will be healthy they'll take him top 5. If they're not sure, they'll still take him top ten. He won't be going after 10 unless he misses the whole year.

Same thing with Lindstrom. Even though it is supposed to be a cautionary tale, if there was a re-draft today, he'd still go high.