Craig Button 2025 NHL Draft Mock

[Mathieukferland]

Fröndell at 2 and Misa at 5 is certainly…. a choice.


Full list here:

Craig’s List: Matthew Schaefer ascends to No. 1 for 2025 NHL Draft | TSN

There is a new player at No. 1 for the third straight edition of TSN Director of Scouting Craig Button’s 2025 draft ranking.

www.tsn.ca

Click to read more...

 

[WhiskeyYerTheDevils]

Hagens at 4... hmmm...

 

[SannywithoutCompy]

Ceiling-wise I could understand Frondell at 2, but I feel like you have to factor in health and likelihood of hitting it.

Plus if you're factoring in ceiling that hard it doesn't really make sense to me to have McQueen that much lower.

 

[GlassesJacketShirt]

Martone at 3 over Hagens is a choice. I can't really speak on Frondell at this point, along with most euros, but my top 5 as it currently stacks:

1. Schaefer
2. Misa
3. Hagens

4. Eklund
5. Martone

 

[De Montreal]

That's not a mock draft

 

[FriendlyGhost92]

I'll always mock Button for calling Seider Brandon Carlo 2.0... But I'll also respect him for being one of the first to course correct as soon as he realized he was wrong.

That makes him better than guys like Scott Wheeler.

 

[Czechboy]

Czech friendly list... think Mrtka is a bit low. I would love this though.

 

[jtechkid]

Martone can barely skate - heavy boots

 

[Konk]

Craig Button's rankings aren't where he thinks they'll go in the draft. They are his rankings for where he thinks they'll be 5-10 years from now.

Although I disagree with some choices, I can respect that approach over a consensus type of list.

 

[FriendlyGhost92]

Need to know who in the teens range works hard and plays a 200 ft game.

That's Detroit's pick lol.

 

[thrillhous]

Need to know who in the teens range works hard and plays a 200 ft game.

That's Detroit's pick lol.

Brady Martin is your man

 

[Fistfullofbeer]

Martone can barely skate - heavy boots

Is his skating really that bad? I thought it was passable for NHL just not high-end. I heard McQueen is the one with the heavy boots.

 

[Realgud]

That's not a "mock" and that's not Eklund at 2.

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

Button is a clown. Don’t know why this website acts like he’s some big expert. I don’t regard his opinion any more than the average poster on this website.

 

[Castle8130]

People need to stop sounding so snobby. "Player x over player y is certainly.... a choice" like your opinion is so important. These are subjective rankings with players marginally better than one another.

 

[majormajor]

Where's the mock?

 

[ConnorMcMullet]

People need to stop sounding so snobby. "Player x over player y is certainly.... a choice" like your opinion is so important. These are subjective rankings with players marginally better than one another.

Yep. This site hates when people go against the consensus even when they haven’t watched more than a few highlights of each player. I’m not a fan of the list or Craig Button in general, but I’m sure the reaction here was the same when he ranked Virtanen outside of his 1st round.

 

[DJJones]

Craig Button's rankings aren't where he thinks they'll go in the draft. They are his rankings for where he thinks they'll be 5-10 years from now.

Although I disagree with some choices, I can respect that approach over a consensus type of list.

Craig's one of the only people that actually give their opinion. I want to see some guy with a 30ish ranking be in a top 10. Most others are just consensus rankings with maybe a few changes within similar consensus tiers.

 

[Castle8130]

Yep. This site hates when people go against the consensus even when they haven’t watched more than a few highlights of each player. I’m not a fan of the list or Craig Button in general, but I’m sure the reaction here was the same when he ranked Virtanen outside of his 1st round.

I don't even mind criticism. It's when users on HF boards start acting pretentious and condescending towards people in the industry. Craig has a history of missing more than hitting on his draft rankings, but let's not act like he is below us. He actually watches these players and makes an honest opnion

 

[The Crypto Guy]

Same guy that had Kravtsov as the #1 prospect a few years ago...

 

[MS]

Button is a clown. Don’t know why this website acts like he’s some big expert. I don’t regard his opinion any more than the average poster on this website.

He's literally a long-time NHL scouting director whose drafting largely built a Cup winner. He's about as much of an 'expert' as you can possibly have in this field.

Most of the posters on this board would have a stroke and die if they saw what their favourite NHL team's draft list looked like. The freaking out when someone posts an opinion that disagrees with the HF consensus is endlessly laughable.

 

[majormajor]

Most of the posters on this board would have a stroke and die if they saw what their favourite NHL team's draft list looked like.

That's the main point I wish people understood.

Our hive mind opinion does not look like NHL team's draft lists. There's a few systemic differences between what teams actually prefer and what the internet thinks, but largely there is just more diversity.

 

[GlassesJacketShirt]

Damn, I didn't realize those three words had that level of negativity, my bad.

How bout this: I disagree with Craig regarding Martone being ahead of Hagens at this point of the season, based on the evidence I have seen.

Henceforth, "it's a choice" will only be reserved for Corey Pronman.

 

[MS]

That's the main point I wish people understood.

Our hive mind opinion does not look like NHL team's draft lists. There's a few systemic differences between what teams actually prefer and what the internet thinks, but largely there is just more diversity.

It's always crazy how invested people get in the draft while understanding it so little.

People always act like there's only one 'right' consensus ranking and if a guy is 12th that's a fact of a thing and maybe you can rank him 11th or 13th but if anyone ranks that player 8th or 18th OMG LOL WHAT A MORON!

Like, nobody had Beckett Sennecke higher than like 8th-10th last year and then he goes 3rd. People watched this happen. It should be pretty obvious that actual NHL team rankings differ hugely from this board's consensus. But every year as soon as someone posts a ranking that diverges from the groupthink, they're an idiot.

Button's rankings are probably the most valid/interesting you're going to see because they're from an actual NHL scout who actually watches a lot of games. You might disagree (and I do all the time with him) but they're coming from an actual legitimate credible place. They're 100000x more valuable than the nonsense from goofballs who try putting the draft into a spreadsheet, or who barely watch games, or who just aim to 'be right' by generating a consensus ranking.

 

[TheNumber4]

Just be prepared for Craig "Flip Flop" Button to change his mind eventually.