Craig Button List Spring 2025

[Stewie Griffin]

James Hagens has a mediocre year...parliment in Ottawa is celebrating how their country will have a great draft! Free Sportsnet+ subscriptions to all canadians to watch this historic moment!

 

[Peasy]

PavelBuchnevich has been working tirelessly on a prototype for years. Maybe the test model's have finally been delivered to beta-testers.

Shits been going on at least 6 years at this point. I still remember him losing his mind over Button ranking Turcotte so low cause Pavel thought he should be challenging Hughes for 1st overall. Look how that turned out...

 

[Mathieukferland]

They’ve stolen the first slot from us that we earned

 

[Giant Panda]

No one has whispered this.

You are making up fake sources. You have no sources, just as I have no sources.

You are an internet message board poster. Stop pretending you’re some super secret insider.

You don’t like James Hagens. Don’t put this off on anyone else other than yourself.

You are literally commenting on Button having him at 6th. A number of the other ones who are connected to scouts and teams have him at 4th with comments that are showing he's falling. The podcasts and shows these list makers go on have indicated that teams question his high end skill.

I'm not a super secret insider, never claimed to be. I talk to some people I used to play with, that's the closest I've got to 'inside' connections, those are the same as anyone else has I'm sure.

The whispers... Button is a bafoon and a click bait artist but he does talk to NHL teams. Pronman, who ranks him at 4th currently, is connected to NHL sources and has been more and more critical of his skill level. It's only March but he's gone from 'consensus number 1' to ''wow Schaeffer' to 'higher ceiling players above him' really fast.

You are his most vocal supporter, I get it, but your view of him is quite quickly becoming the minority opinion.

 

[FlyguyOX]

Button is a clown. Idk how he keeps a job.

 

[Stewie Griffin]

Button is a clown. Idk how he keeps a job.

He works for TSN...he generates tons of clicks and reactions, it's obvious why he keeps his job.

Literally none of these lists matter unless its from someone who works for a team, or talks to scouts/teams.

 

[BondraTime]

Button always gets a lot of hate, his lists are no different looking or odd than every NHL teams list

Fans will get upset because something is different than what has been told by non-NHL sources all year, rinse and repeat every year (barring SET in stone years like 2021's top 9 grouping)

Everyone will clown on something he is off on (which happens on every teams list, his included) and ignore things he looks like he was spot in on (Parascak 13th while he was generally a late 1st/early 2nd everywhere else and him going 17th, among many other)

He's making a personal ranking, that is no different than any other head scout's personal ranking, outsode of being a guy working for a publication rather than a team. Team rankings aren't gospel, otrherwise you wouldn't have guys like Tyler Boucher drafted 10th overall.

If you think there are some teams who don't have Hagens outside the top 5 (which I vehemenently disagree with), I have a bridge to sell you.

 

[EdmFlyersfan]

Button's list get wackier every year...there used to be some "out-of-the-box" thinking but now it's clickbait or just plain laziness/bias.

 

[macbowes]

Again, quantity over quality is the Canadian trend.

U21 means drafted from 2022, 2023, and 2024. The top 15 scorers from that cohort are as follows:

Canada (5): Bedard, Fantilli, Celebrini, Wright, Benson

U.S. (4): Cooley, Smith, Gauthier, Hutson

Russia (2): Michkov, Mintyukov

Czech Rep. (1): Kulich
Slovakia (1): Slafkovsky
Austria (1): Kasper
Sweden (1): Carlsson

Canada makes up (on average) 40 percent of the draft, but here, only 33 percent are in the top 15. The Americans make up around 20 percent but have 27 percent of the top 15 U21 scorers.

All four of the Canadian goalies you mentioned are 28 years old or older. There have been 33 NHL U26 goalies with at least one start this season and only seven are Canadian, and six of them have a combined 24 appearances. Most are back in the minors. Only one of the last 21 Vezina finalists was Canadian (MAF in 2021). It’s an undeniable fact that Canada simply stopped producing quality goalies.

The bust rate for CHL-trained Canadians in the top 10 since 2016 is also high. Add Canada’s WJC struggles and the downward trend should be evident. The 2021 and 2023 drafts look good. Others not so much.

I get why the CHL dominates every draft but the first-rounders in recent years are either having a tougher go at it or are being surpassed by players drafted later or from elsewhere.

11 of the top 20 21 and under scorers are Canadian.

10 out the next 20 are Canadian.

You can see here, where the US had a good run of players, and CAN had a down stretch, by looking at the top scorers ages 22 to 24.

Here, Canada has only 6 out of the top 20 scorers aged 22 to 24.

Canada has been on a heater of strong drafts since 2021.

Goaltending is in a much bigger slump, but it's still overblown, and I actually think we're already out of it, beginning with Cossa, but we'll see.

 

[FlyguyOX]

He works for TSN...he generates tons of clicks and reactions, it's obvious why he keeps his job.

Literally none of these lists matter unless its from someone who works for a team, or talks to scouts/teams.

Yes but why doesn't TSN hire someone who is actually knowledgable.

Button's lists are weighed too heavily on WJC and canadians, always.

 

[Fyodorov]

Pavel's ultra dramatic posting aside, the reality is Canadian CHL players have by far the highest bust rate and it's getting worse over time.

 

[BondraTime]

Yes but why doesn't TSN hire someone who is actually knowledgable.

He is knowledgeable, he isn’t just skimming other lists and getting upset that a list isn’t what we, the actual people who aren’t knowledgeable, think should be there

This board would be in arms if a teams list ever got out, the head scouts would be laughed at like there is no tomorrow.

Sens very, very likely had Yakemchuk 3rd overall last year. Which would have been yucked and laughed at if Button had that ranking (which I would have whole heartedly agreed with the laughing). Teams lists are much more similar to Buttons, a guy who has run NHL drafts for teams, than they are the consensus lists this board thrives on.

 

[ORRFForever]

Canadian quantity no longer means Canadian quality. The draft numbers you reference actually hurts Canada’s reputation considering how many are drafted versus how many hit.

LOL.

Have you seen the players Canada has produced since 2000. What coming down the pipes is insane in terms of quantity and quality.

 

[ORRFForever]

22 out of the top 50 23U scorers are Canadian. 15 out of the top 30 21U scorers are Canadian. 4 out of the top 10 goalies by sv% with a minimum of 25 starts are Canadian.

The US had a run of good drafts from 2016-2022, but they are having a couple down years. Canada had few down years during US's good run. Canada is still clearly the best producer of hockey talent of all levels.

I would cut it off in 2019...

"The US had a run of good drafts from 2016-2019". Since 2020, Canada has been miles ahead of everyone else.

To all the haters... Wait until the Best on Best in 2030 and 2032 and 2034 and 2036 - these are going to be some AMAZING Canadian teams.

 

[tomd]

Well this thread certainly went to sh!t in a big hurry...

 

[Lumber]

Pavel's ultra dramatic posting aside, the reality is Canadian CHL players have by far the highest bust rate and it's getting worse over time.

More players drafted more players that bust. Why bring a kid from Europe of equal talent when you aren't sure that the Canadian kid will make it. I also think that more American players go the NCAA route which makes them a more finished product when they reach the NHL, an older player if you will. They may only be plumbers but but fit in more quickly than an 18 or 19 year old. The NHL is the best league in the world lets not forget.

 

[Kingpin794]

Well this thread certainly went to sh!t in a big hurry...

The Pavel special. Mods don't care.

 

[TheDoldrums]

They’ve stolen the first slot from us that we earned

I promise you NHL GM's are not reading lists like this and moving around their draft board. If Hagens has truly earned the 1st overall selection, he will go 1st. The only way to earn it is to convince the selecting team that you are the best prospect for their organization. NHL teams draft against the consensus all the time. The notion that anyone's personal draft ranking impacts actual selections is absurd.

 

[Frk It]

It is pretty funny that every time one of these threads gets posted the exact same dialogue ensues. We would make the job of AI so easy to predict how these threads would go.

I also think it is funny that people come up with all these conspiracies as opposed to accepting that he might just be ranking these players the way he sees them, and that's all there is to it.

 

[Andy Dufresne]

James Hagens has a mediocre year...parliment in Ottawa is celebrating how their country will have a great draft! Free Sportsnet+ subscriptions to all canadians to watch this historic moment!

Hmm...math isn't my strong suit, but i think Hagens' ranking has gone down by about 25%
I don't believe in coincidences!

 

[Putt Pirate]

Don't think Hagens is 6th but 4th for sure (not a big diff and team lists are all over the board I bet this year). He has not developed as well as many would like. Don't see what the rub is on that.

 

[Fyodorov]

Potter isn't elite, Hensler isn't elite, McKinney isn't elite. They are good players, but nothing suggests future stars.

They are ranked below a lot of CHL guys that not only is there nothing to suggest future stars, there's not a lot to suggest profiling as decent NHLers. Potter in particular can run literal and figurative circles around most of the CHL players in this draft.

 

[Hockeyville USA]

They are ranked below a lot of CHL guys that not only is there nothing to suggest future stars, there's not a lot to suggest profiling as decent NHLers. Potter in particular can run literal and figurative circles around most of the CHL players in this draft.

Gimme your top 32 please

 

[lakai17]

Hensler almost outside the first round is insane. Otherwise nothing new with a Button list generating click baits. It will change a little more come May/June on his final ranking. He's loving all the comments here we know.

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

I promise you NHL GM's are not reading lists like this and moving around their draft board. If Hagens has truly earned the 1st overall selection, he will go 1st. The only way to earn it is to convince the selecting team that you are the best prospect for their organization. NHL teams draft against the consensus all the time. The notion that anyone's personal draft ranking impacts actual selections is absurd.

Bob McKenzie quoted an NHL Head Scout in January as saying there’s nothing that can be done anymore and Matt Schaefer will be picked first.

Matt Schaefer didn’t come into the year viewed as anywhere near in contention for the top pick. He was viewed as a guy who might be just inside the top 5 or otherwise only a top 10 guy.

Then he played 17 games, and it’s been decided by the powers that be that there’s absolutely nothing that can be done for anyone to overtake him.

It’ll take a brave team (a la Montreal in 2022) to go against the orthodoxy of the player that’s been installed as the preferred candidate by the powers that be.