D Haoxi (Simon) Wang - Oshawa Generals, OHL (2025 Draft)

[Namejs]

Am I missing something here?

Is it because he's Chinese? I don't think he would get drafted if there were 14 rounds in the NHL draft.

 

[bigdog16]

Am I missing something here?

Is it because he's Chinese? I don't think he would get drafted if there were 14 rounds in the NHL draft.

I’m not sure I see it either. He is 6’6 and skates pretty well. Thats about it

The OJ is such a bad league now, any dman getting drafted out of there needs to be at least ppg+, doesnt matter what he projects to be

 

[Dempsey]

I’m not sure I see it either. He is 6’6 and skates pretty well. Thats about it

The OJ is such a bad league now, any dman getting drafted out of there needs to be at least ppg+, doesnt matter what he projects to be

Agreed. Just looking at their top draft-eligible defenseman last year David Green, I had hopes he was underscouted and could surprise. Was a young August birthday, 6'2" frame, 18G and 57P in 56GP. Without a lot of scouting reports there was still a lot to like numbers-wise. This year in the USHL he has 2 points in 31 games compared to PPG last year in the OJHL.

 

[Albatros]

I’m not sure I see it either. He is 6’6 and skates pretty well. Thats about it

To be fair that's also Eliasson and he went #39.

 

[bigdog16]

Agreed. Just looking at their top draft-eligible defenseman last year David Green, I had hopes he was underscouted and could surprise. Was a young August birthday, 6'2" frame, 18G and 57P in 56GP. Without a lot of scouting reports there was still a lot to like numbers-wise. This year in the USHL he has 2 points in 31 games compared to PPG last year in the OJHL.

The talent level of the OJHL dropped significanty when they changed their model to pay to play. All the top end talent left to tuition free leagues like the NA and USHL

 

[viceroy]

I wouldn't be surprised to see this kid skid all the way outta the draft. I wouldn't mind if the Habs grabbed him with a 7th round pick.

'Cuz he is intriguing.

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

He'll be drafted mid rounds at latest because of his story and because he's huge and skates very well. Teams take gambles on projects with the athletic tools. The players that might not get drafted are the 5'9 forwards who put up good, not great stats. There's always a team that gets overexuberant and reaches for an athlete who can't play hockey (take Javon Moore, picked 4th round last year, for example) because they think if one or two things fall right they could have a steal.

 

[Namejs]

He'll be drafted mid rounds at latest because of his story and because he's huge and skates very well. Teams take gambles on projects with the athletic tools. The players that might not get drafted are the 5'9 forwards who put up good, not great stats. There's always a team that gets overexuberant and reaches for an athlete who can't play hockey (take Javon Moore, picked 4th round last year, for example) because they think if one or two things fall right they could have a steal.

The only reason he might get drafted is due to his place of birth.

 

[ConnorMcMullet]

He'll be drafted mid rounds at latest because of his story and because he's huge and skates very well. Teams take gambles on projects with the athletic tools. The players that might not get drafted are the 5'9 forwards who put up good, not great stats. There's always a team that gets overexuberant and reaches for an athlete who can't play hockey (take Javon Moore, picked 4th round last year, for example) because they think if one or two things fall right they could have a steal.

Yep, and his tools are legitimately rare. GMs will drool over his skating and size combination, regardless of his hockey ability. He’ll go mid-rounds at latest like you said, and I don’t think nationality has anything to do with it.

 

[Namejs]

Oh, I see how it goes. He's got a whole ass article about him on NHL.com. I can see the dollar bills in their eyeballs.

I noticed Wang in the game against Flint. Oshawa scored 7 on them.

Oshawa has a +8 GD in those 3 games and Wang's a -1.

There are an inch shorter defencemen with 40 points in major junior hockey and WJC accolades who don't get drafted.

If you think this guy is special, I bet you first read the articles and then looked him up, not the other way around.

 

[Brock]

Agreed. Just looking at their top draft-eligible defenseman last year David Green, I had hopes he was underscouted and could surprise. Was a young August birthday, 6'2" frame, 18G and 57P in 56GP. Without a lot of scouting reports there was still a lot to like numbers-wise. This year in the USHL he has 2 points in 31 games compared to PPG last year in the OJHL.

Very different player than Wang.

Saw Green several times last year when trying to get a good read on Morello. He was ranked 171st by us at McKeen's, but only because some of my staff really liked him. For me, he would have been outside our seven rounds. The skating never popped. A lot of production from point shots or exits. I didn't see the offensive production translating a whole lot. One of those jacks of all trades types that can be scary to project, let alone ones from Tier 2.

Where as Wang is as raw as raw can be. Seen him once live and a bunch of video so far, hope to get back a couple more times live (at least once in the OHL). The skating is outstanding...not just for his size, but for any player. And he has an abundance of skill. He's creative. He's also a physical presence when he's fully engaged. It's about whether he can put it all together. The decision making leaves a lot to be desired. Whether that improves or not remains to be seen. But scouts do rank Wang extremely high because the upside is through the roof. While he's not going to be drafted AS HIGH, it's a similar situation to Dmitri Simashev. You're willing to look past some warts because he has some absolutely plus tools on the backend.

Now Wang wouldn't be a top 50 rated player for me. We've currently got him 53rd and he'll probably be a bit lower on our next one. But, when you're picking outside the top two rounds, you're looking for guys with plus tools who need fine tuning and development. And that's Wang.

 

[Namejs]

Very different player than Wang.

Saw Green several times last year when trying to get a good read on Morello. He was ranked 171st by us at McKeen's, but only because some of my staff really liked him. For me, he would have been outside our seven rounds. The skating never popped. A lot of production from point shots or exits. I didn't see the offensive production translating a whole lot. One of those jacks of all trades types that can be scary to project, let alone ones from Tier 2.

Where as Wang is as raw as raw can be. Seen him once live and a bunch of video so far, hope to get back a couple more times live (at least once in the OHL). The skating is outstanding...not just for his size, but for any player. And he has an abundance of skill. He's creative. He's also a physical presence when he's fully engaged. It's about whether he can put it all together. The decision making leaves a lot to be desired. Whether that improves or not remains to be seen. But scouts do rank Wang extremely high because the upside is through the roof. While he's not going to be drafted AS HIGH, it's a similar situation to Dmitri Simashev. You're willing to look past some warts because he has some absolutely plus tools on the backend.

Now Wang wouldn't be a top 50 rated player for me. We've currently got him 53rd and he'll probably be a bit lower on our next one. But, when you're picking outside the top two rounds, you're looking for guys with plus tools who need fine tuning and development. And that's Wang.

Comparing him to a guy who played major pro hockey at his age and held his own defensively against grown men in one of the best hockey leagues in the world is completely ludicrous.

This is groupthink gone wild.

 

[Albatros]

I wouldn't worry much at all about Wang holding his own against grown men with his size and skating, other than that his floor is very low of course.

 

[Namejs]

I wouldn't worry much at all about Wang holding his own against grown men with his size and skating, other than that his floor is very low of course.

He's not holding his own against children.

I'm a numbers guy. OJHL is a shit tier league. In terms of NHL point equivalencies, his showing there is about on par with him being a ppg guy in the Russian U16 league.

Do you know how many players of his size are playing over there? A few dozen each year. There's literally a 100 Russian junior teams playing in that league.

They're all mostly 15 and 14 year olds. Scoring at the same pace Wang does in his draft year. The overwhelming majority of them never even become major junior players.

And you're telling me he's a 2nd round prospect because you like his skating?

 

[Albatros]

I wouldn't draft him in the 2nd round, but you draft upside and if the player doesn't make it then it doesn't really matter by how much that was. Already in the 3rd or 4th round most players will never make it, and then you can start looking for the most interesting projects. Eventually some team will get to Wang, and I don't think that's out of place. I also don't expect him to ever make the NHL or come particularly close, but regardless he's no Song Andong.

 

[Vikz]

Like, WTF
Ranked #57 by CONSOLIDATED RANKING
Ranked #35 by ELITEPROSPECTS.COM
Ranked #58 by TSN/CRAIG BUTTON
Ranked #53 by MCKEEN'S HOCKEY
Ranked #60 by FCHOCKEY

I get that the league or some teams might push for him in some desperate struggle for Chinese audience, but what's the end game for those analysts?
Also, the Chinese don't care about hockey. Did they not learn from Kunlun in KHL? A team with all the administrative resources somehow was attended by 300 people.

 

[MHO]

The Blackhawks currently have 2 1sts and 2 2nds in the 25 draft. I'm pretty sure that they will have at least 1 more 2nd after the deadline and I would not be at all disappointed at all if they used one of the 2nds on this kid. Yeah, he's raw with a really low floor but he's got a really high ceiling to go with it.

When you have 3 2nds, it allows you to take gambles like this. In 2022, they had 3 1sts and used the last one at 25 overall to take Sam Rinzel - another raw high ceiling kid and that one looks to be paying off in spades. I'd be surprised if he lasts past the end of the 2nd round.

 

[Namejs]

I wouldn't draft him in the 2nd round, but you draft upside and if the player doesn't make it then it doesn't really matter by how much that was. Already in the 3rd or 4th round most players will never make it, and then you can start looking for the most interesting projects. Eventually some team will get to Wang, and I don't think that's out of place. I also don't expect him to ever make the NHL or come particularly close, but regardless he's no Song Andong.

I get the idea and I disagree completely. Not with the concept of drafting upside, but that this guy has any major upside.

There's a mountain of difference between the 2nd round and the 7th round. A late 2nd round pick is literally worth a 100 times more than a 7th round flyer.

He's rated as a late 2nd rounder. It does not make any sense to me.

 

[Namejs]

The Blackhawks currently have 2 1sts and 2 2nds in the 25 draft. I'm pretty sure that they will have at least 1 more 2nd after the deadline and I would not be at all disappointed at all if they used one of the 2nds on this kid. Yeah, he's raw with a really low floor but he's got a really high ceiling to go with it.

When you have 3 2nds, it allows you to take gambles like this. In 2022, they had 3 1sts and used the last one at 25 overall to take Sam Rinzel - another raw high ceiling kid and that one looks to be paying off in spades. I'd be surprised if he lasts past the end of the 2nd round.

Sam Rinzel was one of the top 10 defencemen of his draft year in the USHL.

Wang is in a similar tier in OJHL.

The distribution of talent follows a bell curve/normal distribution. The number of players who belong in the same tier with Rinzel are in the dozens.

The number of players of the same caliber as Wang are in the thousands, as his showing is a deviation lower and the league is of the same quality as dozens of other junior leagues, not players.

The comparison is invalid.

 

[Albatros]

That's a matter of assessment, indeed if I look at him and the early 2nd Eliasson then the only thing he doesn't really have is the mean streak. The rest is mostly coachable. Maybe Eliasson will ultimately play in the SHL and Wang for the Beijing Lions barely professional but that's then meaningless.

 

[bigdog16]

He'll be drafted mid rounds at latest because of his story and because he's huge and skates very well. Teams take gambles on projects with the athletic tools. The players that might not get drafted are the 5'9 forwards who put up good, not great stats. There's always a team that gets overexuberant and reaches for an athlete who can't play hockey (take Javon Moore, picked 4th round last year, for example) because they think if one or two things fall right they could have a steal.

Moore is 10x the athlete Wang is. I would maybe take a flyer on him in the 6th or 7th. But 2nd, or even 3rd round, is lunacy.

 

[MHO]

Sam Rinzel was one of the top 10 defencemen of his draft year in the USHL.

Wang is in a similar tier in OJHL.

The distribution of talent follows a bell curve/normal distribution. The number of players who belong in the same tier with Rinzel are in the dozens.

The number of players of the same caliber as Wang are in the thousands, as his showing is a deviation lower and the league is of the same quality as dozens of other junior leagues, not players.

The comparison is invalid.

I don't exactly remember how Rinzel was looked at in his draft year but I would guess that he was ranked similar to how Simon Wang is ranked now - somewhere between 30 and 60. If you disagree with those analysts, then sure you can challenge that but I'll surrender that they know more than me.

I stand by my original point that while his floor is incredibly low, his ceiling is just as high. And if my team, who is probably going to have a boatload of 2nd round picks, uses one of them on this kid, I'll be happy about it. That said, I wouldn't see a team with limited draft capital taking him before the 4th or 5th round.

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

The Blackhawks currently have 2 1sts and 2 2nds in the 25 draft. I'm pretty sure that they will have at least 1 more 2nd after the deadline and I would not be at all disappointed at all if they used one of the 2nds on this kid. Yeah, he's raw with a really low floor but he's got a really high ceiling to go with it.

When you have 3 2nds, it allows you to take gambles like this. In 2022, they had 3 1sts and used the last one at 25 overall to take Sam Rinzel - another raw high ceiling kid and that one looks to be paying off in spades. I'd be surprised if he lasts past the end of the 2nd round.

Sam Rinzel was nowhere near the level of project that Wang is.

He was legitimately a decent USHL player in his draft year, which isn’t too much different from being a decent OHL player in your draft year. Wang isn’t a decent OHL player in his draft year, and he wouldn’t be a decent USHL player either.

 

[Namejs]

I don't exactly remember how Rinzel was looked at in his draft year but I would guess that he was ranked similar to how Simon Wang is ranked now - somewhere between 30 and 60. If you disagree with those analysts, then sure you can challenge that but I'll surrender that they know more than me.

I stand by my original point that while his floor is incredibly low, his ceiling is just as high. And if my team, who is probably going to have a boatload of 2nd round picks, uses one of them on this kid, I'll be happy about it. That said, I wouldn't see a team with limited draft capital taking him before the 4th or 5th round.

I get your point, but the view of him having an incredibly high ceiling is unfalsifiable and therefore useless.

All the player comparisons brought up here have been of legitimate draft prospects. Like, I agree that it might be worth drafting someone like Rinzel higher than his numbers would suggest. It makes sense.

A 2nd round pick is not by any means worthless. About 1/3 of them become NHLers. If you have 3 2nd round picks, you're bound to end up with 1 career NHLer on average in the long-term. You have to assign a probability to this guy actually panning out to make a decision like this.

Let's imagine a best case scenario for this guy. Can you name some examples of that scenario playing out with some other player of similar caliber in real life? How many such cases exist?

 

[viceroy]

The only reason he might get drafted is due to his place of birth.

So you one of those conspiracy nutjobs that see CCCP plans whenever a Chinese dude shows up?

There are an inch shorter defencemen with 40 points in major junior hockey and WJC accolades who don't get drafted.

So you're claiming there are 6'5" defensemen that score 40pts in the CHL and that don't get drafted? Can these hypothetical D-men skate like this Wang kid?

This is groupthink gone wild.

Because people disagree with you? When a crap ton of people are peacefully chatting about a person and then you show up stand in a corner and start yelling and calling everyone else stupid well... Maybe the problem is...

Do you know how many players of his size are playing over there? A few dozen each year. There's literally a 100 Russian junior teams playing in that league.

They're all mostly 15 and 14 year olds. Scoring at the same pace Wang does in his draft year. The overwhelming majority of them never even become major junior players.

And you're telling me he's a 2nd round prospect because you like his skating?

So now you're claiming that 6'6" guys are clogging up the Russian junior leagues? Buddy, if you know of any guys like that and can skate like him... Tell a major NHL team. MTL, TOR, NYR they'll send a scout right over to check them out.

Also a 6'6" kid that can skate is a big deal.

I get the idea and I disagree completely. Not with the concept of drafting upside, but that this guy has any major upside.

He's 6'6" and can skate real good. It begins and ends there. If he pans out man. It's like if you find a 7'4" Basketball player who has great dribbling and footwork but needs work at everything else. NCAA teams will heavily scout him because you can't teach size.

The number of players of the same caliber as Wang are in the thousands, as his showing is a deviation lower and the league is of the same quality as dozens of other junior leagues, not players.

So there are thousands of 6'6" players who can skate well in the CHL/BCHL/USHL according to you?

Like, WTF

I get that the league or some teams might push for him in some desperate struggle for Chinese audience, but what's the end game for those analysts?
Also, the Chinese don't care about hockey. Did they not learn from Kunlun in KHL? A team with all the administrative resources somehow was attended by 300 people.

F*ck Kunlun. This is for the NHL we're talking about man. There's a reason why all these scouts are looking at this kid. Size + skating. They may think him being Chinese is a cute narrative but they don't work in the team's marketing department.