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

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Namejs said:
I am going to repeat myself, but his Central Scouting ranking is starting to make me lose my trust in how earnest they are in assessing him.

The guy is a bad hockey player. He literally would not make Team Kazakhstan.

If you're drafting him, you're throwing your draft pick in the bin. That's all there is to say.
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You're not. He's a good pick for the later rounds because of his size and him being such an amazing athlete. Since he's so far behind everybody else when it comes to technique and other hockey skills I think his NHL upside is somewhat limited but he surely wouldn't be a bad pick for the later rounds.
 
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Hinterland said:
Yeah but how much of a "home run swing" can you potentially be if you're so far behind everybody else skill wise? I don't wanna say he can't make it to the NHL but if you can't really make plays in the OHL then you're rather unlikely to make them in a pro league, let alone the NHL.

So for me it's kinda tough to envision Wang becoming more than a stay at home 6th/7th defenseman at NHL level. If you can't make plays in major junior you're unlikely to do it in the NHL. And frankly, while he did look very solid in a sheltered role on a good team I don't think he's been nearly as aggressive or physical enough as NHL teams would like to see from such a stay at home depth defenseman.

I may be too negative but name me a "home run swing" draft pick with similarly underdeveloped hockey skills that went on to become a true top4 NHL defenseman. I can't think of one and I'm pretty sure it rarely ever happens. Even a guy like Andrew Peeke had a 30 points draft season in the USHL. It's just gonna be an uphill climb for Wang.

I personally think there are stronger teams than Oshawa in the OHL but even if they go on a run I'm pretty sure Wang is barely gonna play.
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Perhaps and you make great points but all he has to show is some glimpses of potential and some team is going to be dreaming Chara light here.
 
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wetcoast said:
Perhaps and you make great points but all he has to show is some glimpses of potential and some team is going to be dreaming Chara light here.
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Chara was playing vs men in his draft season. Wang is very far off that level. When it comes to making plays or actually driving play I've yet to see any potential from Wang. He's been competent against the puck in a limited role but his game with the puck is very underwhelming. At this point I think you'd have to be dellusional to see NHL top4 upside there. How many NHL top4 defenseman were completely unable to properly handle pucks or make plays in junior hockey during their draft season? That just doesn't happen. The only one I can think of is Brenden Dillon who was very green for a very long time and went undrafted because of it. Even he was better than Wang though.
 
This may end up the biggest draft reach in NHL history if this guy makes round one.

In like round 3 or 4 (even round 2) you can justify that you probably aren’t getting an NHL’er, so you can afford to swing for the fences. What’s the downside? You get a guy who plays 12 games in the AHL instead of 12 in the NHL? But in the first round you should be getting a player who plays in the NHL.

This is a player that arguably is not even good currently for the OHL and probably would get nowhere near the Canadian National Team.

I hate to say it because I don’t think this should matter, but it seems to me that his nationality is playing a role in all of this. Of course the NHL community wants a Chinese star.
 
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I saw him on the one game Oshawa played on TSN a month back.

This will sound like an odd criticism, but he needs to learn how to play hockey. His individual abilities and skills are definitely something that could make him an NHL player one day. But he has no idea how to play in a team and his sense of space/positioning and utilisation of teammates was very bad.

He’s someone that would look great in a skills competition. But he needs to learn how to play the game, and i don’t know if the OHL is the best place to do that

Pavel Buchnevich said:
probably would get nowhere near the Canadian National Team.
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Correct….. because he plays for China
 
Pavel Buchnevich said:
This may end up the biggest draft reach in NHL history if this guy makes round one.

In like round 3 or 4 (even round 2) you can justify that you probably aren’t getting an NHL’er, so you can afford to swing for the fences. What’s the downside? You get a guy who plays 12 games in the AHL instead of 12 in the NHL? But in the first round you should be getting a player who plays in the NHL.

This is a player that arguably is not even good currently for the OHL and probably would get nowhere near the Canadian National Team.

I hate to say it because I don’t think this should matter, but it seems to me that his nationality is playing a role in all of this. Of course the NHL community wants a Chinese star.
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Yeah, at the moment he's clearly too green for the OHL. The Generals are giving him some looks right now but expect him to get scratched come playoff time. If he does play he's most certainly gonna get benched for large parts.
 
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Pavel Buchnevich said:
Are you sure? EP doesn’t list any international hockey for him.

Anyway, I think he wouldn’t be good enough to play for Canada, if he chose to play for them over China.
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I don’t know what the tournament was if it was a IIHF tournament or not, but unlinke someone like He of Niagara, he is a Chinese-trained player
 
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Pavel Buchnevich said:
This may end up the biggest draft reach in NHL history if this guy makes round one.

In like round 3 or 4 (even round 2) you can justify that you probably aren’t getting an NHL’er, so you can afford to swing for the fences. What’s the downside? You get a guy who plays 12 games in the AHL instead of 12 in the NHL? But in the first round you should be getting a player who plays in the NHL.

This is a player that arguably is not even good currently for the OHL and probably would get nowhere near the Canadian National Team.

I hate to say it because I don’t think this should matter, but it seems to me that his nationality is playing a role in all of this. Of course the NHL community wants a Chinese star.
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Wang is really raw. I agree it would be a reach around 1-2 rounds but at his size and if he can skate the way they say he can I wouldn’t be shocked if a team took him late 2nd/early 3rd
 
Pavel Buchnevich said:
Are you sure? EP doesn’t list any international hockey for him.

Anyway, I think he wouldn’t be good enough to play for Canada, if he chose to play for them over China.
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Canada? He would not make the Latvian junior team.

Whoever drafts him in the 1st round is officially clueless.

You like how he skates? Why not draft Timothy LeDuc and teach him to play hockey?
 
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It's not that complicated. He's only been in Canada five years and only seriously started playing organized hockey when he was 14. Of course he's well behind all the rich Ontario boys who were put on the path to success since they were 5 with parents dropping six figures since they were 10 (yes, I know Wang's family is rich).

He's huge and he skates well. Size cannot be taught. There is hope that with more hockey experience he can be taught to be more of a hockey player. Someone taking him is making a gamble about where he will be in 7 years, with knowledge that he will be a long development curve prospect. Probably goes back to Junior. Enters college at 19 and then plays three years there, not even turning professional fully until he is 22.

There is a high likelihood he is not AHL worthy. But there's also the possibility you get a monster sized great skating defenseman. That is an upside that could be worth pursuing as opposed to just throwing a pick at a guy you expect will play 300 NHL games in a bottom six role for 6 different teams.
 
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WarriorofTime said:
It's not that complicated. He's only been in Canada five years and only seriously started playing organized hockey when he was 14. Of course he's well behind all the rich Ontario boys who were put on the path to success since they were 5 with parents dropping six figures since they were 10 (yes, I know Wang's family is rich).

He's huge and he skates well. Size cannot be taught. There is hope that with more hockey experience he can be taught to be more of a hockey player. Someone taking him is making a gamble about where he will be in 7 years, with knowledge that he will be a long development curve prospect. Probably goes back to Junior. Enters college at 19 and then plays three years there, not even turning professional fully until he is 22.

There is a high likelihood he is not AHL worthy. But there's also the possibility you get a monster sized great skating defenseman. That is an upside that could be worth pursuing as opposed to just throwing a pick at a guy you expect will play 300 NHL games in a bottom six role for 6 different teams.
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I think this is exactly what they're thinking except literally none of this corresponds to reality and is basically fairy dust. It's a made up narrative.

Let's look at the facts.

Wang started playing organized hockey at the age of 4. His mother owns an ice rink, a figure skating club and a hockey school and a hockey club in Beijing.

He worked his ass off as a kid. Which is why he skates good. It's not by some divine providence or natural talent he became a good skater. He practiced since he was 4. At his mother's ice rink, skating club and hockey club. Not sure how many "rich Ontario boys" are showered with opportunities like that since they were toddlers.

There was an influx of foreign coaches in Beijing since 2015, as the country prepared for the Olympics. To paint this kid as some poor guy with limited opportunities is f***ing ludicrous. They literally joined KHL/VHL and I know first hand that former Latvian Olympic ice hockey players went over there and coached kids for ridiculous money.

He's had more opportunities than 99.9% of players to ever set foot on NHL ice. He's been f***ing showered with developmental opportunities.

Her mother bought the OJHL team he started playing on to shower him with even more opportunities.

Also, Wang moved to Canada when he was 12.

He's not raw because he's from China. That is bullshit. He's close to his absolute peak as a hockey player and will not improve much. Probably less than your average 17 year old.

Why do you all willfully fool yourselves into thinking this poor kid moved to Canada yesterday and is about to experience some magical transformation at the age of 18?
 
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WarriorofTime said:
You can think this, but this would be a not commonly held belief.
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I just explained it to you.

Which part of what I said was unclear?

There's news articles on Xinhua, videos on youtube with his mother's Beijing Capitals playing U7 hockey in her rink. There's news articles in Russian.

Do you want me to list the names of the coaches?

I don't give two shits about beliefs. Give me a single valid, evidence-based argument as to why this kid should enjoy a steeper developmental curve from ages 17 to 18 compared to anyone else on that prospect list.

It's usually the other way around with large and physically developed junior players.
 
Namejs said:
I just explained it to you.

Which part of what I said was unclear?

There's news articles on Xinhua, videos on youtube with his mother's Beijing Capitals playing U7 hockey in her rink. There's news articles in Russian.

Do you want me to list the names of the coaches?

I don't give two shits about beliefs. Give me a single valid, evidence-based argument as to why this kid should enjoy a steeper developmental curve from ages 17 to 18 compared to anyone else on that prospect list.

It's usually the other way around with large and physically developed junior players.
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Ok another know it all. I explained all the reasons he might end up going higher than his current level of play but just another “everyone is dumb but me” type. Why would BU offer him a spot if they thought he was tapped out as you claimed? Chinese youth hockey leagues are not well developed. Lack of proper infrastructure. I didn’t say he was only exposed to hockey in any capacity. a couple years ago. Just not playing in a structured setting until recently.

“In China, we don’t have a lot of systems and we’re missing the soul of hockey. It’s just trying to do your own thing, get the puck, curl around and do the Wayne Gretzky stuff,” he said, chuckling. “I was just running around. Looking back on it I feel like I wasn’t playing hockey, I was just there on the rink skating around.”

There was no hockey during the pandemic, and he went back to China for a bit before returning to Canada fully and really getting going with hockey.
 
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WarriorofTime said:
Ok another know it all. I explained all the reasons he might end up going higher than his current level of play but just another “everyone is dumb but me” type. Why would BU offer him a spot if they thought he was tapped out as you claimed? Chinese youth hockey leagues are not well developed. Lack of proper infrastructure. I didn’t say he was only exposed to hockey in any capacity. a couple years ago. Just not playing in a properly structured setting until recently.
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I'm sorry that pointing out your errors made you feel bad.

Focus on not making things up if you don't want me to continue pointing it out.

The Russian coach who went on to coach at his mother's junior team was literally amazed at how good the infrastructure and the facilities are. That's a quote.

How much do you know about the infrastructure for hockey in Beijing, how many news articles have you read, have you read any interviews, have you been there? Have you seen any of the games?

Let's be honest, you have no idea what you're talking about.

He has been playing in Canada since he was 12. To claim that he's recently started playing organized hockey is being willfully ignorant even if you are clueless about the development of hockey in Beijing before the Olympics, etc.

Also, his older brother is studying at BU as well.
 
Namejs said:
I'm sorry that pointing out your errors made you feel bad.

Focus on not making things up if you don't want me to continue pointing it out.

The Russian coach who went on to coach at his mother's junior team was literally amazed at how good the infrastructure and the facilities are. That's a quote.

How much do you know about the infrastructure for hockey in Beijing, how many news articles have you read, have you read any interviews, have you been there? Have you seen any of the games?

Let's be honest, you have no idea what you're talking about.

He has been playing in Canada since he was 12. To claim that he's recently started playing organized hockey is being willfully ignorant even if you are clueless about the development of hockey in Beijing before the Olympics, etc.

Also, his older brother is studying at BU as well.
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Hey buddy you’re the one throwing a temper tantrum all over the thread because some child you never met may get drafted because you don’t like the country he’s from. The Great Chinese infrastructure that caused him to move to Canada as a young child just to play hockey? Use some common sense here. The Chinese leagues are not well organized, don’t contain structure. Uh yes the rinks are nice and this kid spent a lot of time becoming a great skater. Which has nothing to do with developing hockey players which is why Chinese junior leagues are non existent and nobody goes directly from China into a prominent junior league. Crappy little Latvian hockey schools produce a consistent and much more reliable stream of hockey players because there is some infrastructure which best no infrastructure.

Do you understand what Covid-19 was? He was not playing hockey in Canada when kid hockey in Canada was not happening due to the pandemic. It’s not that hard to understand. Once the pandemic ended, he came back to Canada and could play hockey in earnest. These are just facts.

Continue to spew all over the thread your bizarre hatred of this kid because you think he’s friends with Putin or whatever is motivating you.
 
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