Prospect Info: Draft 2025: Is it too late to tank? Asking for a friend

[eXile3]

The players were never going to purposefully lose. Anyone thinking they would are being ridiculous.

It was up to the GM. HE decided it was more important to keep players for next year. Could have traded Rakell like Boston did with Marchant and we would have been right down there with them.

 

[The Old Master]

Yep and everyone here would be stoked and for good reason. 9th feels like huge letdown in comparison. Hell 7th would be good relative to where we are now.

reason no 35 on why we should trade up.

 

[Le Magnifique 66]

The way this season has gone and ended, I'm fully expecting the Pens to pick McQueen

 

[Rakell67]

The way this season has gone and ended, I'm fully expecting the Pens to pick McQueen

I admit I'm not that knowledgeable on the prospects but I believe Jesse stated that McQueen is a defensive hound creating turnovers and such. Could this be a case like Muzzin (also had a back injury) where he goes on to have a productive career? I know little about the injury he suffered. Thanks!

 

[chethejet]

McQueen if he is medically sound is a big hit or miss here. He may be the kind of center that just never elevates his skills. Or he matures and adds the size and strength to be a force around the net. If he is there at 9, draft him. Pens need to get a center and if O'brien is off the boards as are the other top centers, he is my pick.

 

[Ugene Magic]

Like, I can see Dubas reaching all the way out for Benjamin Kindel. He's the next NHLe player left at 37.7 then Bear and then Martin

The players were never going to purposefully lose. Anyone thinking they would are being ridiculous.

It was up to the GM. HE decided it was more important to keep players for next year. Could have traded Rakell like Boston did with Marchant and we would have been right down there with them.

Marchand was a UFA and also injured at the time.

They were almost there while still having Rakell. They made other decisions that brought about the resurgence. Jarry + McGroarty/Koivunen.

Boston ended up 5th and the Pens were 1 loss away from #7 and 2 losses away from being #5.

 

[Guins71]

The players were never going to purposefully lose. Anyone thinking they would are being ridiculous.

It was up to the GM. HE decided it was more important to keep players for next year. Could have traded Rakell like Boston did with Marchant and we would have been right down there with them.

100% correct. Dubas had an opportunity to trade 67 and 24 in a market that screamed trade. It will never be that high in the summer. In return, he would have had a less talented team and demoralized roster. He keeps making moves to keep this team mediocre instead of rebuilding it

 

[eXile3]

I admit I'm not that knowledgeable on the prospects but I believe Jesse stated that McQueen is a defensive hound creating turnovers and such. Could this be a case like Muzzin (also had a back injury) where he goes on to have a productive career? I know little about the injury he suffered. Thanks!

McQueen is not D, he’s a forward.

The more I hear about McQueen the more I think Brian Boyle. I think we shoot a little higher.

 

[CheckingLineCenter]

IMO McQueen’s upside is jumbo version of Sam Reinhart. There’s just a lot of projection needed to get there and obv a ton of downside with his injury.

Past a lotto win, I am hoping Eklund gets to us and we take him.

If Schaefer/Misa/Hagens/Martone/Eklund/Frondell aren’t there I am really at a loss for who to pick. May be unpopular but I think I go Smith next.

Feel like it’s pretty popular to be lower on Desnoyers - which I agree with- than the pro teams are but Lakovic is the guy public scouts all seem to like that I really can’t get on board with, despite the clear talent. I don’t know how you teach what he needs, which is aggression.

 

[Ragamuffin Gunner]

Seriously, I wonder how far we'd have to drop in the draft order for people to think it does make a difference. Like 6th >> 9th regarding draft order, yet some act as if it's no big deal. Would we have to finish 12th, 15th? Where does it matter? Just absolute denial by some.

They'd just move the goalposts like they always do.

Look where Pasta was drafted!
Look where Kutch was drafted!
Look where Stone was drafted!
Look where Dats was drafted!
Look where Horny was drafted!

Losers always defend their loser position, even when they've clearly lost.

 

[Epic Neal Time]

I can see the draft breaking like this

1. SJ - Schaefer
2. CHI - Misa
3. NSH - Martone
4. PHI - Hagens
5. BOS - Desnoyers
6. SEA - Frondell
7. BUF - Mrtka
8. ANA - O'Brien


I feel pretty confident that this will be the top-8 with Mrtka as the big surprise. Wingers are more likely fall and centers/D are more likely to rise. A run of either C/D will put is in a good spot re: Eklund. Just in these last 2 drafts you had Demidov/Eiserman/Connelly/Greentree/Perreault/Sale/Musty/Nadeau all fall relative to pre-draft chatter.

 

[Dominance]

Stop bitching until the lottery.

And then stop bitching anyway because Smith and/or McQueen and/or someone else is going before us and we’re still getting one of O’Brien or Eklund or a basically equivalent prospect to what we would have had at 7.

The moaning is tiring as f*** and laughable when you look at the negligible difference in quality between 6-10 historically. Prospects bust. A dozen of you are frothing at the mouth (and have been for weeks) when nothing is even remotely certain outside of the top-3 (at best). You’ve made sure everyone on these forums understands you’re all torn up. Can we just talk about prospects who’ll be available around 8-12 now?

 

[CheckingLineCenter]

this place would be hilarious if we took Mrtka

 

[Ugene Magic]

IMO McQueen’s upside is jumbo version of Sam Reinhart. There’s just a lot of projection needed to get there and obv a ton of downside with his injury.

Past a lotto win, I am hoping Eklund gets to us and we take him.

If Schaefer/Misa/Hagens/Martone/Eklund/Frondell aren’t there I am really at a loss for who to pick. May be unpopular but I think I go Smith next.

Feel like it’s pretty popular to be lower on Desnoyers - which I agree with- than the pro teams are but Lakovic is the guy public scouts all seem to like that I really can’t get on board with, despite the clear talent. I don’t know how you teach what he needs, which is aggression.

I still don't take McQueen. I stay away from both Desoyers/Carbonneau for being Qmjhl.

If they are not taking a center, I'd move onto Spence/Lakovic and have interests in Martin and even Bear still.

 

[CheckingLineCenter]

I still don't take McQueen. I stay away from both Desoyers/Carbonneau for being Qmjhl.

If they are not taking a center, I'd move onto Spence/Lakovic and have interests in Martin and even Bear still.

Spence or Lakovic would bum me out really hard. Especially Spence. Love(d) Bear but I’m cool on Achilles injury in DY.

Eklund, Smith are my realistic hopes. If they want to go off the board I hope it is for Kindel or Potter.

 

[The Old Master]

I can see the draft breaking like this

1. SJ - Schaefer
2. CHI - Misa
3. NSH - Martone
4. PHI - Hagens
5. BOS - Desnoyers
6. SEA - Frondell
7. BUF - Mrtka
8. ANA - O'Brien

and my biggest fear.

 

[The Old Master]

I still don't take McQueen. I stay away from both Desoyers/Carbonneau for being Qmjhl.

If they are not taking a center, I'd move onto Spence/Lakovic and have interests in Martin and even Bear still.

i too would like to stay away from big guys with back problems but we are stuck in a spot that we need to take chances sooooooooo

 

[Rakell67]

McQueen is not D, he’s a forward.

The more I hear about McQueen the more I think Brian Boyle. I think we shoot a little higher.

I know he's a forward, but he's touted as good defensively.

 

[Empoleon8771]

I'm not wild about McQueen due to his back issues, but if you want to try to make a homerun swing and go for upside, he's probably the highest upside guy they could pick.

I don't think they'll take him for reasons I said regarding the draft history of Dubas and Clarke, but that's definitely more of a homerun swing than someone like Brady Martin would be. I'm not crazy about it but the draft may play out where I think taking McQueen there would actually be the best move.

 

[Jacob]

If they do take McQueen it would only because he passed whatever medical tests they put him through at the combine or individually so he’s a DND for me but they’re privy to more info than I have.

To me though Martin or Spence are comparable to McQueen without the injury issue.

 

[eXile3]

I'm not wild about McQueen due to his back issues, but if you want to try to make a homerun swing and go for upside, he's probably the highest upside guy they could pick.

I don't think they'll take him for reasons I said regarding the draft history of Dubas and Clarke, but that's definitely more of a homerun swing than someone like Brady Martin would be. I'm not crazy about it but the draft may play out where I think taking McQueen there would actually be the best move.

We can just aggregate all the slow players as the league continues to trend faster.

 

[Empoleon8771]

We can just aggregate all the slow players as the league continues to trend faster.

McQueen was ranked as the #6 player in the draft starting the year, ahead of Misa at #7:

James Hagens in pole position for top spot at 2025 NHL Draft | TSN

The Boston College freshman centre is the near-unanimous choice for No. 1 on Bob McKenzie's annual Pre-Season Ranking for the 2025 draft.

www.tsn.ca

Do I want to take him now with their 1st? Not really, but that's due to injury issues. He was viewed as a top prospect in the draft before his injury problems and has a much higher upside than most guys that will be going at #9 or #11.

 

[Guins71]

Roger McQueen just does not sound like a hockey name

 

[Empoleon8771]

If they do take McQueen it would only because he passed whatever medical tests they put him through at the combine or individually so he’s a DND for me but they’re privy to more info than I have.

To me though Martin or Spence are comparable to McQueen without the injury issue.

I haven't looked into Spence much, but I don't see this with Martin. Martin feels like a premium version of Scott Laughton to me. That's not a bad player, but Martin's upside feels like a defensive/gritty middle-6 center. Probably a pretty safe bet to be a 3C, but unlikely to be more than like a 50 point 2C. Could totally be wrong but I'm not seeing enough offensive skill there for me to think the upside is much higher.

McQueen has legit top-6 upside IMO, there's a big range of outcomes that wouldn't surprise me but I think him becoming another Jordan Staal type of 2C is totally possible. To me, I think that's a better outcome than a premium version of Scott Laughton.

 

[Andy99]

High IQ and above average skating…that’s all we should care about…if I hear we took another prospect in the top 10 who needs to work on his skating I’ll scream lol