F Roger McQueen - Brandon Wheat Kings, WHL (2025 Draft)

[AlternateSideParking]

I’ll never get how this kid has maintained top-10 hype when he’s been insanely inconsistent in every game he’s been “healthy” this season. Even his opening-night was blah outside of the garbage goals he scored. Lots of standing around and not enough possession. This is a potential franchise center? Not seeing it except in spurts.

No way I touch him in the top 15. Not a chance. His back will be a target for the rest of his career and the more he slows down as he bulks up, the more he’ll be static near the net-front and get cross-checked hard game in and game out. Back injuries never, ever go away no matter how much yoga, acupuncture, and treatment you get.

This is a center-rich draft. No way I make him the prize of my team’s class. But he’s a Brandon kid and has size so you just know some relic of a GM will drink the scouts’ kool-ade and think the medical staff will fix him up like new. Hard pass.

 

[wetcoast]

Would be hilarious if it’s Columbus that ends up taking him.

My guess is that 100% they don't and go with another position anyways.

 

[KaprizovSaveUs]

I’ll never get how this kid has maintained top-10 hype when he’s been insanely inconsistent in every game he’s been “healthy” this season. Even his opening-night was blah outside of the garbage goals he scored. Lots of standing around and not enough possession. This is a potential franchise center? Not seeing it except in spurts.

No way I touch him in the top 15. Not a chance. His back will be a target for the rest of his career and the more he slows down as he bulks up, the more he’ll be static near the net-front and get cross-checked hard game in and game out. Back injuries never, ever go away no matter how much yoga, acupuncture, and treatment you get.

This is a center-rich draft. No way I make him the prize of my team’s class. But he’s a Brandon kid and has size so you just know some relic of a GM will drink the scouts’ kool-ade and think the medical staff will fix him up like new. Hard pass.

I haven’t watched him much but whenever you have size, skating, and skill, scouts will fall in love.

 

[Gregor Samsa]

I haven’t watched him much but whenever you have size, skating, and skill, scouts will fall in love.

This. Plus all of these kids are raw, unfinished players. If there are no question marks about a prospect they go 1st overall. These guys have a few years at least to hone their game before they have a chance to possibly be impact players.

 

[wintersej]

Fair but if it’s two year job security that you are after, it’s not as if Martin or O’Brien is going to be any more ready to make an actual difference on NHL ice in 1-2 years. I mean maybe you can squint and hope for the best that they can beat the odds and get some NHL action as a depth guy before they are “due” like Poitras…but I think it is short-sighted to consider any potential prospect at #7 anything but having inherent risk. And that being the case, personally, I’d advocate for them to go with a big swing. Just my $0.02. Ain’t my job on the line though

For the record I definitely buy the Brady Martin has Bruins DNA appeal…not predicting the B’s would actually choose McQueen over Martin or O’Brien IRL.

Boston has some good specialists so if the Bruins are good with the medicals enough to make the pick, I would support it. They need another star in the forward group and I suspect they think they will be fighting for the playoffs next year.

 

[brrt]

I’ll never get how this kid has maintained top-10 hype when he’s been insanely inconsistent in every game he’s been “healthy” this season.

6'5" and physical enough that it's a factor, center, shoots right, fantastic hands, no major weaknesses in the rest of his toolkit, been one of the best players in his age group for years.

Back injuries never, ever go away no matter how much yoga, acupuncture, and treatment you get.

His back injury is already gone. The fracture he had has been healed for months. I'm pretty sure back fractures is not something that comes and goes.

 

[Giant Panda]

I’ll never get how this kid has maintained top-10 hype when he’s been insanely inconsistent in every game he’s been “healthy” this season. Even his opening-night was blah outside of the garbage goals he scored. Lots of standing around and not enough possession. This is a potential franchise center? Not seeing it except in spurts.

No way I touch him in the top 15. Not a chance. His back will be a target for the rest of his career and the more he slows down as he bulks up, the more he’ll be static near the net-front and get cross-checked hard game in and game out. Back injuries never, ever go away no matter how much yoga, acupuncture, and treatment you get.

This is a center-rich draft. No way I make him the prize of my team’s class. But he’s a Brandon kid and has size so you just know some relic of a GM will drink the scouts’ kool-ade and think the medical staff will fix him up like new. Hard pass.

You saw a kid standing around, I saw a kid who understood getting into position.

I really don't think he was drifting, I feel he has a really good grasp at finding gaps. He slipped back door a few times during that opening game, including one of the goals.

I watched his opening stretch and thought 'wow, this kid is above Hagens, he could challenge for first overall if he sustains and improves a bit'. Him getting injured will knock him down and likely impacted his development but I would be ecstatic if he fell to the 15th spot.

But that's the joy of watching prospects. People see different things in different players and the collective viewings paint a broad picture of each player.

 

[AlternateSideParking]

6'5" and physical enough that it's a factor, center, shoots right, fantastic hands, no major weaknesses in the rest of his toolkit, been one of the best players in his age group for years.

His back injury is already gone. The fracture he had has been healed for months. I'm pretty sure back fractures is not something that comes and goes.

No major weakness except that he’s inconsistent, doesn’t drive possession as a center, and stands around a lot. And that’s without mentioning the injury stuff. His postseason was concerning.

No thanks.

 

[brrt]

No major weakness except that he’s inconsistent, doesn’t drive possession as a center, and stands around a lot. And that’s without mentioning the injury stuff. His postseason was concerning.

No thanks.

I wouldn't describe consistency, possession driving and not standing around as tools. But those observations are why someone may not consider him one of the best players in this draft class. My answer was in response to your question why he's viewed as a top-10 prospect by a lot of people.

 

[tomd]

6'5" and physical enough that it's a factor, center, shoots right, fantastic hands, no major weaknesses in the rest of his toolkit, been one of the best players in his age group for years.

His back injury is already gone. The fracture he had has been healed for months. I'm pretty sure back fractures is not something that comes and goes.

I still have to ask...where is the production? Especially for an 06 birthday in his 3rd year in the league. He should be ripping up the league not just Moose Jaw. And this from someone who is tantalized by his skillset but unsettled that it hasn't translated to actual points.

 

[AlternateSideParking]

I haven’t watched him much but whenever you have size, skating, and skill, scouts will fall in love.

I get it, but the obsession with size ties into physicality and strength and I didn’t see McQueen exploit them like he should have. The Dub is a pretty easy league to score in.

 

[LeProspector]

I wouldn't describe consistency, possession driving and not standing around as tools. But those observations are why someone may not consider him one of the best players in this draft class. My answer was in response to your question why he's viewed as a top-10 prospect by a lot of people.

Just because a lot of people do something, doesn’t mean you should get in line as well. I and have concluded I don’t like the player in the first round, personally - there are too many question marks to spend a first round pick on him.

 

[BKarchitect]

I still have to ask...where is the production? Especially for an 06 birthday in his 3rd year in the league. He should be ripping up the league not just Moose Jaw. And this from someone who is tantalized by his skillset but unsettled that it has translated to actual points.

This is gonna be a fascinating draft…there are a lot of high production guys with a perceived ceiling on physical upside and a lot of physical traits guys who haven’t really put together the production (or had the health to do so).

Which teams are gonna play it “safe” and which are going to gamble on upside with their top picks…

 

[brrt]

I still have to ask...where is the production? Especially for an 06 birthday in his 3rd year in the league. He should be ripping up the league not just Moose Jaw. And this from someone who is tantalized by his skillset but unsettled that it has translated to actual points.

The production is in the NHL. Or it isn't. Draft year production doesn't have much to do with it one way or another.

Lafreniere put up 112 pts in his draft year, Raymond put up 10. Lots of factors that has nothing to with a player's NHL future goes into their draft year production.

 

[AlternateSideParking]

I wouldn't describe consistency, possession driving and not standing around as tools. But those observations are why someone may not consider him one of the best players in this draft class. My answer was in response to your question why he's viewed as a top-10 prospect by a lot of people.

Fair enough. Had he been healthy we’re probably not having this conversation. I saw him as a top-10 heading into the season but didn’t like his play before he was hurt.

 

[tomd]

The production is in the NHL. Or it isn't. Draft year production doesn't have much to do with it one way or another.

Lafreniere put up 112 pts in his draft year, Raymond put up 10. Lots of factors that has nothing to with a player's NHL future goes into their draft year production.

But it's not just draft year. He was 17 days away from being eligible for the 24 draft and put up less than a ppg average in 23/24.

I understand the argument you are trying to make but I'd hate to be the head scout that tries to convince his GM to take a guy in the top 7-8 picks by saying essentially "trust me".

 

[Montecristo]

The production is in the NHL. Or it isn't. Draft year production doesn't have much to do with it one way or another.

Lafreniere put up 112 pts in his draft year, Raymond put up 10. Lots of factors that has nothing to with a player's NHL future goes into their draft year production.

I wouldnt compare junior production in the 3rd best junior league in canada to production at the highest level of Swedish professional hockey. Typically though, high points in junior does’t necessarily Mean they will be great nhlers, but, low points usually mean theY almost certainly wont be.

 

[nergish]

No major weakness except that he’s inconsistent, doesn’t drive possession as a center, and stands around a lot. And that’s without mentioning the injury stuff. His postseason was concerning.

No thanks.

Sounds terrible. My Canucks will take him at #15

 

[brrt]

Fair enough. Had he been healthy we’re probably not having this conversation. I saw him as a top-10 heading into the season but didn’t like his play before he was hurt.

I didn't like his play either. He looked raw as hell and was old for the draft class, so that was worrying already and then him missing most of the season makes things even worse.

But the tools haven't gone anywhere. The only thing his injury has done is delay his development and impatience is something I'll leave to the NHL teams.

 

[brrt]

I wouldnt compare junior production in the 3rd best junior league in canada to production at the highest level of Swedish professional hockey. Typically though, high points in junior does’t necessarily Mean they will be great nhlers, but, low points usually mean theY almost certainly wont be.

It was to illustrate the point, that I hoped would make it abundantly clear. But I'll spell it out. The league you play in can impact your point production, as can your: ice time, line mates, deployment, system, role, fitness, rustiness, etc. And those factors have basically nothing to do with a player's future in the NHL, therefor their points doesn't matter.

 

[Montecristo]

It was to illustrate the point, that I hoped would make it abundantly clear. But I'll spell it out. The league you play in can impact your point production, as can your: ice time, line mates, deployment, system, role, fitness, rustiness, etc. And those factors have basically nothing to do with a player's future in the NHL, therefor their points doesn't matter.

Points definitely matter.

If you are playing in junior hockey and you arent being deployed, getting ice time, have a minimized role, and are on the 4th line, that means there are at least 9 forwards on your team better than you. That means youre probably not very good. So your lack of point production is because youre not very good.

I think those factors matter 100%. Top end players arent buried on their junior bench.

Shl obviously is different. 18 year old kid playing shl in a minimized role doesnt mean hes bad. So id say points dont matter in professional mens leagues for draft eligible prospects.

 

[brrt]

Points definitely matter.

If you are playing in junior hockey and you arent being deployed, getting ice time, have a minimized role, and are on the 4th line, that means there are at least 9 forwards on your team better than you. That means youre probably not very good. So your lack of point production is because youre not very good.

I think those factors matter 100%. Top end players arent buried on their junior bench.

Shl obviously is different. 18 year old kid playing shl in a minimized role doesnt mean hes bad. So id say points dont matter in professional mens leagues for draft eligible prospects.

Points definitely matter for what?

 

[Montecristo]

Points definitely matter for what?

If a player doesnt put up points in junior hockey, he is far less likely to put up points in the nhl compared to someone who does put up points in junior hockey being productive in the nhl.

And if they arent getting points in junior hockey due to not getting enough ice time or not being out there with the other top line talents on their team, then they probably arent top line talents on their team themselves, so even if a lack of points in a vacuum can be excused away, those excuses also point to the reasons why they arent going to be successful in the nhl.

 

[TheGreenTBer]

I would be shocked if the Bruins took him at 7.

Sweeney got a 2 year extension but his job is still on the line. Choosing McQueen at 7 is just too risky imo.

One of O'Brien or Martin should be available at 7.

No one in this draft screams Boston Bruin to me more than Martin.

 

[brrt]

If a player doesnt put up points in junior hockey, he is far less likely to put up points in the nhl compared to someone who does put up points in junior hockey being productive in the nhl.

And if they arent getting points in junior hockey due to not getting enough ice time or not being out there with the other top line talents on their team, then they probably arent top line talents on their team themselves, so even if a lack of points in a vacuum can be excused away, those excuses also point to the reasons why they arent going to be successful in the nhl.

But surely you understand that's completely irrelevant when we're talking about an individual, as we can look at the reasons for him not producing as much as many other prospects in this draft class and understand that the points have nothing to do with how he'll produce in the NHL. Or like did you look at Wyatt Johnston's draft year production and thought he shouldn't be drafted?