Official 2025 NHL DRAFT Thread

[BillDineen]

 

[Gregor Samsa]

If you want to shoot for upside it’s gotta be McQueen or Bear, I think. Otherwise it’s hoping O’Brien or Martin break out. The fact that the Flyers like Desnoyers gives me comfort though. I know he isn’t popular here but he’s probably the best option unless things get wild on draft night

 

[ValeriKamensky]

McQueen is better than this guy, and I don’t have any doubt.

McQueen is better than almost every player from this class, but who cares because of his back and neck.

 

[StoneColdAnimal]

Can't wait for the Flyers to pick 6th and pick McQueen and everything is bad.

At 6, rather shoot for the stars with McQueen than take another player that’s ceiling is an average 2C.

Edit - not saying McQueen is that guy (there may not be one in this draft). Main point, at 6, try to find a possible superstar, even if the odds say he won’t get there. Middling sixers get you nowhere.

 

[FatTugboatFlahr]

Holy mackerel, I had low expectations for Martin, and he still came up short. 4 periods in, but there’s zero chance I’m missing anything. I’ve watched someone like McQueen: he’s old for the class and obviously a floor pick. But I do think he’s a center, and he’s fine if you just envision a 3C ceiling. There’s some functional ability and surprisingly good footwork for his size. It’s bad for this range, but I don’t have dislike for the player.

But Martin is completely plodding in his mobility. Sluggish short strides and footwork. Legit below average NHL hands — can barely handle a puck. That’s the heaviest hitting I saw. Aimless floater away from it offensively. Not convinced he’s a center projecting up. This is your nightmare pick. McQueen is better than this guy, and I don’t have any doubt. I honestly wonder if Martin is a 4th line NHLer.

This class BLOWS. I will cry laugh at the team that takes him top 10. Woof.

I fell asleep watching his game against Subury.

He was getting caved in.

 

[Appleyard]

McQueen is better than almost every player from this class, but who cares because of his back and neck.

I just dont know about that tbh... even when healthy a year earlier?

Martone was clearly better and Martone might be there.

Tbh every year from age 14 onwards Martone has been a clear step ahead of McQueen.

And then a guy like Eklund is also very, very good already.

 

[Appleyard]

If it were me?

Whoever of Hagens, Frondell, Martone or Eklund who is the guy at #6?

Would be the guy I would take. I think anything else is probably overthinking.

BUT know a lot of people have Desnoyers, McQueen and even O'Brien in the top 6... none are "bad" players and all for sure have chance to be 60+ point 2Cs if hit.

But the next 2-3 years will be far more stressful I think hoping they develop well than Martone and Eklund who could probably hold own in NHL bottom six role next year. And both have higher upside too in my eyes. Higher upside, and higher floor.

 

[IronMarshal]

Lots to recommend it. Campus life and lighter schedule vs riding buses all over rural Canada. And still get to go to WJC.

Better strength training, more practice time, better rink and fan environment ,and dare I say, co-Ed’s? Lots of co-Ed’s.

 

[CerpinTaxt]

Any thoughts on Ravensbergen, Ivankovic, or Medvedev? I wouldn’t mind a goalie with one of the 2nds. Probably a good idea to always keep your goalie pipeline well stocked with talent

It’s also weird looking on the boards of the other teams drafting around us. Different boards like different players

Just go BPA keep it simple. If it's a goalie so be it

Holy mackerel, I had low expectations for Martin, and he still came up short. 4 periods in, but there’s zero chance I’m missing anything. I’ve watched someone like McQueen: he’s old for the class and obviously a floor pick. But I do think he’s a center, and he’s fine if you just envision a 3C ceiling.

Getting another 3C with an even higher pick would just be *chef's kiss* the ultimate Flyers dream

 

[ValeriKamensky]

I have nothing against Eklund, but reading his thread I’m still trying to realize that people who:
- making fun of Martin and Desnoyers;
- want elite skills;
- rooting for Eklund

are the same people. Guys, it’s time to realize: not every undersized hockey player has elite skills. At least he’s not a William. Different type of a player. He’s about motor, compete and pace - same as Brady and Caleb. Most of you has unreasonable allergy to players who’s taller than 5’11 and rejects obvious

 

[Tarpongg]

This is how I see this going, 2 round mock:

6- Brady Martin

15- trade 23 and 28 to move up to take Jack Nesbitt 6’4 C, (likely would have been available at 28) “we were going to be aggressive to get our guy. Other teams told us he was rising. We have a lot of picks and that gave us a lot of flexibility. Flahrsy and our staff, this is someone they loved.”

36- Haoxi Wang 6’6 D who sucks, but “it’s no secret we wanted to add size to our organization”

40- traded to FL for the negotiating rights to Sam Bennett. “We see him as our future 1C and it’s hard to get those guys. We are confident we will get a deal done.” 9yr $81M for the oldest 28yo in NHL history.

45- traded to Tampa for their 2026 2nd rd pick. “We had so many picks, you can only take so many.”

48- Alexis Medvedev G - over drafted by 20 picks, “but you can never have enough goalies in your system”

 

[CerpinTaxt]

This is how I see this going, 2 round mock:

6- Brady Martin

15- trade 23 and 28 to move up to take Jack Nesbitt 6’4 C, (likely would have been available at 28) “we were going to be aggressive to get our guy. Other teams told us he was rising. We have a lot of picks and that gave us a lot of flexibility. Flahrsy and our staff, this is someone they loved.”

36- Haoxi Wang 6’6 D who sucks, but “it’s no secret we wanted to add size to our organization”

40- traded to FL for the negotiating rights to Sam Bennett. “We see him as our future 1C and it’s hard to get those guys. We are confident we will get a deal done.” 9yr $81M for the oldest 28yo in NHL history.

45- traded to Tampa for their 2026 2nd rd pick. “We had so many picks, you can only take so many.”

48- Alexis Medvedev G - over drafted by 20 picks, “but you can never have enough goalies in your system”

Im all for big, so long as it's a big Wang

 

[Larry44]

I fell asleep watching his game against Subury.

He was getting caved in.

I started watching a Brantford vs Saginaw game I have on my PVR from the regular season. Neither Misa nor O'Brien look very good at all. Maybe a bad half game, but I was not impressed by either of them.

 

[SolidSnakeUS]

It still does seem that there is a wild possibility that Frondell still drops to us at 6. Or maybe people pass on Hagens because he's not 6 foot and he drops. I truly hate that the Flyers dropped so far, but man, there ARE avenues to being better. And I f***ing hate that we keep talking about Martin. f*** that shit.

 

[Larry44]

Haven't seen much of Desnoyers, but you can watch his highlights for Moncton Wildcats here. He's the leading playoff scorer: LHJMQ and LHJMQ

Scored a nice goal in the series clincher, but also tipped in a goal on his own goalie. Not sure of their team make up, i.e. letting veteran play, but he didn't seem to be on the ice at the end of the game at crunch time.

LHJMQ Nice video package too.

 

[Rebels57]

Charlie speculated that the recent rumor orf Jay McKee as the next coach may indicate they like JOB

DO NOT REFER TO HIM AS JOB.

 

[Rebels57]

Oh boy two jett luchankos!

Frondell's shot is lightyears better.

 

[EdmFlyersfan]

At 6, rather shoot for the stars with McQueen than take another player that’s ceiling is an average 2C.

Edit - not saying McQueen is that guy (there may not be one in this draft). Main point, at 6, try to find a possible superstar, even if the odds say he won’t get there. Middling sixers get you nowhere.

I wouldn't touch McQueen within the top 10, way too risky for Philly.

 

[StoneColdAnimal]

This draft feels particularly unusual to me. While the top prospects are all well-regarded, none stand out as clear-cut franchise players. Personally, I lean toward James Hagens at the moment—I just can't ignore his performance at international tournaments, especially his record-setting runs at the U-17 and U-18 levels.

Given that, whether we pick at 4 or 6 doesn’t make a huge difference to me. In fact, picking slightly later might help us avoid overthinking and trying to be the smartest team in the room.

Separately, I’ve found myself liking a number of players projected in the 18–30 range more than some of the ones slotted between 8–20. Those later guys seem to have more projectable traits that teams can realistically build on.

Benjamin Kindel, Cullen Potter, Cole Reschny, Jack Murtagh, Sascha Boumedienne, Milton Gastrin, and Nikita Ryabkin are all players I like—sometimes even more than the so-called earlier picks—because each has at least one trait I think can translate well at the NHL level.

Note: I’m not a scout, and I don’t pretend to be. I’ll watch highlights when I can (not full scouting videos unitl I have my own feel for a player), international tournaments, and a decent amount of college hockey. If something pops when I’m watching—especially if the Flyers might be in range—I’ll pay a bit more attention. I fully get that scouting highlights can be a disaster, but if I don’t see a trait that translates in highlights, I’m probably not going to find it anywhere else.

 

[BernieParent]

DO NOT REFER TO HIM AS JOB.

Job is a pretty good book of the Bible to represent the Flyers.

 

[Gregor Samsa]

At this point, with everyone down on this draft, I’m just hoping we come out of it with a legit 2C, something we’ve been looking for for almost 10 years on the Flyers. Eventually they’ll have to draft their top 6 centers because few teams give them up in their prime or youth. I’m not sure there will be any guys with a good chance of being a 1C when the Flyers are in the board, those guys go like 1 or 2. I guess the hope can always be that we are lucky and hit a homerun

Eklund and Martone should still be on the table. I’ve seen quite a few people say they think Eklund is better than Frondell outside of his shot

 

[JojoTheWhale]

I'm not very fan into Mrtka yet, but I'm watching this kid dump the puck out of his own zone over and over like everything is a PK Shift in 1996. Is there any chance this is a coaching point? I'm leaning toward no because he seems uncomfortable in breakouts even when he tries, but I'm out of touch on the current Juniors environment.

I don't want to spend any more time on him if he's just not my style of Defenseman to consider this high. I'm not against the archetype if I don't love anyone else. But they have to give me a transition game.

 

[Captain Dave Poulin]

I like the idea of Jack Murtagh, on the off chance that we can get a Riggs in the system at some point and say "I'm too old for this shit" all the time. I like Ryabkin, obviously. And hopefully we can snag Rimpinen, since he was on my WJC team. Otherwise, this draft can f*** off.

 

[DrinkFightFlyers]

The Athletic has us taking Frondell at 6 (Desnoyers goes to Utah at 4, Hagens to Nashville at 5). I'm cool with that I would have been fine taking him at 4.

NHL Mock Draft 2025: Matthew Schaefer to Islanders as we pick for every lottery team

Following the lottery, a collection of our NHL reporters combined for a mock draft of the first 16 picks.

www.nytimes.com

 

[Power Surge]

What would the chances of Utah trading the 4th with the Flyers. It's not that Utah expected to be there and maybe they would be ok with 6. I guess unless the player the Flyers are most interested in just happens to fall at 6.