Official 2025 NHL Draft Thread

[SolidSnakeUS]

Porter Martone has the next "big guy bust" written all over him. Briere is probably gonna trade up for him.

He'll draft him because of "culture", not skill.

 

[Appleyard]

The fall of Ivan Ryabkin continues I see.

Really interested to see how he does in rest of USHL season...

this year has been bad. But he has basically for 4 straight years before this one been on "top 5 pick" trajectory.

20-21: Arguably best u-14 districts cup performance in the last 20 years.
21-22: Similar level u-15 districts cup performance to Demidov at same age.
22-23: Top 10 u-16 districts cup performance ever. Similar to Demidov again. Dominant at u-18 level in games he played as a 15 year old.
23-24: Arguably the best performance from a 16 year old in Russia in the last 20 years.

This year? Yeh. Awful. But Dynamo MHL team are totally dysfunctional and have heard that from people in Russia who would know.

20 good games in the USHL and he probably still goes top 10. 20 mediocre and he will probably go 15-32.

 

[BigToe]

Matthew Schaefer a unanimous No. 1 in Bob McKenzie's Mid-season NHL Draft Ranking | TSN

"As far as I’m concerned,” one NHL head scout said, “[Matthew Schaefer] is No. 1 and he’s staying there - even if he never plays another game this season."

www.tsn.ca

Surprised scouts are still that high on Frondell.

 

[BillDineen]

Surprised scouts are still that high on Frondell.

I am sure the Flyers' final scouting meeting will look like the Morin one, but instead all the centers "with more there" bumping better prospects down the list.

 

[mize370]

I wish the front office would try extra hard to get into the top 4 We do have assets . Just have to be creative. Plus i think Misa will be there at 3 or 4 and i think he is going to be a good one.

 

[CutOnDime97]

"This time 10 years ago, we were talking about the Mack and Jack draft. Connor McDavid and Jack Eichel. Believe it or not, at this point in the season, we were still debating who was going to go first overall. No such debate this time around in January of 2025, it is the Matthew Schaefer draft"

What?

 

[FLYguy3911]

It would have to be the (unanimous) #1 pick with the shortest track record of recent memory. We're talking like ~30 games. Admittedly, those performances have come when the scouts are most abundant, but it's still crazy how much things have flipped.

He's an amazing talent and super young but we are talking about about a defenseman who was fourth in points on his own, not very good, blue line last year.

 

[Larry44]

Uh, I thought this was the best draft ever, which is why the Flyers loaded up so heavily in the top rounds? Reading this was a bit disappointing. Could Flahr be full of sh*t?

Matthew Schaefer a unanimous No. 1 in Bob McKenzie's Mid-season NHL Draft Ranking | TSN

Like pretty much every year, the scouts are enamored of the 2025 crop of talent available in the top 10. Actually, make that the top 15. Beyond that, though, the consensus seems to be that the class of 2025 lacks depth of talent.​

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“As good as the top guys are this year,” one scout said, “I’d be surprised if anyone from this draft plays in the NHL next season.”​

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“Nos. 1 to 8 are quite strong, but there’s a bit of a drop off after eight and then again a bigger drop off between 15 and 20,” said another scout.​

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One scout went so far as to say a lot of the players who will be drafted in the bottom half of the first round would in prior years be better suited to being second-round picks.​

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“It’s all relative of course,” the scout said, “but I’d say the second rounders this year would be third rounders in previous years where there was greater depth.”​

 

[FLYguy3911]

Pretty sure they just base the quality of the draft based on who is at the top (Bedard in 2023 = Good, Power in 2021 = Bad). Of course the guy that headlined this class this time last year isn't even the consensus top guy anymore.

Or they just completely blow smoke up our ass when they get an underwhelming return which is also possible.

 

[BobbyClarkeFan16]

Well, Tortorella mentioned the other night that they need size. I'm fully expecting that this draft, it will be McQueen, Nesbitt and Zonnon as the first round picks. Danny will fill that ARGH SIIIIIIIIIIZE and GRRRRRR FORECHECKING quota that Tortorella wants.

 

[Strawberry Fields]

Is this a size queen draft? Across numerous mock drafts and "insider" rankings, I'm seeing a lot of 6'4"-plus North American defensemen with pretty abysmal offensive stats ranked fairly high (second round).

 

[renberg]

Well, Tortorella mentioned the other night that they need size. I'm fully expecting that this draft, it will be McQueen, Nesbitt and Zonnon as the first round picks. Danny will fill that ARGH SIIIIIIIIIIZE and GRRRRRR FORECHECKING quota that Tortorella wants.

A Flyers'/Flahr maxim: size trumps skill.

 

[iceman42]

Well, Tortorella mentioned the other night that they need size. I'm fully expecting that this draft, it will be McQueen, Nesbitt and Zonnon as the first round picks. Danny will fill that ARGH SIIIIIIIIIIZE and GRRRRRR FORECHECKING quota that Tortorella wants.

This is where they get into trouble. We need skill whether that is 6'4" or 5'10".

 

[BigToe]

Is this a size queen draft? Across numerous mock drafts and "insider" rankings, I'm seeing a lot of 6'4"-plus North American defensemen with pretty abysmal offensive stats ranked fairly high (second round).

That’s because the draft sucks, bb. There’s always gonna be 6’3+ dmen ranked way too high though. 6’6 Mrtka is actually one of the best producing dmen this year though.

 

[Strawberry Fields]

That’s because the draft sucks, bb. There’s always gonna be 6’3+ dmen ranked way too high though. 6’6 Mrtka is actually one of the best producing dmen this year though.

Absolutely, but I feel like in recent years, the size reaches are usually scattered between a decent amount of small/average sized dmen with good production/puck movement/overall profile. This year it feels like every guy I look into beyond the top few is 6'5" with like 5 points in 30 games. It looks like a draft from the mid-late 90s. There's hardly anyone beyond the top 15 I've wanted to dig deeper into.

Looking through this draft, I see why the Flyers seem to love this crop so much... I'd be dealing picks for immediate help (still gotta be careful what I wish for).

 

[BigToe]

Absolutely, but I feel like in recent years, the size reaches are usually scattered between a decent amount of small/average sized dmen with good production/puck movement/overall profile. This year it feels like every guy I look into beyond the top few is 6'5" with like 5 points in 30 games. It looks like a draft from the mid-late 90s. There's hardly anyone beyond the top 15 I've wanted to dig deeper into.

Looking through this draft, I see why the Flyers seem to love this crop so much... I'd be dealing picks for immediate help (still gotta be careful what I wish for).

That’s why I haven’t watched anywhere near as much as I usually do. The forwards aren’t that great either. So many of them feel like average middle-six or worse projections.

 

[deadhead]

A Flyers'/Flahr maxim: size trumps skill.

Actually they've been drafting size and skill with questionable skating late 2nd rd and beyond.
Bergland #50, Gill #59 are more size and skill with questionable skating
Knuble and Bump are average size with skill and questionable skating

The top picks have been mostly skill, York, Brink, Andrae, Michkov,
A good contrast is Tuomaala, speed and skill but no brains v Foerster, size and skill and IQ but no speed.
Gauthier was size, speed and skill without grit, Drysdale is speed and skill.
And Tippett is Tuomaala with talent, size, speed and skill with some IQ issues.
Jett is speed and IQ.

The only "size" picks:
Attard #72, Kaplan #69, McDonald #165, Sotheran #135, Mann #199