RHD Peyton Kettles - Swift Current Broncos, WHL (2025 Draft)

[Pavel Buchnevich]

Surprised he had no thread. Big, strong right shot defensive defenseman. Likely to go in the 2nd-4th round. One of the youngest players in the draft.

Peyton Kettles - Stats, Contract, Salary & More

Eliteprospects.com hockey player profile of Peyton Kettles, 2007-09-01 Winnipeg, MB, CAN Canada. Most recently in the WHL with Swift Current Broncos. Complete player biography and stats.

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[AlternateSideParking]

Better than Hamilton, that's for sure. I like Kettles' play post-Hlinka. He's a calming presence for SC and works well with his partner to breakout without consistent mistakes. I think some teams will be willing to gamble on him in late R2 or early R3 because he's pretty sure-handed and has ideal size.

 

[MS]

Big, safe player. Fits the prototype of what a lot of NHL teams are looking for right now as a 6'5 RHD with some edge to his game, solid defensive fundamentals, and decent skating ability.

Concern is his puck skills and how limiting those will be. Like, there is zero offense there right now - the last point he registered while playing D was on November 1 (he scored a goal since but it was coming out of the penalty box and playing forward). He was probably the #2 WHL D for the 2025 draft heading into the season (or maybe #3 behind the crashing-and-burning Reece Hamilton) but has pretty clearly been passed by two other big RHDs in Mrtka and Fiddler who show a lot more offensive range and overall dynamicism to their games and have a lot more top-4 upside as a result.

He's probably a guy with Jani Hakanpaa-type #5 upside which is pretty limited although it's the sort of limited-upside player that NHL teams value, so it will be interesting to see where he goes in the draft. I'd guess 3rd round right now.

Fairly thin year for WHL D past the top two guys who are very good. I'm guessing it looks something like this, and would be pretty close to consensus :

1. Jackson Smith
2. Radim Mrtka
3. Blake Fiddler
4. Will Sharpe
5. Peyton Kettles

... and those are probably the only 5 first-time eligible guys who have any real chance of going in the first 4 rounds of the draft. Bryce Pickford surely will too as a 2006 overage guy who has had a crazy breakout year and will probably be this year's Nate Misskey. Brendan Dunphy might be a wildcard as well as another 2006 overage who has kind of come out of nowhere with Wenatchee after joining mid-season.