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2025 Draft

So, with the 2024-2025 season about to start, here comes the rankings.

Always fun to check back in 9 months to see what the pre-season list looks like compared to the final list.

Schaefer is a fucken stud who will challenge Hagens for top spot

Elite wheels and IQ , will fill out to about 195-200 pounds

Watched a few of his Halton U16 games and he stole the show
 
The best player in the draft will be selected one spot ahead of where the Habs pick.

This is a slight improvement over the Timmins era when the best player in the draft would normally be chosen one spot after the Habs' selection.
 
The best player in the draft will be selected one spot ahead of where the Habs pick.

This is a slight improvement over the Timmins era when the best player in the draft would normally be chosen one spot after the Habs' selection.
Doesn’t seem like that was the case in 2022, and maybe even 2024, so let it go already.
 
While he's not eligible for the 2025 draft, the OHL's first overall pick Ethan Belchetz is looking like a flat out gangster at 16 years old. He's 6'4" 230lbs at 16 and still growing.

If some of you are in the Ontario region and plan on watching some games, go watch this guy.
 
There's a very good chance the 2026 draft has two franchise, elite forwards available.

What I would do to get one of those two...
 
While he's not eligible for the 2025 draft, the OHL's first overall pick Ethan Belchetz is looking like a flat out gangster at 16 years old. He's 6'4" 230lbs at 16 and still growing.

If some of you are in the Ontario region and plan on watching some games, go watch this guy.
I will be there next Friday when the Spits are in town
 
A rare superstar Quebecois prospect has been spotted on the horizon (from The Athletic)


Maddox Dagenais, C, Quebec Remparts (2026 NHL Draft)

The No. 1 pick in the 2024 QMJHL draft and son to former NHLer Pierre Dagenais, Maddox has been impressive to start his 16-year-old rookie season with the Remparts and has already generated some real chatter amongst scouts for the way he looks as a player. He’s got 23 shots, six goals and nine points on the board already through five games, with points in every game he has played in the league so far. Dagenais is a big (6-foot-2/3), already-strong center who outside of some early struggles in the faceoff circle has a game and a frame that are both mature. He has been around pucks and the net. He has shown confidence in holding it and shooting it. And he just looks like he’s going to be a really solid pro player.
 
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Dagenais's an interesting one too. His dad moved them to Ontario last year so he could play against higher levels of competition.
 
Dagenais's an interesting one too. His dad moved them to Ontario last year so he could play against higher levels of competition.
World Elite Academy in Belleville - first father / son duo to be drafted 1OA in QMJHL history
 
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Getting an idea of which prospects to follow during the season before the draft is generally easy: Look at what the OHL / QMJHL draft orders looked like in the Spring of 2023. Or in the case of the WHL, the 2022 draft (the WHL drafts players a year early, but they don't go into the WHL until they're 16).

You can also check the pre-season rankings, whether that's with Bob McKenzie, or the other miscellaneous draft sites such as McKeen's.

Speaking of McKeen's, they have a pre-season list of players to watch from all regions of the world. Here are three CHL leagues:


In the Q, there's two early to mid first round picks in Desnoyers & Guité, with Charbonneau / Huang probably early 1st to mid 2nd. After that, too early to tell, we'll have to see how the season plays out.

The WHL's got another good year, but honestly, I'd just track Gavin McKenna and Landon Dupont. If those two are coming to play in your city, you have to go watch them. Two future NHL superstars. Dupont has exceptional status and won't be draft eligible until June 2027, but it's not going to take much time before he starts running the WHL.

The OHL's always going to be good. With four players that are probably being taken in the top 10 to 15ish in Porter / Schaeffer / Misa / Spence, there's no shortage of talent. Then maybe 4-5 other first rounders.
 
A rare superstar Quebecois prospect has been spotted on the horizon (from The Athletic)


Maddox Dagenais, C, Quebec Remparts (2026 NHL Draft)

The No. 1 pick in the 2024 QMJHL draft and son to former NHLer Pierre Dagenais, Maddox has been impressive to start his 16-year-old rookie season with the Remparts and has already generated some real chatter amongst scouts for the way he looks as a player. He’s got 23 shots, six goals and nine points on the board already through five games, with points in every game he has played in the league so far. Dagenais is a big (6-foot-2/3), already-strong center who outside of some early struggles in the faceoff circle has a game and a frame that are both mature. He has been around pucks and the net. He has shown confidence in holding it and shooting it. And he just looks like he’s going to be a really solid pro player.
We already had a Dagenais on the team. He was garbage.
 
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