By DraftPro General Manager Dan Stewart
Normally the gang at DraftPro has been hard at it producing content for consumption on our website and in an early December release of the annual DraftPro Preview Magazine, but this year has been a bit of a struggle.
Our impressive crew of scouts have remained hard at work getting to the rinks around the world and watching on video those who we have not been able to see play live, but our editorial side has seen some challenges that have made it difficult to keep up. Some personnel change this summer and then some personal life struggles have caused a bottleneck that we have not been able to get around until now.
Our new Director of Scouting Seth Ditchfield has done a great job making sure our talent hounds are seeing all the talent in this 2025 draft crop and the many new faces we have added to the editorial side have done a great job creating draft content, but that content unfortunately never made it to you.
So, with that precursor, this is the official launch of our content this season and we hope you enjoy what our team will produce and offer as we head toward June 27.
No generational guy, but 2025 NHL Draft holds plenty of talent.
The 2025 NHL Draft is lacking in that franchise saving generational talent we have seen a few times already this past decade with no Connor Bedard, Jack Hughes, Auston Matthews, or Connor McDavid up for grabs this year.
This current crop is a wide-open race as far as our inter company debates have been concerned. During our November draft ranking meetings our group had upwards of eight names that were brought forth as potential top three selections this season.
The early favorite for #1 overall going back to August 2023 was dynamic American center James Hagens who is putting up solid production in his true freshman season with Boston College, but early consensus this year is that there are plenty of talent that has caught up to the skilled playmaker making it a true race.
The top options to take over the pole position come June 2025 include Erie Otters puck moving defender Matthew Schaefer, who most now see as the drafts top prospect, Saginaw Spirit skilled two-way center Michael Misa, Brampton Steelheads power winger Porter Martone, towering offensive center Roger McQueen, and hard-working offensive winger with Djurgardens IF Victor Eklund.
Besides those few marquee names that the NHL standings bottom dwellers will no doubt be keeping their focus on, there is also a plethora of other talent at all positions and many different styles of play to choose from that will fill the rest of the first two rounds of selections.
You need a physical defender? A puck moving or two-way defender? Looking for a big power forward winger or maybe a slick super-skilled offensive winger? How about a monster sized tender? Or quick highly athletic goaltender? A playmaking center or maybe two-way center? Whatever you might want this class has it.
And beyond the top couple of rounds there seems to be a good amount of depth for all NHL teams to select and build up their prospect stables up with.
Stick with DraftPro all season.
Over the next little while we hope to publish regular draft related content and draft rankings for our followers as well as get that popular DraftPro Preview Magazine in your hands ASAP.
On top of that we will be starting a membership content side of the website that will provide DraftPro subscribers with access to hundreds upon hundreds of our scouting reports, exclusive content, and discounts on our flagship publications as they are released.
So, stay tuned and check back often as we get this thing ramped up.