The experts check in on the NHL draft

The NHL draft is just three days away, and we’ve spent the leadup getting the scoop from some of the top scouts and analysts in the game.

The Blue Jackets enter the draft with picks Nos. 14 and 20 in the first round, giving the team the ability to add two more talented players to an already impressive batch of youngsters – or make a trade or two to bolster the current roster.

Time will tell how things will unfold, and it’s worth learning a little bit about the draft before Friday’s first round and Saturday’s action take place. That’s why we’ve enlisted some help to inform CBJ fans about the draft, with insight from those who know the most about the subject.

RSVP for the CBJ draft party at Nationwide Arena and meet Mathieu Olivier

We asked five questions about the draft to Daily Faceoff's Steven Ellis as well as Dan Marr of NHL Central Scouting. In addition, CBJ radio host Dylan Tyrer has spoken to The Athletic’s Scott Wheeler as well as Chris Peters of FloHockey for the Pipeline Podcast presented by Ruoff Mortgage, and we’ll link those throughout this article as well.

You can also listen to Tyrer and I break down our thoughts on the draft in the latest edition of the Pipeline Podcast.

Without further ado, here’s what Ellis and Marr had to say about the big topics in the upcoming draft.

While Erie (OHL) defenseman Matthew Schaefer seems to have separated himself at the top of the draft class, there’s no runaway No. 1 pick like in past years with Connor Bedard in 2023 and Macklin Celebrini a season ago. How does this year's group look at the top, and does this year’s draft have the potential to be more wide open in the top few picks?

Ellis: “You always hope that you’re going to find that superstar at the top, and this year I think you’re looking at a lot of teams are going to come out really happy here. It might not be the strongest draft we’ve ever seen, but we’re still seeing a lot of talent in that first round, especially in the top 10. Realistically, I could see three different guys, maybe even four different guys, go first overall, where you could see the argument for it. You have Schaefer, who is just a special defenseman. You have Michael Misa (center, Saginaw, OHL), who is coming off of one of the best draft seasons we’ve seen in the CHL in the salary cap era. Porter Martone (wing, Brampton, OHL) is a guy who can dominate with his skill and his playmaking. And then you look at James Hagens (center, Boston College), who was projected to go first overall heading into this season. He's so smart and he’s shown he can play with just about any caliber of player and he will be successful. It's a unique and interesting year, and that’s what makes it fun.”

Marr: “The draft lottery certainly threw a curveball to some of the teams, and now what’s going to happen is some teams may want to make trades. If they think there’s three players that are all worthy of No. 1 and they can move down and get one of those players, maybe they make a trade. Who knows? I think the anticipation for this year, I think teams may look to make some moves to step up for players at certain spots. I just think it’s a really, really good draft class (at the top), and if teams are zeroing in on two or three players, all throughout the first round, I think they’re going to look for a way to make a trade so they can get their hands on that player.”

A year ago, the strength of the draft class was in its defensemen, with six taken in the top 12 picks. Where would you say this year’s group stands out?

Ellis: “Positionally, it’s definitely the centers. You’re looking at Hagens, you’re looking at Misa, who can play center or wing. Jake O’Brien (Brantford, OHL), Brady Martin (Soo, OHL) – there's a lot of good options, but I think this year has a little bit more variety than we’ve seen in the past couple of years. Whereas there might not have been a lot of Quebec league talents in the past, well this year, (Moncton center) Caleb Desnoyers is probably going to go in the top 10. We also don’t typically see a lot of high-end goalie talents; well, Joshua Ravensbergen (Prince George, WHL) looks like a first-round pick. There’s a lot of elements of other drafts that have been missed, but we’re getting it this year.”

Marr: “There’s a consensus in the scouting community that this is not a deep draft as far as quantity goes, but the quality at the top end is really strong. I mean that as far as the quality of prospects on the ice, but also the quality of their character. This is a really good group of good people. I think another thing with this draft class, you don’t have these runaway leaders, and I think that’s kind of neat because I still don’t know who is a lock to be No. 1. I look at the top, all through our top nine in North America and the top two or three in Europe, it’s hard to go by any of those names when you’re picking at the top end. They all bring something appealing. It’s an impressive draft class. The teams are going to get a lot of good players that I think are going to play in the NHL for a long, long time.”

The Blue Jackets currently 14th and 20th picks in the first round. As you look at players rated in that area, what are some names you’d be looking at that could pop down the road?

Ellis: “It’ll be interesting to see if Kashawn Aitchseon (defenseman, Barrie, OHL) is available there. He’s one of my favorite defensemen in the draft, and that’s because he just wants to intimidate everybody. I think it’s easy to forget as defensemen continue to evolve and get better offensively, their main job is still to prevent pucks from entering the zone, and he does it as well as anyone. He’s not huge, but he’s physically dominant. You’ve seen him multiple times hit a guy, stand there expecting to get in a fight, but the other players are too scared to fight him because he’s just that strong. Oh, and he can also score a lot of goals. Cole Reschny (center, Victoria, WHL) is a guy that really rose up the ranks. It doesn’t matter who he plays with, any situation, Cole Reschny continues to do really well. Justin Carbonneau (wing, Blainville-Boisbriand, QMJHL) is one I’d really look at. He's a really good goal scorer – he almost hit 50 goals in the QMJHL – is a really great skater and is a human highlight reel. I think there’s going to be a lot of interest in him, and I think he can be a top-six player. And you can’t ignore Joshua Ravensbergen. He’s 6-5, a guy that just wins games and battles hard. I expect him to be a part of Canada’s World Juniors program the next couple of years, the same as (2024 CBJ pick) Evan Gardner, and I think he’s a guy who would be a really good boost to that system.”

Marr: “I don’t know any team that doesn’t want a Kashawn Aitcheson on their team. He went from 15 to nine (from midseason to our final rankings). We just had to put him in the top 10 because he’s one of those all-around good defensemen. He very quietly scored 26 goals, and he’s one of the more physical players in the draft class. The combination of skills and attributes that he brings is pretty special. Brady Martin is one of those high-character players that went from 17 to 11. Even later on in the draft class, a player like Cole Reschny, he was 34 and we moved him up to 25 because he was really trending in the right direction and really finished the season strong. I think he caught the eye of a lot of teams with the way he finished the season. It wouldn’t surprise me if he went a little higher than where we have him even.”

We haven’t seen a goalie taken in the first round since 2021. This year, there are a few names like Ravensbergen and Brampton (OHL) netminder Jack Ivankovic who have been talked about as potentially being first-round talents. Does this seem like a stronger goalie class than we’ve seen in recent years?

Ellis: “I think so. Ravensbergen feels like the best option here to become a No. 1 goaltender. In that situation, he could be one of the best goalie prospects we’ve seen in a long time. Jack Ivankovic is a guy I really like who is more of an athletic goalie. He reminds me a lot of Dustin Wolf. There’s some good goalies all over the place, so when it isn’t the deepest draft class, I do think teams are going to go and look more in the goalie market because you can never have enough goalies in your system. I think this year, in the top 90, we could see somewhere close to 10 goalies drafted depending on who some teams look at, and I think that will be the right choice.”

Marr: “I can’t say for sure that a goalie will go in the first round, but I do know, there’s a couple of Russian goalies that are really good in this year’s draft. Our top two in Europe (Pyotr Andreyanov and Semyon Frolov) are Russian, and Ravensburgen has all of the NHL potential in all parts of his game. He just needs a little bit of time. And I look at a goalie like Jack Ivankovic. Dustin Wolf is making the case for drafting Jack Ivankovic. We ranked Dustin Wolf and he didn’t get taken until the seventh round, and this year he was in the Calder Trophy conversation. All Jack Ivankovic does is stop pucks and win games. To me, that’s what the goalie’s job is. I still don’t know if a goalie is going to go in the first round, but teams with multiple picks are certainly going to consider it.”

Are there any players you look at as having momentum going into this draft, who have risen up the board thanks to their performances this season and at the combine?

Ellis: “One that I’m looking at is (University of Michigan center) Will Horcoff. He's the son of former NHL Shawn Horcoff, and he’s just a beast of a player. He started the year, he was listed at 6-4, 181 pounds, and he clocked in at the Combine at something over 200 pounds. He added a lot of muscle to his game, and you watch him, he’s a tough guy. He’s one of those guys where I feel like the bigger role he’s going to get, the better he plays. Another guy I’m looking at is Haoxi (Simon) Wang (defenseman, Oshawa, OHL), who could very likely be the highest drafted player ever out of China. His story is really interesting because he started playing hockey at about 4 years old, moved to Toronto at 12 but really didn’t take hockey at a serious level until he was about 14. Two years later, he was drafted in the OHL and committed to the NCAA. That’s a very short span of trying to play high-level hockey. He struggled a bit, but once he really starts to figure it out, you see a guy that is literally one of the best skaters in the draft. He's 6-6. That is such a rare thing to see, so he might be a second-rounder, might be a third-rounder, and I wouldn’t be surprised if a team takes him late in the first round because there’s so much upside.”

Marr: “When I talk about trending players, he’s a favorite of mine because he plays the way Anthony Cirelli plays. He’s a player that we had at 197 in the midterm, and before the playoffs started, we put him on our final ranking at 70. He moved up 127 spots, and initially he might have been there because sometimes the scouts can’t ignore the fact he’s barely 5-10, but this player went on to be one of the better players in the playoffs in the OHL and this is after our rankings came out. His name is (Oshawa wing) Owen Griffin."