O'Brien had home-ice advantage on road to NHL Draft

The 2025 Upper Deck NHL Draft will be held June 27-28 at L.A. Live's Peacock Theater in Los Angeles. The first round will be June 27 (7 p.m. ET; ESPN, ESPN+, SN, TVAS) and Rounds 2-7 are June 28 (Noon ET; NHLN, ESPN+, SN, SN1). NHL.com is counting down to the draft with in-depth profiles on top prospects, podcasts and other features. Today, a profile on Brantford center Jake O'Brien. Full draft coverage can be found here.

Jake O'Brien has always had the work ethic and skill to make him a player with a future in the NHL.

But if he ever had a question, on or off the ice, he had a great role model in the same home with him.

His mother, Amy Turek, played three seasons in the National Women's Hockey League as well as with the Canada national women's team before opening her own hockey school.

"She was a great hockey player," O'Brien said. "She had her own hockey school growing up that I always went to, and that's where I feel like I developed all my skills from, and that's where I fell in love with hockey. She's been a big impact on me throughout my career so far. And she's an unreal mom and unbelievable player in the past."

O'Brien (6-foot-2, 177 pounds) showcased a lot of what he learned from his mother this season, finishing tied for seventh in the Ontario Hockey League with 98 points (32 goals, 66 assists) in 66 games for Brantford.

The 18-year-old is No. 4 in NHL Central Scouting's final ranking of North American skaters.

"He's a very interesting prospect," Central Scouting's Nick Smith said. "I've watched him hang onto pucks and hang onto pucks and he makes this play that nobody sees. The comparable I like to lean on with him this year is [Anaheim Ducks forward prospect Beckett] Sennecke from last year. He's lanky, he's skinny, but it's that ceiling that he has when he comes into his body a little bit. You combine that skill and sense, it's intriguing for sure."

O'Brien was named OHL rookie of the year in 2023-24 after he had 64 points (13 goals, 51 assists) in 61 games. But he knew with that accomplishment would come a lot more attention from opposing players.

He also knew he'd have to adjust his game to counter it, with a focus on shooting the puck more. After having 96 shots on goal in 2023-24, he had 134 shots this season.

"I didn't have very many goals last year, so being a shooting threat instead of passing every time," he said. "I feel like that helps me in small spaces too, being able to shoot quick."

Brantford coach Jay McKee said that ability to self-identify and improve his game is what makes O'Brien such a special player.

"He's a combination of a very cerebral player, very, very high IQ, but also very competitive," McKee said. "He's not just competitive in games but in practice. He's really driven. But I think his IQ, the way he thinks the game, he's one of those guys where when he has the puck and things are happening fast, the game seems to slow down for him in his head. His playmaking ability is very, very high. He's a guy that can just delay the game, find open ice. You think he's going to be pinched off and he finds the route out of the coverage and then makes a great play. Players like that have the ability to draw a couple defenders toward him, and when that happens he's making the creative plays to hit a guy.

"I would say he was 80 percent thinking pass first last year, maybe 20 percent shot. And that's getting closer to 50/50 this year. It's probably still 60/40 pass to shot, but his shot is strong. He used it more and was rewarded for it this year."

Success on the ice came a bit easier than handling some of the pressure that came off the ice during his draft season. He said he did his best to ignore the multitude of draft rankings that come out throughout the season but joked that his teammates weren't much help there.

"I try to stay out of it, try to stay off my phone," he said. "It could get in your head if some people are saying some bad things about you, or you're lower on people's draft ranks and stuff. My team brings it up a lot, which kind of [stinks]. They're always kind of be telling me where I am on what list and everything. So that's the one thing that [stinks], but I try to stay out of it."

And there's always mom to go to for any advice.

"She obviously helps my confidence and stuff," O'Brien said. "When things aren't going my way, it's always tough to keep the confidence. So she's good in that way because she knows what I'm going through and everything. She's very good to me, in the way that she always texts, like, good game and always is there for me. So that kind of helps me and my confidence and everything."

Turek said she just tries to stress staying positive when she talks to O'Brien.

"You're always going to have ups and downs, and you want to limit the downs," she said. "If you are going through a tough time, try to limit that and get out of it as quick as possible. I believe the only way of doing that is to be positive. It's all part of learning. If you get down on yourself, it only makes it worse, so really trying to teach a positive mindset. Every hockey player is going to go through it, and it's just staying positive and believing in yourself, trying to build your self confidence so you can get out of those ruts quickly."

When O'Brien had those moments of self-doubt when he was younger, they could work through them on the ice at Victory Hockey School, which Turek ran. A forward during her playing career, she had no problem strapping on the goalie pads as needed.

"I was willing to give him anything he needed to succeed if he had that drive and work ethic," she said. "If he was willing to go shoot 100 pucks a day, then I would get him the shooting tiles in the net and all of that. I bought goalie equipment, and I would dress up in goalie equipment and let him shoot pucks at me. I love the game, so I would play roller hockey and street hockey, in the basement with him, on the backyard rink. I'm so passionate about the game, so that helped. I enjoy doing that with him.

"Because he has that intense work ethic, I was willing to sacrifice whatever to help him reach his potential."

Turek, who now works as a school teacher in Toronto, said the next step is for O'Brien to continue adding strength, especially in his lower body, which will make him a more explosive skater.

"He’s the kind of kid who still has lots of room to grow which makes his ceiling higher than other players," Smith said. "He has a lot of tools in his bag. ... He’s the type of player every guy wants to play with as you know he’ll find you. He has great hands, puck skills, creativity and can put the puck in the net, and he uses his smarts defensively as well.

"Lots of ceiling as well as he still has lots of room to grow and get stronger."