The Athletic Hockey Show - Prospect Series U23 draft: who picked the best team?

Episode Date: September 12, 2025

It is once again time for The Athletic Hockey Show Prospect Series under-23 draft. The rules are simple: draft teams of 6 forwards, 4 defensemen, and 1 goalie from a pool of the world’s best prospects. Plus, the guys give their thoughts on the biggest snubs after all the picks are made.Got a question? Ask it here: t.co/fYieuQEg14Hosts: Max Bultman and Corey PronmanWith: Scott Wheeler and FloHockey’s Chris PetersExecutive Producer: Chris FlanneryProducer: Chris Flannery Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is the Athletic Hockey Show Prospect Series. Hey, everybody, Max Bolton here alongside the athletic Scott Wheeler and Corey Prondman and Flow Hockey's Chris Peters for another episode of the Athletic Hockey Show Prospect Series. It is our U23 draft episode. You have heard us debate Corey's team pipeline rankings. You have heard us debate Corey's individual U23 player rankings. Hopefully, you've also read Corey's redraft rankings of the 2022, 2022, 2022, and 2024 drafts. the athletic this week, if you have not. I highly encourage you to do so.

But now it's time for us to draft, and we're going to build a team of six forwards, four defensemen, and a goalie for each of us. And I just so happened via the lottery gods or via maybe some poor performance in my previous episodes leading to some pity from my fellow co-hosts have stumbled into the first pick. Before I make that pick, I'll remind everybody that the criteria here is they got to be under 23 by September 15, the cutoff that the NHL uses for draft classes. So we're borrowing that.

And obviously when we're talking about players this young, we're not talking about for a game or a playoff series that would begin today. We're talking for their careers looking forward. So that is where we're going to go. And I'm not going to surprise anybody at the first pick. It's Macklin-Cellebrini. It's the do-it-all number one center. The rare guy who at 18, 19 years old, you feel really confident saying projects into a true two-way star, a guy who can be your leading scorer and who can shut down opposing players. You know, we've talked about him in the kind of the vein of Sidney Crosby,

but I think, you know, and Alexander Barkoff, the guy who's been the number one center on the Florida Panthers for the last two years. He doesn't quite have that size. I think he can have that kind of impact. Not a lot of argument, I think, could have come from this panel. We've obviously discussed Celebrity a lot. I feel like the first two picks are not going to be very controversial. Connor Bardard goes to here to Team Bronman.

He's going to be an absolute dynamo we're going to build around, and he's going to be how our power plays. going to run through. He's going to give us a lot of goals, a lot of points, and we're going to hopefully have the best offense in this four-team league led by him. Are you slotting him on team Pranman as a center, or are you slotting him as a winger? Kind of like how Chicago is doing this. Tentatively, he is a center, but I reserve the right to change that, depending on how the rest of my asset accumulation goes. All right. Number three in our draft order is team Wheeler. So, Scott, what do you thinking at number three? Well, when this draft order got passed around earlier today, I kind of knew

that the draft was going to start at number three and that I had the first sort of real choice here. And I thought about going with a defenseman here. There were a couple of defensemen I considered here. There were a couple of centers I considered here. But I'm going to take the first winger of the draft and select Matvey Michikov of the Philadelphia Flyers. I'm big on Michkov's upside. I think he's going to be one of the five or ten leading scorers in the league in the prime of his career. And I do lean, at this stage, I do lean forward over defensemen and Meechkov's going to be my guy. All right. Number four, Chris Peters. All right. Let's go back to the centers. I'm going to go back to the centers. I think I have no problem with Matt Bay picking there. I figured that he was going to be

there for me at number four, but then he was not. So I'm going to go with Adam Fantilli. Give me some size. give me some snarl, give me some goal scoring, give me some pace, give me all the good things. He's a guy that I think you can win with. Yes, I believe there are some legitimate concerns about the overall hockey sense and why he often appears behind Leo Carlson and why he was drafted behind Leo Carlson, who is still available on the board for now. But, you know, I think that for me, Fantilli checks the most boxes among the available center. in terms of what he's going to bring to the table. So I'm going with him. And you know what's awesome?

It's a snake draft. So I could just go ahead and take another great center if I wanted to. But I want to make sure that I get the defenseman that I most covet in this class. And that is another Michigan man, Luke Hughes. You know, Luke is, I know that I've been very high in Luke for a long time. I think that there have been ups and downs. I think there are things that he's going to need to work on. But as I look at the remaining defensemen, you think about guys like Matthew Schaefer.

Like I think Matthew Schaefer is in a best case scenario is going to be Luke Hughes. I don't think he has the offensive upside that Hughes does. You know, but the skating, I think I would grade similarly. Luke's got the size. He's got some length to him. I think as he gets physically stronger as he has throughout his career, you're going to get a really solid two-way defenseman that gives you just tremendous mobility. I think he's a legitimate number one.

And so I think we're going to have a lot of offensive potential with the two guys that I got here. All right. Scott, that brings it back to you, the sixth pick. And I'm thrilled here because I was considering taking Matthew Schaefer at number three, where I took Matt Veimichkov. And he was my number one ranked D. I think he's going to be a more well-rounded player than Luke Hughes throughout the prime of his career. I think he's every bit as talented in terms of the way he thinks the game, maybe not a pure skill grade quite as high as Luke Hughes. But I think Schaefer is going to be the more impactful NHL defenseman, the true number one. I'm not sure Luke ever defends at quite that high level. And I am thrilled to add Matthew Schaefer to my blue line here.

So I thought you might go Lane Hudson here. So talk me through Schaefer versus Hudson in your thought process. Part of it is that I think there's a chance that I get Lane Hudson a little bit later. So there's a calculated risk there. Would you rank it, Schaefer, over Hudson? I would rank it this way. When I built a sort of quick mock list in prep for this podcast, I did rank Schaefer and Hudson sort of won two as my 2D. What would you project Schaefer as in the NHL?

Mero Heiskenen, I think, is a fair comp. I know it's the one that's been used most frequently, but I think Mero Heiskenen is a fair comp. Well, I asked because the other week you compared Hudson to Carlsson. That's why I'm asking kind of thing. So would you, would you prefer a Heiskenen over a Carlson? Carlson at his peak. I think you take over Miro Heiskenen.

Carlson at his peak was a singular player. I don't think Wayne Hudson's getting to Carlson at his peak, though. Carlson at his peak was arguably the best player in the world. I don't think Wayne Hudson gets there. It was more of a stylistic comp for me than a true, true upside comp. Carlson's won three Norris trophies

and is going to be a Hall of Famer. But Carlson version, like if it's just a Carlson, versus um versus heiskenen thing i think you still take eric carlson probably at the at the height height height height of eric carlson's career i think you're taking eric carlson over over mirro high skin and carlson does have height height height over lane hudson too that's by that's a whole other issue

all right cori yeah you're up at number seven uh i can't believe leil carlson's still here just running up to the podium to call this name um six three center with the high end skill and hockey sense. I mean, this guy is the capability to be a star number one center in the league. With size, which is one of the rarest combination of traits. I know the production hasn't gone off

completely yet like you would have hoped for a guy his age, but I think him versus Ann and Fantilli is a really close debate. And I love Schaefer. I love Luke Hughes. I was not going to lie. I was kind of penciling Luke Hughes

into my second pick here. I kind of it wasn't putting this into the scenarios that this was how this draft was going to play out. But I'm happy with getting Leo Carlson here. And like I said, now I'm not really sure where Bedard fits in my life. He might be a center. He might be a wing. We'll see how the rest of the draft goes. But I think in this scenario, Carlson's probably my one C.

All right. Defense Board has not broken the way I hoped. I hope that I would have a chance as it broke around back to me to get one of Matthew Schaefer or Luke Hughes. That does not seem like that's going to happen for me. So I will follow Corey's lead and double up on the centers here. And I'll take Wyatt Johnston. I don't know that it's quite the level of, like, dynamic offense, but it's really good offense.

He's a really smart two-way player. I think that's how you win Stanley Cops is to be built like that down the middle. So between Celebrity and Johnston, I feel great there. I'm very curious to see what Wyatt Johnson's season looks like this year. I think he has a chance to really carve out as a true number one center in Dallas. We'll see if that happens. it's a good center core there, but I think that's very possible for him. And at number nine, I am going to go for the blue line.

I'll take Sam Dickinson. It's a little bit of a question here. I think I'd probably like to see a little bit from him in the NHL before I made him my number one core blue liner, but there is plenty of offense there as he has shown. And I also just love the projection, the size, the skating. So as much as I would have loved to get a guy that was just a little bit more of a sure thing, I think there's a lot of room for upside and a lot of room. for Sam Dickinson to be a number one defender.

That doesn't surprise me. I think some people are going to be a table taking aback by hearing that name so soon. But, I mean, you look at the traits, you look at the offense you showed this year. I think you could argue Dickinson's like a Matthew Schaefer light in terms of the projection, like in terms of the size, the skating, the offense. He looks like he looks like he could be a really impactful an HL defenseman. All right, Corey. That brings it back to you at number 10.

And like I said, I have Sam rated really highly, but there was one defenseman I had rated above Dickinson, and that's the guy I think everybody's kind of expecting me to call here. And that's a Z. Boyum, you know, of the Minnesota Wilde, University of Denver. He, you know, joins with, I'm hoping to be an exceptionally dynamic power play with him and Bedard and Leo Carlson all on the same unit. To me, he's one of the most purely talented players I've seen in college hockey. one of the most impactful college hockey players I've ever seen as a teenager. Elite skill, elite hockey sense, he moves really well. I think he's got the potential to be an impact player at the next level. I will note here that we're 10 picks into this draft and we've got only one and a half

wingers in that top 10. And that half, you know, again, it depends on how the rest of the draft plays out for Corey here. It could just be one winger. I think that's notable. And obviously, Mishkov's a great player. so I could see why Scott would, you know, took him. We all really gravitated for the premium positions here.

I'll be really curious whether Scott goes Demadoff or Hudson here, because I feel like whichever what he doesn't take, Peters is going to scoop up. And I'm going to step to the podium and take Lane Hudson and add him to my blue line alongside Matthew Schaefer. I think Lane is a pretty singular player, as we discussed on the podcast last week. May not ever be the perfect defenseman,

but he does a couple of things better than any U-23 player. And I'm excited to have him as my power play quarterback and my sort of true, true, uh, offensive defenseman. Do you think he's that much better offensively than Zeev? Yes. Yeah. The same age, the same age. Yes.

I would say the only, the only U23D, who I think has a chance to be close to, to Lane wouldn't even be Zeev for me. It would probably be Zane Perak. All right. Let's go to Chris Peters. At number 12, we'll see if Corey's prediction comes true at one of picks 12 or 13. Yeah, you know, it's always interesting here when you have two picks back to back. I always wonder how teams make the decision of which of the guys they're going to pick first

because you don't want to offend the other guy. Like, we like this guy one position better than you, just so you know. But I do. So here's where I'm going to go. My first pick is not going to be what Corey thinks it's going to be. but it should be what anybody that's followed me for any amount of time over the last five years would know it would be. And my next pick is my other center. I've got Adam Fantilli. I've got the size. I've got the brute force. Give me the dynamic Logan Cooley at number 12 here. Cooley for me, I think, is just

scratching the surface of what he's going to be. I think that there is a path for him to become a high-end producer in the NHL. I think he's in the right place. place to do that. I think that he's had the right, you know, that's, that's going to be for me a very important player to have. And then I'll just go ahead and get this one out of the way since Corey, you know, pretty much telegraphed. I'm going Ivan Demadov at number 13. Now I've got, you know, what I feel is is a very elite trio of, of producers, of guys that I think will be able to put the puck in the net. I think in the cases of Demadov and, you know, I think, in the cases of Demandau and Kooley, you have just really high-end processing speed of the game, you know, and just, you know,

making up for maybe a little bit of the Fantilli deficiency there. Then on top of that, you add a guy like Luke Hughes who can distribute the puck to these players. I'm really happy with how my first four picks went. I don't know this for a fact, but on the back-to-back picks. I had someone tell me, you know, years ago that when the Islanders had the back-to-back picks with Walsham and Dobson, they picked Wallstrom first, not because of a fend, anybody or anything like that. But in case they didn't sign Wallstrom, you get a higher compensatory pick in the, from whenever the second round, whatever year that would have been.

So that was one rationale. I feel like that's a pretty minor detail, though. Yeah. Now I just have to hope that Ivan doesn't like hate me forever for taking Logan over him. And I don't think you have any signability issues there. I mean, he's come over. He's in North America. I think he's going to play for Team Peters.

I think he is. Yeah, he's here already. His stuff is here. It's all good. You have to hope he likes where you live because maybe you offer him a max contract. He doesn't like the city. He doesn't like the city. Yeah.

Oh, who doesn't love the Midwest? Yeah. Does Team Peters have to play in Iowa? Is that the prerequisite? Yes, it is. We're going to play out of Des Moines. The Casey Center, breakfast pizza. It's all going to be there.

But it's not have to, Scott. It gets to play in Iowa. Gets to. That's right. Exactly. Amen. Amen. All right.

Pick 14, Scott Wheeler. I'm going to take my first center. The way that the sort of board broke here, I went with 2D and a winger off the top. And I'm going to sort of change that course here. And take, after taking the first overall pick in the 2025 NHL draft, I'm going to take the second overall pick in the 2025 NHL draft and select Michael Mesa of the San Jose. I don't think anyone here is going to be too surprised here. I think Mesa is very much in the range. And a player, Scott, I was not sure how this was going to go for you, avoiding center for as long as you did. You come out of it with a really good player here still.

Thank you, Max. Corey, we've had a lot of debates about this player in the last three, four years. I think, you know, despite our arguments the other day that we felt there was a lot of comps for him in the league, what I was doing my 2022 draft rankings, I couldn't find one comp for him in the entire league. His play style is why I use Rick Nash. I couldn't find a player who sticks four and skates well and has first powerplay skill and is highly physical. I think that player profile is really unique and it's why I'm super excited to add your ice Lofkowski as my first line left wing.

I think it's notable here. Corr, you ranked him on your list at number seven and you're taking him off the board here at number 15. This is an interesting thing that I don't know that people always realize about team draft list is I think this happens to teams a little more often. than anyone would realize that by the time it gets to them, they're going to get, you know, Corey's got four players obviously in his top seven here.

There are a lot of times where teams in their classes have scenarios like this. Yeah, I think it differs by team, but I would say on average teams walk into the draft with 80 to 110 names on their list. And obviously the draft is a lot longer than that. But that just tends to be how it plays out is, I mean, anyone who plays like fantasy sports will probably feel the same way. You always leave with your guys.

I mean, I'm not saying it perfectly that way, but everybody always gets the guys that they're happy with. Everybody feels like a winner on draft day, and then a month into the season, they may not always feel less like winners. But that does tend to be how it plays out. Teams aren't getting four of their top seven, to be clear, but they might be getting like four guys they had in the top 40 with, you know, only picks and picks round one, two, maybe you got a couple thirds or something like that.

Yeah, like the way it usually plays out, like the very, very top is different, but if you're picking like 10th in the draft, for example, you're usually getting a guy you had rated top 5, top 6. If you're picking 30th, usually getting a guy you had rated top 15, top 17, that tends to be how it goes. It's why everybody's all those post-draft interviews, they all sound so super excited. They got smiles on their faces because none of them have played an NHL game yet.

We talked about the game theory Scott had earlier, of placing a pretty calculated bet that he was going to be able to float Hudson four picks back to himself, and that paid off. I do wonder if Corey had to calculate that he wasn't going to get Slavkovsky back around if he waited. I am going to go winger twice here. First, it's going to be with Dylan Gentler, a young forward who I really love. I think he's nearly hit 30 goals last year. I think he's going to blow past 30 goals this year.

I was extremely impressed with the combo of him in Cooley when I saw them in Utah last year. And I'm also going to take the guy that I kind of analogized to Jereis Levkovsky, not perfectly. But I argued for him to be higher on Corey's list. I'm going to back it up here and take Matthew Nyes. I love the power element. I think he's going to really compliment the guys that I have in place here. Not the guys I've picked are afraid to go to the net,

but Matthew Nyes is definitely going to go to the net and clean up the rebounds. He's going to be able to get down low and feed them pucks. Like I said, I think he's making Team USA this year. So I'm going to pick him on Team Boltman first, and it'll go back to Corey at number 18. Yeah, that's fascinating. We go two wingers there in a row. I think this is a part of draft where you start thinking about some really good centers on the board.

And I think this will, either what I'm going to do here probably ends up pushing Bidar to be one of my wings. I'm debating really a little group of centers here. Mason McTavish, Maddie Baneers, Caleb Dinoje, Anton Frundel, Shane Wright, and Burr. Kirkley Caton. Will Smith, too, could be in that mix. Although I think we probably all, especially in this format, he's probably a winger, no matter which one of us drafts him. These are all really good players. I think with Carlson, he's more of a skill guy. I probably want to take a center. It's a little bit more of a two-way player. So I'm thinking of Frondell. I'm thinking of Mason McTavish. I'm thinking of Benares. And I know McTavish and

years have been kind of up and down in the NHL, but they're still so young. And no matter which one of these two that I take, I think I'm going to be really happy and they're going to become excellent players that can play all situations for me and the match up against some of these soft players my opponents

have taken. But I'm going to, I'm torn between these two. So I have McTavish one spot ahead of Benares, but I feel like McTavish is one of his best assets is his shot and in a four line team where you have two power play units, it makes sense.

But I only have, you only have two lines. Realistically, we only got one power play unit we're leaning on. I'm not putting McTavish on the flank when I have Leo Carlson and Connor Bedard on my team. So I'm going to take Mandy Baneers here at this pick, and he's going to be an outstanding second line center for my team. All right. Scott, who you got at number 19? There's one thing that none of the players who've been selected have in their bag, in their

repertoire, in their pedigree, whatever you want to. call it. And that's having played 25 minutes a night for three seasons in the NHL already. And despite having Matthew Schaefer and Lane Hudson, I think the way that the board has gone here has led me back to another defenseman. And I'm going to take Owen Power of the Buffalo Sabres here. I love the variety that Owen Power, Lane Hudson and Matthew Schaefer give me three very different types of defensemen. Power is going to be my minute munching type. We'd all like him to be a little bit more physical and take charge out there a little bit more than he does. But power has played to positive results in first pairing minutes, basically since he entered

the league. And I'm thrilled to add him to Schaefer and Hudson on my blue line. All right. Two to you, Mr. Peters. Yeah, this is always fun. I like this. This is good. So, yeah, so we've talked a lot about, you know, centers versus wing.

And to Corey's point, he had just kind of alluded to this. Will Smith is probably a wing in this scenario. and he absolutely would be a wing on my team. After, you know, having a guy who I think is going to be more of a shooter-scorer situation kind of guy in Fantilli, I'd love to have an elite setup man with him. And that's why I'm going to go with Will Smith here. And he would be a wing for me. Obviously, you know, center.

We'll see. I just think that what we saw in the back half of last season, the way that he's progressed and the track record that he has, He's always been a top producer. He's always made players around him better. He's always, you know, I think that that's the kind of facilitator I want on my team. I think having guys like Demidov, like Kuli, you know, guys with high-end hockey sense that can make plays. I need a lot of that. And then I'm also going to now go to a defenseman.

And this is a pure upside pick because I think that last year for me was a little underwhelming. But I'm going to go with Artim Levsinov here. I like the size. I like the two-way capability. I think that the, you know, he, he doesn't always look engaged, but he's always finding ways to do things. And he's always, you know, in getting himself in good places and playing physical enough and doing the thing. So I want to have some size in the back end. I've already, you know, I've got my flash and dash with Luke Hughes.

He's similar in size, but now I'm going to get a thicker Artie Levsanov. And I think that I still don't give away a ton of offense, but I obviously want to continue to build up my blue line after adding a couple of wings with my last picks. Okay, so this is an, I'm going to do something the GMs don't actually ever get a chance to do here. So I was hoping that I could float Levshanov back around. When I took Nyes, it was a gamble based on, I don't know that I see another player with this level of physicality. I got to take him while it's my pick.

There's a lot of good defensemen I like, but Lev Shanov was at the top of that list. I'm going to ask everybody, does Nize make it back around if he was still on the board here? would one of you have swooped him up? I think he would have made it past me. Same, same. All right. Educational. I was hoping to get a Levshinov.

On the slide back. Okay. So there was two Levshanov threats. I think the logic was there's more defensemen I like, but I was just curious, wanted to feel that out. All right. Scott, back to you at number 22. And I'm going to go D yet again here,

and we're going to take a fourth defenseman for team Wheeler here and complete my four pack of defensemen. in this six forwards 4D, one goalie draft. And I'm going to take Zane Perek. I feel ecstatic to have Zane Perek and Lane Hudson as my two power play quarterbacks and Matthew Schaefer and Owen Power as my two sort of minute-munching pillars. So I'm really excited. I think Zane and Wayne are the two highest upside offensive defensemen in the game in this

sort of U-23 category. And I think both of them are going to be true, true offensive stars. the NHL for a long time. Do you have an edict on your team that Matthew Schaefer cannot take a penalty? Because who else is going to kill if he goes to the box? Owen Power is going to kill. By himself. Wayne Hudson and Zane Perrette can kill with Owen Power.

All right. I like that question. I like that question. Gori at 23. You know, I have a lot of forwards. I'd be excited about the draft here, but you've got to play a little bit more. Now you've got to play the position game here a little bit. I have a roster I got to fill out.

We're not playing positionless hockey on my team. I need some true defenseman. And even though my board says take another forward, I have four forwards. I have one D. And the good D are going quick here. So I feel like I got to jump in and take once. I'm going to take Carter Yakimchuk for my team.

He's going to pair on that first pair on the right side of Zee, Boyam. He's got, you know, just a high end skill level, the size. He has physicality. He had a tough, tough year that expected, but I think a lot of traits expect him to make Ottawa or at least push to make Ottawa out of camp.

And I'm excited with those two on my blue line. Any complaints here about Yakumchuk? Any surprise? Not based on who is drafting. Who would have been the next defenseman you would have taken? Before Yakumchuk? Several?

All right. Just curious. It's just me. It's different. It's a difference of opinion. That's all. Yeah. I mean, like I said, no, there's some good players out there.

I can't take Cole Hudson with Zee on the team. Like, that's not the way I would, that's not the way I would do it. Yeah. Maybe Ron Bacher. There's some other guys in the mix, but I feel like that. I feel like he was a logical next guy up. He has high end up side, high end offensive skill, size, good enough skater. Like, I think, I think he's the right pick here.

Yeah, I mean, the D class is definitely thinned out in a considerable way quickly. And as we look at more of these, definitely. more forwards now that are going to provide more value in this range. Freakin Scott's going to run a 4D first powerplay unit. A 2D first power play unit, maybe. All right. That brings it back around to me at number 24. So I'm going to go, when Corey took Connor Bedard, we talked about the flexibility to move

him to center or wing. I'm filled up at center, but I'm going to take a center here with the explicit intention of playing him on the wing. And that's James Hagan's. I need the skill and sense, kind of the pure power play quarterback type. Hagen's is the last guy here that I feel really good about in that role. So he's going to be my pick at number 24. And with that said, we're going to take a quick break.

Come right back. Continue our draft. All right. We're back. And we're through 24 picks here, which is little over half the draft. So I just want to give a recap of where everyone stands here. So I had the first pick. I got Macklin Celebrini, Wyatt Johnston, Dylan Genther, Matthew Nyes, Sam Dickinson, and James

Higgins. Corey has Connor Bedard, Leo Carlson, Ureislovkovsky, Maddie Baneers, Zeev Bouillon, and Carter Yakumchuk. Scott's D.E.Core has already filled out with Matthew Schaefer, Lane, Owen Power, and Zane Porek, and up front he's got Matve-Mitchkhov and Michael Mesa. Chris Peters has Adam Fantilli, Logan Cooley, Ivan Demadov, Will Smith, and I'm on the blue line, Luke Hughes, and Artem Lev Shinov. I'll come out of this with a 25th pick. Having just read through all that. It's been abundantly clear to me that I need a defenseman here. And I'm going to go with the one I'm the most familiar with on the board. And that's Simon Edvinson. Again, love the size, length, skating. I think there's more offense in Simon Edmondson that he's had a chance to show

in the NHL to this point. I don't know how much power play time is in his NHL future just with Axel Sandine Pelica on the way, more sight are already in place. But I think if he gets an extended chance to show that there is skill there, and it goes with a lot of other really impressive tools. So I'm going to go Simon Edvinson. That was the one name I forgot to mention at the end of the last segment, too. I think that was among the group of names there. For my pick, I feel like I have my senators pretty much now. I think it's Carlson and Baneers down the middle.

We're going to have Slefkowski and Baderd on one set of wings. There's a lot of forwards available. I'm tempted to take a D here, but I'm going to go forward and take what I think is a pretty unique winger prospect in Porter Martone to be my second line right wing, a guy with really, really high in skill and size, a guy who I think has potential to be an impact scoring winger with some heaviness in the NHL and just make it continue to build a great team here. All right. On number 27, Scott Wheeler.

I was sort of tapping my feet here for Porter Martone and excited to add Matt Vaimichkov's Philadelphia Flyers teammate to team that was a little bit of a steel there that was a little bit of a steel there that was a little bit of a steel um in pivoting though I had a number of sort of forwards lined up right behind Porter Martone on my list and I'll go with Berkeley Caton of the Seattle Cracken I think catten in terms of the remaining forwards who are left on the list has the most

pop the most offense he I think he's got a chance to be a real game breaker. And I love the way that he plays, the way that he attacks. He can potentially slot in as a center for me with Michael Mesa. I think there's still room for either of those players to potentially move over to the wing for me if I decide to take another center a little bit later. But I'm really, really excited to add Berkeley Caton to my group. All right. Chris Peters at number 28. Yeah. So things are, again, like I keep looking at the forwards. And obviously, I think that, you know, there's going to be more centers than wings and other things that we like. And so I'm going to look that way and then maybe have a decision to make at some point about who ultimately is the center.

But I'm going to have Anton Frundel here. I think that the upside on the player is gigantic. I think that there is an opportunity for him to be a strong two-way player. also really, I think the offense is going to come in a way that, that, you know, especially in these next couple of years as he makes his way to the NHL, I think he's going to be a legitimate goal scoring threat. He gives me some good size there. He gives me some versatility. So I'm going to go with Anton Frundel there and feel pretty confident about where I'm at in terms of, you know, my forward depth and the size and everything else. And,

The next, you know, I get another pick here, and it's always fun. And I, you know, I'm, my, my inclination is to go towards defense again. But, you know, I, I still see that I'm looking. It's so hard to pass on some of these forwards that, that I have in the mix here. But I, I want some, I want some snarl to add to the mix, too. And he's not big, but he's thick. And I'm going to go with Ryan Leonard in this spot. So I have a goal scoring cavalcade here of guys that with good shots, you got some heaviness now,

you get a bit of a hard-nosed nature. Does he have the upside of a Beckett Seneca or, you know, maybe even, you know, a William or Victor Eklund or people of that nature? And I'd say maybe not, but I just like the identity he brings to our team. Are you worried about any locker room issues by putting Smith and Leonard on the same team? again. That's a funny question, Corey. That's a funny, that's a funny question. They're going to have to deal with it because they made it work for many a year together.

They're going to have to keep making it work. All right. Let's go back to Scott here. He's picking at number 30. And I just took a center and now have two centers, but I'm going to make that three centers. And there are a couple of guys in this group that I, that I already have in Michael Mesa and Berkeley.

the cat and that I think can can make the move over to the wing. But this guy's a pure natural center. And I'm going to take Caleb Dainway A of the Utah Mammoth. I think Caleb sort of slots in perfectly as a two C in my group. He can, to answer one of Corey's earlier questions, he can penalty kill. And I'm excited to add that sort of impactful two-way winning center in Caleb Danway. I didn't say that. That was Max. Geez, like, I'm just taking strays here. I was really thinking about DeNIA in that next spot too for a lot of the similar reasons when I was thinking about Leonard and just that I think he plays such a style that will help you win a lot of games. All right. Back to Corey, number 31. This is a tough spot. I'll see still a lot of really good players here on the board. I look at my D and I feel like between Dean Ford, I want to address more on the defense here.

and I've got two really dynamic players in Zee, Boyman, Kariakumchuk on my blue line. You know, they didn't end okay. I wouldn't say that's their preference. They're more offensemen than they are players who are going to check, going to kill penalty, he's going to be hard to play against. That's not really, really what you're bringing them in for. So I'm going to bring in some size and some tenacity. And this is going to be Anton Saliav here to round out and add some different elements.

to my defense group. He's six, seven. He can skate. He's really physical. Some recancy bias. I watched his last game. And I thought he was excellent. It looks like an NHL defenseman to me. So picking still I have here. Yeah, for all the grief I gave Scott on his blue line, like I'm desperately scouring for a power play quarterback that I feel merits being taken like in the top this many, right? We're going to end up picking 44 players in this draft. and I'm straining to see a guy who I feel like, wow, am I really going to take him this high? So I will just say that. I know I was given Scott some grief, but I am, we may be having trade talks after this, is all I'm going to say.

At number 32, I am going to take not a power play quarterback with that said. I'm going to take Dimishev, similar to Corey's last pick with Saleh, another guy I was considering. Might have slightly preferred for the handedness. But in Simmishev, I'm going to get a guy who I think is very much like Simon Edvenson. And I think my opponents might be like, wasn't that guy just on the ice last shift? How did he get back out there? Another guy, great skater. I think he's going to kill plays with his reach, be able to close really well.

I don't think you guys as skill guys are going to have much transition luck against my blue line. Fair to say, like you're looking kind of at a group now for your last deed, like Clark, Sandin, Pelica, Nemich, Hudson. You could take whichever one of those guys you want really, given I think our blue lines are pretty much rounded out now. Yes, exactly. And there may be a couple more guys on that list that you just laid out. But my thought is there's enough of those that I'm content with that I feel like I can, even though I feel like it's the most glaring hole on my team, I can just let it sit. And if one or multiple of them are still there, I'll get it done later.

Not to give you a name, but I'd have, I'd have Denton Matechuk in that group. That is one of the others I was alluding to, yes. All right. And then I got another forward here that I get to pick. So I'm going to close that loop before I go back and figure out the defense. And I'm going to take back at Seneca here, right? You know, we talked about with Hagan's. I wanted the playmaking.

I think Seneca has enough of that and the peer skill. Still fits with kind of the size theme of the team I put together. But I do think there's a lot of, you know, high-end potential offensively with Seneca. I need a forward and a D and a goalie here to round out my team. Now, the guy I'm about to pick here as a center, but I very, very happily make him a second-line wing on my team. And I think he's so good as a center.

He might bump the ears out of being centered depending on how they play. You know, some friendly competition never heard anybody. I am ecstatic with my last forward to get Mason McTavish, who is just a well-rounded, heavy sentiment. He has legit skill. You can really shoot the puck. He skates well. I mean, I know his production has been outstanding, but it's Anaheim,

and I think his guy just has so many traits to be an outstanding. playoff type top two line forward that, you know, he joins my team with the size and the tenacity that I have to go with some of the skill there too. And, you know, I think my forward core is the group to beat. We'll debate that when the proper time comes. The first Scott Wheeler's on the clock at number 35. And I'm going to take the first, I'm very confident that the last two forwards that I've identified as sort of adding the right mix to my team will continue to be available. And so I'm going to go out and get the goalie that I want and take the first goalie of the draft here. And I'm going to draft the goalie who I believe has the highest upside amongst this U-23 cohort, which is always a little risky when you're talking about goalies this age.

But I'm going to take Jacob Fowler of the Montreal Canadiens. Jacob has been a stud, one of the best, forget goalies, one of the best players in college hockey in two years running. And I think he's a future starter in the NHL and has strong. true, true starter upside. So I'm, I'm going to sort of get the goalie train going here. All right. First goalie off the board. How did you parse kind of between the goalies here? Because I felt like there's not maybe in past years there's been an obvious like this is the top one or two goalies. Was that case for you with Fowler? How did you sort through that? He was the number one. I love Mikhail Yagerov and Trey Augustine and some of the other goalies who are sort of in this mix.

but Fowler, I kept coming back to Fowler as sort of the one for me. There was a bit of a gap between Fowler and a Yugurov or an Augustine for me, for example. All right. Onward to the next pick here, Chris Peters, actually the next two picks. You've got them both at 36 and 37. Yeah, and it's, you know, it's getting, it's getting harder and harder to make these, these picks. The decisions are so difficult at this time.

and you're just trying to make the right call because you don't want to get fired. And, you know, I had, I had Simashev circled as a guy that I wanted to get kind of more in this range. And then Max was like, no, you can't do that. I am, which was not very nice of you. So it gets a little bit tougher for me in terms of making the D decision here. But I'm going to go with a guy that I think kind of adds some more of that snarl to the group. And that is going to be Kishon. I'm going to take him here.

I'm going to get some physicality. I think that, you know, there are absolutely defensemen with better upside in this range. But I do think that there's a lot of, you know, a lot of what he brings to the table is something I want to make sure that I have with, you know, guys like Smith and Cooley. And, you know, you get a little bit more of that jam up front with Fantilli and Lentily and Lent. centered. So I want to keep that going with Hsson. And then my, my last pick, I was thinking about goalie here. I was thinking about Scott started the run on goalie's follower, absolutely a guy in the mix for me. But I'm going to go ahead and close out my defensive group here. And I'm going to add a little more flash

and dash with with Cole Hudson. Cole has, oh, look at Max's. Max's eyes are rolling. I had finally decided, which of these puckovers are going with. Max is upset. Max is upset. Max. I think I look at guys like him, Denton Matechuk. I just think what we saw from Cole Hudson last season at VU, he's taking off in a way that I didn't necessarily, like, I think he's always been a little bit underestimated in terms of, you know, the younger brother. He didn't have like necessarily the dynamic, some of the dynamic tools that Lane did, but was really close. And now I think you're starting to see him get there, his ability to make plays, the puck decisions. So, now when you've got a decor, you know, Hughes is, is one of my, my offensive guys, Levshinov, two-way guy, Acheson a little bit more. You know, he can give you offense, but he's going to give you that snarl. And then you got Cole Hudson to really make things go. I want to get the puck up to those forwards that I have as much as possible.

And Cole Hudson's a guy that really helps do that. All right. Back to Scott 38. So there were a few wingers late here, and I'm not going to give away some of the other ones, but there were a few wingers late here that I had identified, I sort of building my mock list for this that I was likely to be able to get. You could give it away. We can't pick forwards anymore.

Okay, well then. All right. Well, I'm going to take Cutter Goetier of the Anaheim Ducks. I thought Cutter had a really nice rookie season last year. I like the size that he adds to my group. I like the goal scoring punch that he adds to my group. And I think he's going to continue to take steps here and be a sort of a bit of a unique player in the NHL with the way that he plays. So he's, he's my sort of second, my first of two second line

wingers here. And who's the second? Well, we'll keep you in suspense until it comes back around. It's not my turn. Fair enough. 39, Corey Promin. My last defenseman will be David Reinhbacker. Just to, you know, get the lefty righty now on both deep pairs. He's six, two. He skates really well. What he was healthy last year in the American League. He was excellent. You know, he has real legit two-way ability of the way he can move the puck, the way he can shut down good players. I think there's a, I think my four D-Men now between him, Boyam, Silayev, and the Akimchuk have a lot of different elements. We can fill up both specialty in units.

We could play against good players. It's a very exciting group on building. And we play championship hockey. All right. So that brings me to my defense question here. I think for the sake of, I'm really worried about. getting called a homer. I think I'm going to take Axel Sandine Pelica here, but I'm going to do it in part because I want to hear, I want to have this conversation with Corey and Scott and Chris. So whenever

Red Wings fans ask me about Sandy and Pelica, I pump the brakes. In fact, some Redmings fans probably think I'm a little bit of a hater because I really caution them like, look, I think he's really smart. I think he's a really good playmaker. I think he can be a great power play quarterback. I'm not a hundred percent sure that he's a top 4D at five on five yet. What I need is a power play quarterback. So I'm taking him and I'm going to do it, you know, for that reason. But I'm curious, like when you look at him versus a Brant Clark, Corey, like, I'm leaning him because I think the skating's a little bit better. I think the competitiveness is a little bit higher. Do you think that's a reach by me to go Sandy Pelican over Clark? No, I don't think it is. I have him back to

back on my U-23 ranking. And I'm going to caveat by thinking this guy is better. Like, I think Sandy Pelka is better than this player about to name. But if you look at the profile, 511, right shot, good, not great skating defenseman, who's not dynamic, but's very talented, who put up record-breaking numbers as a teenage defenseman in the SHL. That is not unprecedented. In fact, it's very recently precedented in what Nealz-Lunkfist did. And I'm sure many of us remember the Nealz-Lunk-Fist hype train coming out of Sweden and the huge numbers he put up and how excited Rangers fans got.

And they had Zach Jones and whatever, and then they both get there. It's like, actually, actually, the NHL is a really hard league for 511. defensemen who are not, you know, Lane Hudson special or something like that. Like that's, like, so I could see the reservation there, but Clark skating's really bad. So, like, I think that's a perfectly reasonable player to take in that spot to fill out that role, I think. Scott, Chris. Scott, you really like him, right? I love Grant.

And I don't think his skating is really bad either. It certainly looks unconventional at the bit of the knee knock, but I think he's shown that he can move just fine at the NHL level and I expect him to pop here offensively and become one of the better offensive power play quarterback types in the league. I'm a big believer in Brandt. If I hadn't taken Zane and Zane and Lane so high, I probably would have sat on, on Brandt and tried to get him sort of down here as my second power play guy. All right. I don't know goalies at all. So I've really just been buying time for the last two minutes trying to figure out which of these guys I'm going to take. I think I'm going to go Zever again, but could I tell you why? No.

And then I'm going to take Ravensburg and I love the tools, love the athleticism, his most recent viewings, which was the World Junior Showcase, thought he was excellent. I think this guy has starting goalie upside in the NHL. And I think he's the best under 23 goalie. So just another win for our team and add him to the lineup. All right. Number 43 wheels. And we're now back to my final winger of the day here.

There are a bunch of wingers here, frankly, that, I like. I like Kent Johnson. I like Matt Coronado. I like Logan Stankovin. I like my boy Gabe Perrault, who I thought was disrespected in Corey's List last week, and we never got to in our criticisms of Corey's list back then. But I'm going to take neither of those players, and I'm actually going to take Cutter-Gote's former NTDP linemate and draft Jimmy Snuggarood of the St. Louis Blues. I think Jimmy's going to have a big, big rookie season. I think he's got a chance to be in the Calder conversation this year. It sounds like he's going to be their first line right wing alongside Robert Thomas right away, which is huge.

And I like the idea of reuniting on my second line, Cutter Gautier and Jimmy Snuggarood. And nearly, nearly picked, nearly picked Logan Cooley in the third round when I drafted Lane Hudson. It was between Hudson and Cooley for me there. So I could have had I done that sort of reunited the entire trio, which would have been fun. All right, Chris. Bring us home. Who's your goalie? Yeah.

this is so hard. It's so much harder than I thought it was going to be. I've got down to two players here. I love Mikhail Yagorov, both as a goalie and as just a guy to talk to. He is awesome. I mean, the personality on that kid is amazing. And then he's also a six foot five athletic goalie who, you know, started last season with the Omaha Lancers. And, you know, despite the fact that they were, you know, he won three games last year there and had a nine. 12 save percentage, which to me is almost impossible in terms of his, the, the, what was going on in front of him. Then he goes to BU, wins him a bean pot, takes him to the national championship game, a lot there. The guy I'm debating with is, is Trey Augustine, because we've seen him do it at the

world juniors. We've seen him win. I did think we saw some cracks in the armor last season at both Michigan State and at times during the world juniors last year, where he wasn't quite as sharp. And the thing is, is that the margin for error for Trey Augustine is much different than a six foot five goal tenders is. And so with that in mind, this is, it pains me because I would love to have Trey Augustine. I have a little section of American players on my team, which obviously is, it would be on brand for me. But I'm going to go with Mikhailia Gorov. I think the upside on him is gigantic. I think he took a massive step this year, this last year. And I think he's going to take an even bigger step this year and be one of the best goalies in college hockey.

I think Augustine's going to be great this year. And I think Michigan State is the favorite and is my favorite to win the national championship this year. And he'll be a big reason for it. But do not sleep on you gore of. I think this kid has tremendous talent and upside. All right. Let's just for the sake of, we've been through 11 rounds here, just for the sake of

acknowledging some of the guys who didn't get picked. Let's go, let's act like the draft was going to go one more round. and everyone say who their next highest ranked player would have been with no repeats. So, Chris, I guess that would start with you. Sorry to bring this on you with zero seconds on the clock. Throw me on the spot, man. Geez. My next ranked player, we didn't, nobody picked Kent Johnson, right?

Correct. Yeah. Yeah, it would be Kent Johnson. That was the one I was thinking of. He had nearly 60 points in the NHL last year. and he just not get picked in this draft. It was KJ or Jimmy for me, too. So I know you said no repeats,

but KJ would have been my next best player. I'm surprised that you have it that way, Scott, given by the skill that Johnson has. Part of it was a handedness thing and just wanting a little bit more size. Jimmy's just a stronger kid than KJ is and a right shot. And I didn't have the right shot winger for that bottom line. And Cutter is also a left shot.

So that was the, the differentiator there. I will say, I do think it's noteworthy that none of us took Roger McQueen or Caden Lindstrom and their back sort of risks. That's right. This is a risk averse podcast. Yes. Because I think they belong. They probably belong right in that next year. I already mentioned, I like Coronado. I like Stankov. And there were some guys, KJ, there were some guys there that I like. But Caden and Roger on Talent and Upside with that size are pretty unique players. and probably belonged sort of right at the bottom of our draft and obviously didn't get selected.

So I thought that was noteworthy. Corey? Okay. Johnson would have been my highest rated guy too. The other one I probably would point out would have been Shane Wright, 20 goals, 45 points last year. I might be accused of prioritizing the two-way centers too much, but I don't think you ever have too many two-way centers.

And this guy has offense. He can play both ways. I know the star has faded a little bit on him, but he had a heck of a year last year in the NHH after having a really good American League year before. And I think he's excelled quite well in Seattle. For me, it would have been Jake O'Brien. And we talked about how my team needed a little bit of kind of power playmaking.

I don't think I would have been able to play Jake O'Brien up top at the blue line. But for a guy who, one of the very best playmakers in the last draft class, and certainly in the U23 ranks, I think he was my forward if I could get it to go back around. Just as an FYI, just so Chicago fans are clear. Nobody, this entire podcast even said the name Frank Nazar, just as an FYI. He was right after KJ for me. Yeah, I was just about to mention William Eklund and Frank Nazar, the only attendee of the U.S. Olympic orientation camp who was not selected here. I say, and I think he's a great player, but I'm just pointing out, nobody until I just said that, even acknowledged he existed.

This is a roster that compiled players up to 44. Nazar is number 45 on Corey's U-23 list. It works out quite perfectly. I will say I would have taken Frank Nazar over Corey's final forward pick in Mason McTavish. Spicy. I was fighting words. Corey, where did you put Naser on the redraft? Wasn't it like four or five on your redraft for that?

Yeah, I know. 20. I've been for too, but I hate these players. It's fine. So I hear. I haven't read all the comments, but a lot of it's like you hate the Montreal fans. You hate small players, which seems to, you know, miss some history. Seems to be forgotten there on Colcoffield and Nick Suzuki and.

And Lane Hudson. We were the most pro-Lane Hudson podcast. I feel very comfortable saying that in the draft year. We were all like, you can't let this guy get out of the first round. All right, let's recap and see where everybody landed. Corey, why don't you go first? Read us your lineup. Sure. On my first line, I have Leo Carlson, in between your eyes, Slavkovsky, and Connor Bedard.

And my second line has Maddie Baneers in between Mason McTavish and Porter Martone. It ends up being a very big lineup, which I guess will further the bias from people that think that I favor size. But you know what? I got Connor Bedard on this team. He's an absolute dynamo to go with these, you know, just tremendous all-around forwards. It's a really exciting group. I would say it's the best forward group, quite honestly, among us. Then I go to defense. And I feel like that's some really good balance on my D-Corp.

So I have my first D-Pair is Z. Boeim and David Reimbacher. Boym is the dynamo. Ryanbacker's a steady two-way player. Then on the second pair, I've got this huge physical, mobile defenseman in Anton Selyev. And I had Carter Yacobchuk, who's kind of a defense optional defenseman, who's going to go up there and try and score. And Salaim's just going to stay back and crunch everybody who gets by Yacomchuk. when he turns the puck over at times,

but he's going to score a lot too, so I like the balance there. And I got the best goalie in the U-23 draft. I mean, Ravensburg is a stud. I had him top 20 going into this recent draft. He slides because I think some teams had some minor injury concerns about his hip and whatnot. But I think that he seems healthy.

He's really talented. Just an exciting team. Like, it's a championship team, I think. All right, Scott. Well, for all the talk in this sport about building from the blue line out, I'm the only one sitting on this conference call who prioritized, really prioritized and leaned into building from the blue line out. I think I have in Matthew Schaefer and Owen Power on my left side, the two most, I'm starting with the D here because I think that's the appropriate way to start reading my lineup.

But in Matthew Schaefer and Owen Power, I think I have the two most well-rounded D. And in Lane Hutz and I think I have the two most purely talented and gifted D. Lane Hudson playing his offside on the right side with Matthew Schaefer and Owen Power playing with Zane Perrek. Hudson successfully played his offside last year. It sounds like Hudson is going to continue to play at least a little bit of his offside this year, if not full time on his offside this year. So not worried about having three lefties. And then up front, I've got Michael Mesa between Berkeley Caton and Matt Veimichkov as more of a sort of skilled group. And then Caleb Dainwaye between Jimmy Snuggard and Cutter Gautier. as more of your sort of typical sort of line.

And then Jacob Fowler in between the pipes. And I really like the mix I have up front. I think I sacrificed maybe a little bit upfront by prioritizing D the way I did. But I don't think I'm giving back when I look at my first line or my second line. I don't think I'm giving back all that much to either of your teams. I think in Michkov, I still have one of the two or three most talented forwards in this group. And in Katten and Misa, I've got plenty of skill alongside him. And I really, really like the mix.

of my second line, plus this sort of strength of the blue line. So I'm, I'm thrilled with my team and we're going to win by playing sort of through our defensemen. All right, Chris Peters. Yeah, what, we'll see, we'll see if they can stop enough teams. They'll see if they can stop Adam Fantelli bearing down on them as a number one center coming through with Will Smith and Demadov on the wings, just got a lot of dynamic talent there. And then you've, throw kind of the battering ram that Fantilli can be when he wants to be. Then you've got the dynamic Logan Cooney is our number two center. You throw Anton Frundel on the wing.

You can change those as however you would like to. You've got Ryan Leonard, who's tough as nails and can score. And then on the blue line, I just like, you know, I do have three left, three left shot and one right shot defenseman here. I've got Lev Shanov holding down the right side. Luke Hughes, I just think he's our number one defenseman. and he's going to run the power play. You got Cole Hudson to run PP2.

Kishon is the human battering ram as well to go through and put a few guys on their butts. And then a six-foot-five Russian goalie who's only scratching the surface. I know Corey said he has the best goalie. I think he has the fourth best goalie in the group. I agree. Looking forward to that. Get our guys getting shots on our guy there.

I think that goal scoring is at a premium. I've got some goal scores. We've got some playmakers. I've got guys that can do it from the back end. And give me, give me Yagorov. It's between Yeagerov, Hudson, Leveshnov, and Hughes, and four wingerers all playing their off-wing. This is like a 1980s with like Russian Super League team here.

You're darn right. You got, look at the hockey sense on that team. Look at the hockey sense on that team. I think that H.S. and Hudson pair, second pair, leaves you exposed to the quality of the rest of our groups as well. Well, that was a big part of my thinking and building my team was this is going to be all-star rosters. I need to have guys who can defend star players.

I think that's how I tried to build my team with Sam Dickinson, Simon Edvinson, Demetri Simashev, kind of the anchors of the blue line and Sandine Pelica on defense. Obviously, it's kind of the opposite look for how Scott did it, right? Scott's blue line is going to move pucks and drive play like crazy. Mine's going to try to deny, deny, deny, and get the puck moving back up ice. I think my forward build is very similar to Corey's. I know he thinks he's number one with a bullet there, but with Genther's, Labrini Hagan's, Nyes, Johnson, Seneca.

I think that's a forward group that can play any style of hockey and be effective. Again, I think they're not going to give hardly anything up. They're going to be a pain to play against. And in Zivragan, I got a 20-year-old goalie who had a fantastic season as a full-timer in the KHL. So even though I joke, I don't know what I'm doing on goalies, that, you know, there was a logic to it. At least third in the group. No worse than fourth. I would like to hear what the fans think of this one.

So when you hear this episode or you read, read the article. Definitely weigh in and let us know whose roster you guys think is the best. We'll also have a poll up for you on Spotify, but that is going to do it for us. Thanks for listening to this episode of the Athletic Hockey Show Prospects series. You can, of course, catch more of Chris over at Flow Hockey and on his podcast called up. We'll talk to you soon.