2025 NHL Draft class superlatives: Ranking the best skaters, shooters, hands and more

New York Times

4 hours ago

Welcome to my annual draft class superlatives. This year-end class project (pun intended) is like the 'best of' or 'most likely to' section of your high school yearbook, except the graduating class is each draft class.
My final draft board and draft package ranking the top 100 prospects (plus 30 honorable mentions and 15 overagers) in the 2025 NHL Draft is already out.
Today, I rank the prospects across several different categories: best skaters, best shooters, best hands, most competitive, smartest, most physical, most well-rounded forwards and strongest.
The three 5-foot-7ish guys in this class can all absolutely fly, but the two best skaters in this class are Cullen Potter and Matthew Schaefer. Nobody can wind up like Potter (Cameron Schmidt, who I've seen pointed to as the top skater in the class, included), who is one of the fastest skaters I've scouted both in straight lines and rounding corners through his edges. And nobody flows north-south up and down the ice as effortlessly as Schaefer does. Reese Hamilton's edges also get high marks, and Radim Mrtka and Simon Wang aren't just good skaters for 6-foot-5-plus but good skaters by any measure.
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1. Cullen Potter
2. Matthew Schaefer
3. Cameron Schmidt
4. L.J. Mooney
5. Adam Benak
6. Ben Kevan
7. Reese Hamilton
8. James Hagens
9. Michael Misa
10. Sascha Boumedienne
11. Cameron Reid
12. Luca Romano
13. Haoxi 'Simon' Wang
Honorable mentions: Radim Mrtka, Lasse Boelius, Jackson Smith, Viggo Nordlund, Tomas Galvas, Daniel Nieminen, Kieren Dervin, Arvid Drott, Malcolm Spence, Lirim Amidovski
This draft class doesn't have any big-time shooters, and trying to find names for this category underscored that. Last year's class had snipers such as Cole Eiserman and Justin Poirier, and defensemen such as Zayne Parekh and Carter Yakemchuk who could really shoot it. Even Tij Iginla had a noteworthy shot. None of the players in this class have that kind of pop off the blade, with Schmidt maybe being the closest thing when he really rocks it back into his pocket and lets it rip.
1. Cameron Schmidt
2. Justin Carbonneau
3. Anton Frondell
4. Jakob Ihs-Wozniak
5. Kashawn Aitcheson
6. Jack Murtagh
7. Porter Martone
8. Bryce Pickford
9. Michael Misa
Honorable mentions: Daniil Prokhorov, Emile Guite, Charlie Trethewey, Cooper Simpson, Brent Solomon, Brady Martin, Carter Bear
They call Ryker Lee 'The Wizard,' and he lives up to the name, with the slickest hands and puck skill that I watched in this draft from an ankle-breaking/in-a-phone-booth/one-on-one perspective. Jake O'Brien is the next closest in terms of touch and feel on the puck. L.J. Mooney's hands are particularly impressive for how they blend in with his skating and agility, though, too. He finds his way out of trouble and through holes better than anyone in the class. There are a couple of big, strong wingers whose hands I wanted to draw attention to in Justin Carbonneau and Porter Martone as well. Those two love the toe drag and execute it very skillfully. Fondrk is a sneaky one, too. His teammates give his skill level a lot of love, and if he'd been healthy this year, I think it would have been more of a talking point.
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1. Ryker Lee
2. Jake O'Brien
3. L.J. Mooney
4. Justin Carbonneau
5. James Hagens
6. Porter Martone
7. Alexander Zharovsky
8. Michael Misa
9. Conrad Fondrk
10. Ivan Ryabkin
Honorable mentions: Brady Martin, Benjamin Kindel, Cullen Potter, Adam Benak, Viktor Klingsell, Aidan Lane, Filip Ekberg, Philippe Veilleux, Benjamin Rautiainen, Roger McQueen, Caleb Desnoyers, Cole Reschny
For what this class might lack in the shooters category, it makes up for with some high, high-end hockey IQ types. I think Adam Benak thinks it at the highest plane, but there are some very, very smart players in this group who really understand how to navigate the ice. You'll notice Martone appearing in some places you might not have expected (like here), too, and not in some others you might have thought (like most competitive and most physical). I think he has been miscast in the public sphere a little. People see the size, the penalty minute totals and that he dropped the gloves a few times this year and assume he's the ultra-competitive type. But scouts actually want him to be more consistently competitive and intense, and folks around the OHL laud him for his smarts and skill first.
1. Adam Benak
2. James Hagens
3. Jake O'Brien
4. Caleb Desnoyers
5. Benjamin Kindel
6. Michael Misa
7. L.J. Mooney
8. Matthew Schaefer
9. Cole Reschny
10. Cameron Reid
11. Porter Martone
Honorable mentions: William Moore, Roger McQueen, Victor Eklund, Luka Radivojevic, Jack Ivankovic
I think Brady Martin stands alone in this attribute in this class, with Kashawn Aitcheson and Victor Eklund in another class behind him. Martin's only got one mode, and it's all-out. He runs hot, he imposes his will on shifts and he never gives up on a puck. Aitcheson plays consistently hard and mean as well, but Martin has no let-up. And then Eklund's motor and stick-to-itiveness are really admirable for a sub-6-foot, sub-170-pound winger. Shoutout to the diminutive Mooney, who gets full marks for his effort level and compete at his size. I wanted to give him some flowers as well.
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1. Brady Martin
2. Kashawn Aitcheson
3. Victor Eklund
4. Carter Klippenstein
5. Milton Gastrin
6. Carter Bear
7. Malcolm Spence
8. Bill Zonnon
9. Caleb Desnoyers
Honorable mentions: Theo Hallquisth, Cole Reschny, Jacob Kvasnicka, Eddie Genborg, Braeden Cootes, Travis Hayes, Malte Vass, Brendan McMorrow, Ethan Czata, Charlie Cerrato, L.J. Mooney, Shane Vansaghi, Tyler Hopkins, Tomas Pobezal
Nobody in this class delivers hits harder or more often than Martin, though NTDPers Mace'o Phillips and William Belle sure can't help themselves (often to a fault) either. Physicality is also Swedish D Malte Vass' calling card.
1. Brady Martin
2. Kashawn Aitcheson
3. Mace'o Phillips
4. William Belle
5. Malte Vass
6. David Bedkowski
Honorable mentions: Carter Bear, Jack Nesbitt, Peyton Kettles, Shane Vansaghi, Carter Klippenstein, Daniil Prokhorov
Shane Vansaghi looks like a 30-year-old pro physically already, and, importantly, you can actually see it on the ice as well. He bullied mid-20s players in college hockey as a teenager this year, dominating some games on the forecheck and manhandling some guys below the goal line. He plays big-boy hockey the way a lot of bottom-six NHLers do.
1. Shane Vansaghi
2. Mace'o Phillips
3. William Belle
4. David Bedkowski
5. Charlie Trethewey
Honorable mentions: Anton Frondell, Kashawn Aitcheson, Brady Martin, Cole McKinney, Porter Martone, Carter Klippenstein, William Horcoff, Sean Barnhill, Jack Murtagh, Daniil Prokhorov, David Bedkowski, Justin Carbonneau, Carter Amico, Hayden Paupanekis, Brady Peddle, Peyton Kettles
I always like to finish with this, because I think it's important to highlight young players who understand both sides of the puck and the intangibles of the game, because they're the hardest attributes to find in teenagers. These are all very mature, complete players at an age where many play immature, incomplete games. Guys who understand the little things.
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1. Caleb Desnoyers
2. Milton Gastrin
3. Cole Reschny
4. Braeden Cootes
5. Cole McKinney
6. Victor Eklund
7. Malcolm Spence
8. Carter Bear
Honorable mentions: Eric Nilson, Jake O'Brien, Anton Frondell, Michael Misa, Tyler Hopkins
(Photo of Matthew Schaefer at the NHL Scouting Combine: Joe Hrycych / NHLI via Getty Images)