Final 2025 NHL Mock Draft: Matthew Schaefer projected No. 1, surprises could follow

New York Times

5 hours ago

This is my final projection for the first round of the 2025 NHL Draft. This is my best guess as to what I think will happen tonight. I stress these are guesses. At times, I have information on what I believe certain teams may do, and that information is shared below, but ultimately, nobody can know except the handful of decision-makers for those organizations.
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I don't like to comment on trade speculation around the draft in general. I find that 99 percent of the time, it's a waste, and most speculated moves never happen. However, I feel compelled to make a certain point today about the New York Islanders. We feel there's a strong chance Matthew Schaefer will be their pick (and if he isn't, then the rest of what I'm about to say is moot).
Over the last few days, there's been an extremely popular sentiment among fans, media, and even within some NHL teams, that the Islanders will attempt to make a major move to acquire another high pick to select James Hagens, a childhood Islanders fan from Long Island. That suggestion, frankly, is ridiculous and is not how any competent professional sports organization should be run. Moving for a major asset like a top-10 pick has significant long-term implications, and feel-good stories should not dictate those decisions. Maybe if it's truly close on their board, it can be a factor (and even if they got another high pick, Hagens may not even be the player they have rated the highest).
That rant aside, here is how I think tonight could go.
Here's the post-combine recap on McQueen: Teams have mild reassurances on his season-long back injury. His camp is telling people that not playing much was precautionary, and he was misdiagnosed with a disc issue that was later revealed to be a stress fracture that is completely healed. Some teams are not completely convinced, though. McQueen still missed games twice after coming back late in the season, and the Cayden Lindstrom situation lingers in the background even if McQueen's injury does seem less severe than Lindstrom's, as he wasn't having the nerve issues Lindstrom did.
Turning to Boston, if Martone is available at 7, I believe they would seriously consider him and that he is on their short list. Like the teams picking ahead of them, though, I believe they would prefer to come out of this center-heavy draft with a center. I do believe they are very high on McQueen. O'Brien and Radim Mrtka are the other two names I've heard the most often with Boston.
If McQueen doesn't go here, I'm at a bit of a loss for his landing spot. I'm not sensing a ton of interest in the league to roll the dice on him with a high pick.
(Illustration: Demetrius Robinson / The Athletic; photos of Roger McQueen, Matthew Schaefer, Anton Frondell: Leila Devlin, Michael Miller / ISI Photos, Jonathan Kozub / Getty Images)