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New York Post
15 hours ago
- Sport
- New York Post
Breaking down Islanders' Day 2 picks in 2025 NHL Draft
An inside look at the Islanders' draft picks on Day 2 of the 2025 NHL Draft on Saturday: Daniil Prokhorov Drafted: Second round (42nd overall) Height: 6-foot-6 | Weight: 218 pounds Position: RW | Shoots: Left Born: April 27, 2007 | Country: Russia Physically imposing winger with a high-end motor who finishes checks. Gets to the net offensively, but questions about his hockey sense and skill level. 3 Daniil Prokhorov poses for a portrait after being drafted by the Islanders in the second round with the 42nd overall pick during the 2025 NHL Draft on June 28, 2025. Getty Images Luca Romano Drafted: Third round (74th overall) Height: 5-foot-11 | Weight: 176 pounds Position: Center | Shoots: Right Born: June 25, 2007 | Country: Canada Good skater with an all-around toolset and the ability to transition the puck. Has detail to his game with the skills to become a high-end playmaker as well. 3 Luca Romano poses for a portrait after being selected in the third round with the 74th overall by the Islanders during Day 2 of the 2025 NHL Draft on June 28, 2025. NHLI via Getty Images Tomas Poletin Drafted: Fourth round (106th overall) Height: 6-foot-1 | Weight: 205 pounds Position: LW | Shoots: Left Born: April 30, 2007 | Country: Czechia Captained Team Czechia at the U18 Worlds last season while getting called up to play 15 games with the Lahti Pelicans in the Finnish Liiga. Inconsistent season but showed good two-way and play-driving ability during international competition. 3 Tomas Poletin NHLI via Getty Images Sam Laurila Drafted: Fifth round (138th overall) Height: 6-foot-1 | Weight: 192 pounds Position: Defense | Shoots: Left Born: Sept. 2, 2006 | Country: United States Put up 41 points last season with the USHL's Fargo Force and will play next season at the University of North Dakota. An overage prospect with a late birthday, Laurila grew last season into a more offensive defenseman who can create. Burke Hood Drafted: Sixth round (170th overall) Height: 6-foot-3 | Weight: 192 pounds Position: Goaltender | Catches: Left Born: April 30, 2007 | Country: Canada Had a .910 save percentage and 3.13 GAA in 42 games with the WHL's Vancouver Giants last season. Good athleticism and puck-tracking ability with questions around rebound control and glove-side issues. Jacob Kvasnicka Drafted: Seventh round (202nd overall) Height: 5-foot-11 | Weight: 172 pounds Position: RW | Shoots: Right Born: Aug. 10, 2007 | Country: United States Scored 39 points in 66 games with the USNTDP last season. Speedy winger with skill and good hands.
New York Times
01-05-2025
- Sport
- New York Times
Meet Cole Reschny, the hottest prospect in the 2025 NHL Draft: ‘He stirs the drink'
ALLEN, Tex. — Ask Victoria Royals head coach James Patrick or general manager Jake Heisinger about Cole Reschny and they'll both say the same thing. 'I will say this: I don't know if a player in our league had a better second half than him. (And) I know there's not one player that I can think of who played better in the playoffs,' Patrick said. 'He put this team on his back and his playmaking and compete were elite.' Advertisement In those playoffs, Reschny registered 25 points in just 11 games, leading the Royals past the Tri-City Americans and to six games in a second-round series against the heavily favored Spokane Chiefs. 'I would say in the second half of the season that he was as dominant as any player in the league,' Heisinger said. 'He led us all the way through and when the stakes got higher, he raised his game for the playoffs and he really showed not only where he can take his game to but just how competitive he is, how badly he wants to win.' On the year, he registered 35 goals and 117 points in 73 combined regular season and playoff games. At year's end, NHL Central Scouting listed the 5-foot-10.5, 183-pound center as their 25th-ranked North American skater in the draft. Immediately after losing Game 6 to the Chiefs, he wasn't satisfied, either, hopping on a plane to Texas the following day to join Team Canada at U18 Worlds. Though he joined the team late, they immediately named him an alternate captain. In his first game of the tournament, he scored in a 5-1 win against Finland. A day later, on a back-to-back against Norway, he scored again and added two assists to give him four points in two games. And on Wednesday's quarterfinal against Czechia, he made it six points in three games, scoring a big late-second-period goal to tie the game 2-2 and an even bigger one to win it in overtime. He played 21:50 in the game, tops among Canadian forwards. COLE RESCHNY CALLS GAME IN OT😤 The @victoriaroyals' star #NHLDraft prospect sends 🇨🇦 to the semis❗️ #U18MensWorlds — Canadian Hockey League (@CHLHockey) April 30, 2025 It's already his third time performing for Hockey Canada, after winning gold at the 2024 Hlinka Gretzky Cup, where he registered seven points in five games, and co-leading Canada Red in scoring with eight points in seven games at the 2023 World U17 Hockey Challenge before that. After chasing a second gold medal, it'll be onto the next thing, and then the next, and the next. The draft. Development camp. Skating and training with his skills coach and strength and conditioning coach, Adam Huxley, and daily hour-long drives from his small Saskatchewan town of Macklin and across the provincial border into Wainwright, Alta., to get to work. Advertisement That's the Reschny way. When he had his exit meeting with Patrick and Heisinger before departing for Texas, they didn't even have to tell him what they expected of him in the offseason, like they do for their other players. 'He's not a guy that you need to lay out what he needs to work on,' Heisinger said. 'He knows he's got to keep putting the work in on and off the ice and he's someone that's very driven and very motivated. As soon as the U18s are done, he'll be getting right to it.' There are about 1,200 people who live in Macklin. Just enough for a church, a school, a couple of inns, a couple of restaurants, a couple of car repair shops, and a hockey arena. 'It's a very small town,' Reschny said of his home. 'Just growing up there, it's tough. You have to drive a lot to get anywhere. It's fun though. It's a lot of driving but it's fun. (And) it's a pretty good rink in town. We're pretty lucky to have what we have there.' The Reschnys account for five of those people. Cole's dad, Clinton, works as an oil field services sales manager. His mother, Allison, is an educational assistant at the school, working with special needs students. Cole is the middle of three boys. His older brother, Austin, who he says has been the most influential person in his hockey career, is a 21-year-old forward at the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology. His younger brother, Anderson, is a 14-year-old defenseman at OHA Prep. His uncle, Trevor Reschny, also played at Northeastern University, where he served as the Huskies' captain in his senior year. Cole spends his free time fishing, snowmobiling and helping Clinton farm goats. The closest real hub, according to Reschny, is Lloydminster, a town of about 30,000 more than 100 kilometres north. Wainwright is only home to 6,000 people, but Huxley's group in the gym and on the ice is 25-30 pro and junior players, and they take pride in their offseason training group being equivalent to the ones at the top gyms and rinks in major cities like Calgary and Edmonton. Advertisement Huxley has been working with Reschny since he was 8 or 9 years old. His other clients include players such as Carson Soucy, Bobby McMann, Mason Shaw, Scott Ratzlaff and Jagger Firkus. Huxley, who played more than a decade in the AHL and ECHL and is the western head of player development for the skills development and technology firm Power Edge Pro, put Reschny in their group in the gym and on the ice when he was 15. When he first started skating and working out with them, they were 'shocked' by his age because of how mature he is. 'I don't think I've met a more professional, driven kid at 15-17 in my time doing this,' Huxley said. 'The older pro guys look up to him, I'm not kidding. You won't find a better kid. First and foremost he's an amazing kid, secondly he's a really good hockey player.' That's true of all three Reschny boys, plus Clinton and Allison. Huxley called Allison 'an amazing lady' and said Clinton 'just tells them how it is.' 'I don't think you've met a more respectful group of kids, a more polite group of kids. They're very, very well parented and you can tell when you talk to Cole his respect level for adults and older guys in the gym and on the ice, his coaches, is something you don't see much anymore,' Huxley said. 'He's an old soul and it's just a pleasure to be around all of the Reschnys. His parents are model hockey parents.' This summer, when the U18s wrap up and Reschny returns home to Macklin to start his offseason training with Huxley, his focus will be on adding a step, which scouts have asked about. Both Heisinger and Huxley said he's 'faster than people give him credit for.' 'I've had a couple of people ask me and they're not worried about his speed, but they've asked about it, and I have four or five clips where I say, 'Well, this is what you're getting. He's toasting defenders because his hands, feet and head move in sync,'' Huxley said. 'And he's continually working on his first three steps, which is their question mark. But when you look at his game as a whole, his brain and everything else works together so well. Sometimes I watch him and I'm like 'Go, go, go, you're the best player out there' but then I watch and he'll make the right play almost every time. He's a thinker.' Advertisement Despite his 5-foot-10.5 listing, Huxley also says Reschny's 'a beast in the gym.' Heisinger called him a 'powerful kid (who) gets to pucks' because of how motivated and driven he is. 'People look at size and to the naked eye they always look at height. And you know what, wingspan and length and reach is one way of looking at size and it's awesome to have, but Cole is built like Sid (Sidney Crosby),' Huxley said. 'He's low to the ice. His legs are super strong and going to be super explosive. And if you watch him down low, he isn't getting beat off pucks very often and that's because he's very, very strong.' Huxley thinks he could grow a couple of inches and get to six feet, too, and compares him to how thick and strong Logan Stankoven was at the same age (though Stankoven was 2 1/2 inches shorter). 'When you think of size, do you really think about height anymore? I think you think of, 'If I have the puck, how am I going to keep it?' And I think Cole is a very strong player. He's very strong for his age,' Huxley said. On the ice, that strength shows up in his ability to win and hold pucks, too. 'He's a battler,' Heisinger said. 'He wants to win puck battles. He's a guy that's in the fight to win the fight. He's going to do whatever it takes to win a game, to win a battle. He's the ultimate team guy, ultimate competitor, and someone that when the chips are down you want him on your side.' Patrick said the only player he has ever coached in the WHL who entered the league as strong as Reschny did at 16 was Minnesota Wild first-rounder Carson Lambos. 'Probably Cole's biggest strength is how strong he is on his feet, how strong he is on the puck,' Patrick said. That first season, Patrick said he didn't think there was a player in the CHL who had to play as much and as big a role as Reschny did. After first-line center Robin Sapousek got injured at the World Juniors, Reschny became Victoria's 1C at 16. In a perfect world, Patrick would have preferred his rookie season in the WHL to be in third-line matchups and minutes. Advertisement Instead, Reschny registered 59 points in 61 games, second on the team in scoring and fifth among WHL rookies. 'He stirs the drink. He makes players around him better. Two years in a row, as a 16- and 17-year-old, that team just has no success without him and it's very evident. Look at the players this year who played with him, look at the players last year who played with him, they both had career years,' Huxley said, pointing specifically to linemate Teydon Trembecky's jump from 10 goals and 20 points a year ago to 46 goals and 88 points this season. He actually had a 'really tough first couple of months' to start this season, according to Patrick, and didn't play particularly well at November's CHL USA Prospects Challenge (where he scored the game-winner in the second game of the event, his lone point in its two games). But he got better, and better, and better as the season went on. In the second half, Patrick said he was outplaying the opposing teams' 19- and 20-year-old first-line centers head-to-head as a 17-year-old. When they'd go into Prince George it was Wild 2023 second-rounder Riley Heidt, then 19. When they'd go into Vancouver, it was 20-year-old drafted prospects Connor Levis and Jaden Lipinski. 'He was playing these players head-to-head or outplaying them,' Patrick said, 'and coming away with two, three, four points, and playing in every situation, and playing the game the right way. But not only that, just how he led by example was pretty impressive. We hadn't seen too many instances like this and I certainly haven't. I don't think I've seen a 17-year-old play better in the playoffs in my time coaching in the league.' In the playoffs, it was Kraken 2024 top-10 pick Berkly Catton in Spokane. 'I think he showed here playing against a pretty potent top line in Spokane that his skating was more than fine,' Heisinger said. Advertisement All year, even when he got off to a slower start offensively, he was also Patrick's 'best defensive center' and 'top penalty killer' and 'top faceoff guy.' 'From the time I got here, he has played a real responsible two-way game,' Patrick said. 'And for me coming from the NHL to coaching junior, it was way more pronounced to have some young players who have no clue how to play the game defensively or no desire to play in the D-zone. And in saying that, it's never even been an issue for him. He feels a responsibility, he's aware of it, he knows how to play in the D-zone, he's good at taking away passing lanes, he's good at ending plays and he will get in the shot lanes. It's something that he has been willing to do and takes pride in from the time that I got here.' Huxley went a step further. 'I've been around a lot of the kids in the draft and I'm not a scout, but I don't think there's a better 200-foot player in the draft. There's not a chance,' Huxley said.
New York Times
28-04-2025
- Sport
- New York Times
How Ben Kindel, through soccer and sense, has become a top 2025 NHL Draft prospect
ALLEN, Tex. — Garry Davidson didn't really get introduced to Ben Kindel's game until a breakout performance at the John Reid Memorial Tournament, a big bantam showcase in St. Albert, Alta. It was January 2022, and Davidson, a longtime WHL general manager, was in his first season with the Calgary Hitmen. Back then, Kindel was a 'skinny, scrawny 14-year-old' who'd missed the first half of the season with a broken hand. Advertisement Davidson was immediately impressed by his sense for the game, though, so he tried not to worry about how underdeveloped he looked. Then he 'had a great finish and a good playoff that year' and sparked the Hitmen's interest. When the 2022 WHL Bantam Draft rolled around, the Hitmen had two late second-round picks and crossed their fingers that he'd still be available, banking on other teams sleeping on him because of his size and the time missed. When he was there for them, they selected him 43rd overall. 'He kind of came out of the forest in the second half, so to speak, and we were pretty fortunate that we got him where we got him,' Davidson said. Three years later, Kindel is a top prospect in the 2025 NHL Draft. This season, as a 17-year-old, he led the Hitmen in combined regular-season and playoff scoring, registering 43 goals and 114 points in 76 games. NHL Central Scouting have him listed as their 21st-ranked North American skater in the draft. Their report describes him as follows: 'Ben is a smart and versatile center that can be deployed in all situations. He is quick, agile and elusive with the puck, with the ability to create his own scoring chances as well as set-up quality looks for teammates. A consistent generator of offence, he's smart and responsible with and without the puck and an asset on both special team units. Willing to play bigger than his size, he battles and competes with good balance and strength on his skates. He consistently goes into the 'hard' areas of the ice to makes plays and generate chances.' On Sunday, he arrived in Texas two games into Team Canada's U18 Worlds after leading the Hitmen to Game 7 of the second round of the WHL playoffs and played that game, too. Canada immediately slotted him onto the second line with fellow projected first-round picks Cole Reschny and Jack Nesbitt. A little over three minutes into his first game with the team, he put a one-touch shot on the power play under the bar to give Canada a 1-0 lead against the Finns. 🎯🎯🎯#U18MensWorlds | # — Hockey Canada (@HockeyCanada) April 27, 2025 Kindel is still on the smaller side, with a 5-foot-10, 176-pound listing. But scouts and coaches alike respect his game, and he was a go-to player in all situations for the Hitmen, including on the penalty kill, making a successful move from the wing back to the natural center position he played in minor hockey. Advertisement He also comes from a family of athletes. Both of his parents played pro soccer and for the Canadian national team. His dad, Steve Kindel, played for the Vancouver Whitecaps and earned four caps for the Canadian men's national team. His mom, Sara Maglio, was part of Canada's 1999 FIFA Women's World Cup team. Steve and Sara met playing for Simon Fraser University's soccer teams. Steve is the senior technical director of the North Vancouver Football Club these days, and Sara is the executive director at the Coquitlam Metro-Ford Soccer Club. Last summer, Sara joined Ben's younger sister, Lacey, in Alajuela, Costa Rica, for the 2024 CONCACAF Under-15 soccer championship while Steve went to Edmonton to watch Ben play for Canada at the 2024 Hlinka Gretzky Cup. It was both kids' first time ever representing Canada internationally. Ben won gold; Lacey won bronze. Until he was 16, Kindel was an elite-level soccer player himself and competed at the National U16 Soccer Championship in 2022, the year of his bantam draft in hockey. He was an attacking midfielder. He doesn't like to admit it, but he grew up supporting Italy more than Canada internationally. Davidson, without prompting, talked about how he can see the high-level soccer in Kindel's game on the ice. 'His feet are part of his ability,' Davidson said. 'He makes bad passes look real good, he seems to be able to use his feet in traffic all the time when he's in board battles and uses them so effectively. We always talk about two-sport athletes or three-sport athletes, and I'm a big proponent of young people playing other sports because there's crossover benefits, and certainly I think we're seeing that in Ben's game.' His game is really about his 'phenomenal' sense, though, according to Davidson. After a very respectable 60-point season as a 16-year-old rookie a year ago, Davidson and his staff weren't expecting Kindel to push for 100 points in his draft year. But Davidson said he wasn't surprised by it in the end 'because he possesses such good hockey sense and has a real knack for creating offense not only for himself but for his linemates.' Advertisement 'We anticipated he was going to drive offense for us,' Davidson said, while also pointing to Kindel's high-end hands and feet. He's also got room to grow still in both strength and, accordingly, skating. 'I think his skating is going to continue to improve as he gets more core and leg strength,' Davidson said. 'I think he's a typical 17-year-old. He doesn't have man strength yet at all, so there's room. Whether he's going to get to 6-feet tall I think is probably a stretch but he certainly will fill out and increase his strengths and that'll be important with the core and the legs to assist with his skating.' For the last three years, he has also worked with skating coach Barb Aidelbaum in Vancouver to get quicker after his agent, Ross Gurney, connected them. He has also worked closely with his skills coach Justin Rai of Kaivo, a local hockey development coach who trains players like Connor Bedard, Kent Johnson and Andrew Cristall, and who works with the Seattle Kraken. Initially, he and Aidelbaum worked together starting in the spring after his CSSHL season finished. Since then, 'he's had a vast rate of improvement,' according to Aidelbaum. The soccer background is evident even in his skating sessions with Aidelbaum. 'He's not an early sport specializer and he has improved motor skills development over others that just do single sport from a very young age. So he's got a larger skill set. His athleticism is at a higher level,' Aidelbaum said on a recent phone call. 'So he's certainly easier to coach because he also has higher body awareness with that. He has a very, very strong core, which is very likely from his soccer. So his hips and core is strong but in general as soon as he gains strength in his lower body legs down, he's got huge potential to be an excellent skater. And the data tells us that with the competitive athletes that aren't early specializers, they have a reduced risk of overuse injuries and burnout. And that's him.' Advertisement In his work with Aidelbaum, he has also proven to be a fast learner. 'I can be working with him on a very technical skill and be aiming for his hips to go one way direction and his shoulders to go one direction and a certain amount of ankle flex and he can put it all together right away,' Aidelbaum said. 'And I think that's just overall what we're seeing with him is that he's just got unlimited potential and he's on a fast track for sure. He's got a great work ethic. Anyone that improves their points from season to season by going from 60 points to 99 points obviously is a smart guy.' In those ways, he also reminds Aidelbaum of one of her former clients: Longtime NHL defenseman Dan Hamhuis. 'He's kind of that quiet hard worker, takes a lot in, very deep thinking person,' Aidelbaum said. 'He processes a lot of information in the lesson but then he'll also go home and process it for the next couple of days and come back and be that much better than he was during training sessions before. There are similarities between those two athletes, although Hamhuis is a defenseman, just in the way they think and develop. It's very exciting.' Standing inside the Credit Union of Texas Event Center after his U18 Worlds debut, Kindel was still wrapping his head around a busy week. His Hitmen had lost to the Lethbridge Hurricanes in Game 7 on Wednesday. A day later, he was booking and hopping on a flight to Dallas. His first goal was a WHL title, not a gold medal. Now he's had to recalibrate. '(The loss) was obviously devastating. We were hoping to go farther in the playoffs but you have to quickly turn your mind around and focus on other things and this tournament is a really important thing to me,' he said. His impact was felt immediately, too. Beyond the goal, and the top-six role, he was also immediately inserted onto both the power play and the penalty kill. Cory Stillman, Canada's head coach, said the way he thinks the game stood out immediately. Advertisement 'He's very smart. He wants to move the puck. There were a couple of times I wished he shot the puck and moved it a little quicker today but he's a great player that way and he's going to be a great fit,' Stillman said. '(He) makes us a lot deeper. It puts guys in the positions that they should be in.' Beyond all of the hockey attributes, Davidson also describes him as uniquely very competitive — a very quiet leader who maybe isn't the rah-rah guy but works hard and has the focus and drive to bring his game to the NHL. Aidelbaum is sure of it. 'He's one of the guys that I look at and go, 'He's only just begun. His NHL career is going to be lengthy,'' Aidelbaum said. 'Some players, you look at them and you go 'Well, he's really good now, but is he going to play in NHL games?' But with him, he's on the fast track for sure.' — With reporting in London and Oshawa, Ont.
