2025 NHL Entry Draft Thread

[Mr. Allen]

Back to 3rd last.   I’m hoping we can stay in the top 4.  

[Crusader1969]

28 minutes ago, Mr. Allen said:

Back to 3rd last.   I’m hoping we can stay in the top 4.  

I think you want to fall into bottom 2 at this point 

Haven't heard much about Hagens since the World Juniors.  Hopefully he is still looking like a guy who could be a difference maker 

[Crusader1969]

On 3/8/2025 at 9:38 AM, LGR4GM said:

Bump

Misa currently has 124pts in 59 games. 58g, 66a. 

That's 2.10 ppg. Sam Reinhart had 1.75 (whl) in his draft year for comparison. His ppg puts him in 5th all time for the OHL since 2005. McDavid (2.55), Kane (2.50), Gagner (2.23), and Rossi (2.14) are the only players with a better ppg and he might catch Rossi and could Gagner. 

The only player with more goals is Kane with 62 to Misa's 58. Misa could still overtake Kane before his season ends. 

Michael Misa is my top pick in this class. I don't particularly care that Schaefer can do x, y, and z and is so young. I think Misa is elite and because he's been so good for so long, he's not getting as much credit as his season deserves. 

1. Misa

2. Schaefer

3. Hagens

4. Martone

5. McQueen... for now 

At this point it feels like Misa is the only one that we could eventually look back and say "it was worth it" for  us for having to go through such a terrible season (again)

[Thorner]

 

[LGR4GM]

1 hour ago, Thorner said:

 

What!? Ligers love of Rossi was right? 

Shocked. 

 

[LGR4GM]

It finally happened, Misa had a bad game. Actually his entire team imploded on itself to the tune of an 11-3 loss with my boy getting a -3 and no points. 

Anyways, I went over his overall game again and I am still baffled beyond belief that team Canada left this guy off their U20 roster. Truly one of the dumbest things we've seen as he just gets hockey. I don't get why he doesn't have the buzz that Celebrini or Bedard were getting, he is at that level. In fact, his shot is one of the closest to Bedard's I've seen in a hot minute. Hope Buffalo wins the lottery, because that's about the only way we get Misa. 

[Thorner]

2 hours ago, LGR4GM said:

It finally happened, Misa had a bad game. Actually his entire team imploded on itself to the tune of an 11-3 loss with my boy getting a -3 and no points. 

Anyways, I went over his overall game again and I am still baffled beyond belief that team Canada left this guy off their U20 roster. Truly one of the dumbest things we've seen as he just gets hockey. I don't get why he doesn't have the buzz that Celebrini or Bedard were getting, he is at that level. In fact, his shot is one of the closest to Bedard's I've seen in a hot minute. Hope Buffalo wins the lottery, because that's about the only way we get Misa. 

He’s a winger, right? More of a playmaker or shooter? Or both? 

[Flashsabre]

1 minute ago, Thorner said:

He’s a winger, right? More of a playmaker or shooter? Or both? 

He’s a centre. He is a dual threat but his shot is his strength along with his skating.

[Thorner]

1 minute ago, Flashsabre said:

He’s a centre. He is a dual threat but his shot is his strength along with his skating.

Oh I heard recently he was projected to wing at the NHL level, any truth to that? 

[Flashsabre]

He played wing a lot last year as a 16 year old but went back to centre this season and has exploded. He is a centre but any centre can be moved to wing. I see him as an explosive offensive centre.

[Thorner]

Ya I’ve paid attention little but have heard there’s quite a tier between him and the next F. And we don’t want a D

[LGR4GM]

1 hour ago, Thorner said:

Oh I heard recently he was projected to wing at the NHL level, any truth to that? 

nah, he's a center

1 hour ago, Thorner said:

Ya I’ve paid attention little but have heard there’s quite a tier between him and the next F. And we don’t want a D

Hagens... idk maybe. Hagens is smaller and in the NCAA which is causing him some issues. I can't tell what that gap is. I think Martone is a step down. 

It's kinda:

Tier 1: Schaefer, Misa

Tier 2: Hagens, Martone, maybe McQueen

Tier 3: about the next 5-12 guys. 

[Archie Lee]

Honest question:  how close are the Sabres to having an elite prospect say: “Don’t draft me.”?

Edited yesterday at 05:50 PM by Archie Lee

[LGR4GM]

59 minutes ago, Archie Lee said:

Honest question:  how close are the Sabres to having an elite prospect say: “Don’t draft me.”?

[Mr Peabody]

1 hour ago, Archie Lee said:

Honest question:  how close are the Sabres to having an elite prospect say: “Don’t draft me.”?

They got roasted on XM NHL radio today.  Boomer and Jake couldn’t for the life of them understand what the plan is.  

[Weave]

53 minutes ago, Mr Peabody said:

They got roasted on XM NHL radio today.  Boomer and Jake couldn’t for the life of them understand what the plan is.  

Them and everyone else.

[Thorner]

7 hours ago, LGR4GM said:

nah, he's a center

Hagens... idk maybe. Hagens is smaller and in the NCAA which is causing him some issues. I can't tell what that gap is. I think Martone is a step down. 

It's kinda:

Tier 1: Schaefer, Misa

Tier 2: Hagens, Martone, maybe McQueen

Tier 3: about the next 5-12 guys. 

I’ve heard it’s night and day between misa and hagens. But more importantly smart sabres twitter is telling me he’s a wing. I’m scratching my head at the disconnected info here haha. Whom do I trust 

Edited 16 hours ago by Thorner

[LGR4GM]

3 minutes ago, Thorner said:

I’ve heard it’s night and day between misa and hagens

Misa is bigger, better shot, more direct, more physical. 

Hagens reminds me of Jack Hughes. 

[LGR4GM]

5 minutes ago, Thorner said:

I’ve heard it’s night and day between misa and hagens. But more importantly smart sabres twitter is telling me he’s a wing. I’m scratching my head at the disconnected info here haha. Whom do I trust 

Misa? He's played center all year. Maybe at the start he did some games at wing but I think it comes from last year when Misa did play wing. I think he's a center, the details, the skill, the skating, all lead me to think he's a center. 

[LGR4GM]

Misa plays with Chernysov and Epperson a lot as their center. 

Even if Misa were to be an nhl wing, I'd take him over Hagens

Edited 16 hours ago by LGR4GM

[Crusader1969]

10 hours ago, Archie Lee said:

Honest question:  how close are the Sabres to having an elite prospect say: “Don’t draft me.”?

A long long long way.   It just doesn't happen in hockey

[Crusader1969]

2 hours ago, LGR4GM said:

Misa plays with Chernysov and Epperson a lot as their center. 

Even if Misa were to be an nhl wing, I'd take him over Hagens

IF Sabres miss out on Misa, is Hagens / Martone a decent consolation?

[LGR4GM]

7 hours ago, Crusader1969 said:

IF Sabres miss out on Misa, is Hagens / Martone a decent consolation?

Yes. Martone needs more consistency in his game but he's got playmaking and uses his size well. Hagens worries me. I've seen some of his ncaa stuff and he's fine but you can tell that level is just a bit too much for him physically, he's gotta add the muscle and find ways to get inside. I'd leave him in the ncaa another year. He reminds me a Jack Hughes and does have a good 2way game. 

Now if they fall to 5th, the question becomes so you risk McQueen or take one of ***** 6 guys that are roughly similar?

 

McQueen sat out most of the year with a bulging disc in his lower back. He's 6'5" with a cannon shot. It's risky though, unless his team makes the playoffs you're only gonna have about 20 games from him this year. 

[Archie Lee]

7 hours ago, Crusader1969 said:

A long long long way.   It just doesn't happen in hockey

It’s happened twice in hockey, that I recall (Lemieux and Lindros). Not for over 30 years though. There hasn’t been an organization pathetic like the Sabres are, in the 30 years since Lindros.

I could be wrong, but I think the national discourse on the Sabres is going to be brutal in the off-season; particularly in the podcast universe, where I think a lot of younger people get their hockey info. 

[LGR4GM]

Let's mock the top 5, because why not. We will assume the order is unchanged.

1. San Jose: Matthew Schaefer LHD, while SJ was able to add LH Sam Dickinson in last years draft as well, they have primarily acquired offensive talent. Celebrini, Smith, Musty, Chernyshov, Bystedt, Eklund etc. They have a ton of really good offensive players on the team or in the pool. In 2-3 years they are going to be a nightmare team to play. They have an achilles heel though, defensively they are thinner. They do have some LHD depth which means they could decide they want more offense but they don't have a guy like Schaefer. Schaefer is very very good and was only getting better before his injury. His age coupled with how he can already play and this is a franchise LHD in the making. With their offensive pipeline including Celebrini and Smith, I think they use this to really add a piece to the defense.
2. Chicago Blackhawks, Michael Misa C/LW, this was almost Martone. I see a world where Chicago looks at there roster, and says, okay we want the 6'3" winger for Bedard who will "protect" him. However, I am not convinced with what Misa has done that they will let him slide. There won't be a defensive player and they will want to add someone who can skate in their top 6, the solution is Misa. Now Misa also isn't small at 6'1" so they go to that well and get the best offensive player in the draft. He has the skating to move with Bedard and they can also slot him in at 2nd line center. It would be one of the best forward groups no matter who they pick.
3. Nashville Predators, Porter Martone RW, this is a team that wants to draft big guys who are decent at hockey (matthew wood) and Martone is big and really good at hockey. He is the perfect type of player to slide into their top 6 within 2 years as Nashville will massively rebound next season. I think there's an outside chance they go with Hagens as they could use a playmaking center in the pipe but I have seen this play out in the draft before. Martone is going to measure like 6'3.5" at the draft and 205lbs compared to 5'10.75" Hagens at 178lbs and that's going to push Martone ahead of Hagens. Especially when some team with big forwards does really well in the playoffs. Also, Martone is a right shot right wing and teams love them some right shots.
4. Buffalo Sabres, James Hagens C, He's 5'11" maybe (I want to see his combine numbers) and he has a lot of great 2-way skills. He supports the puck on both ends of the ice. He has all the high end playmaking brains and skills you want. He was the projected #1 pick just about everywhere going into the draft cycle in August. So... here's the thing. Go watch some NCAA games of his. You will see playmaking and nice skating. He will backcheck really well and then you will notice on the walls especially how he gets just shoved off the puck. He is simply not strong enough. His size impacts his ability to play at the NCAA level. He needs to get stronger and learn how to play off contact much better. He needs a summer or two hanging out with Benson learning how to deal with contact and also to get stronger. I would send Hagens back to the NCAA for at least 1 more season. He reminds me a bit of Östlund in tems of good skating with strong 2-way ideas but needs to get stronger. I don't love him sliding to Buffalo but we would be silly not to take him. There's just going to be a couple years of ppl doubting him before he figures it out. Jack Hughes is my comparison.
5. Seattle Kraken, Roger McQueen C...or W, if his back is cleared, I think Seattle goes there. If not, I could see them going after Eklund or Desnoyers here. McQueen would be a slam dunk if he had played all year. His handling and playmaking is only okay but his shot and ability to drive inside is great. He is big and he uses it well. Again, if this guy is healthy, and we get a good look at him the last 10 games of his jr season, he may even crack the top 4. If not, I think Desnoyers is a real possibility here. Desnoyers is a 6'2" playmaker out of the Q and his 200ft game is pretty good. There is not a flaw that Desnoyers has, he just doesn't flash a ton of really high end ability. Instead he is just good, which is a good thing. Engages physically, gets pucks to the HD areas, backchecks very well. If I had to give him an elite skill, I think his playmaking is still developing and it is already on the cusp of being amazeballz. Go watch some of his stuff, he's going to be a good NHL player especially if paired with a shooter. Honestly if I could draft Desnoyers and Misa, that would be perfect.