Four Player Race Emerging for Top 2025 NHL Draft Pick

The 2025 NHL Draft is turning into a four player race for the top overall pick.

Jacob Punturi | 7 Hours Ago

Erie Otters defenseman Matthew Schaefer, right, controls the puck against the Kitchener Rangers at Erie Insurance Arena in Erie on Nov. 23, 2024. / GREG WOHLFORD/ERIE TIMES-NEWS / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

With hockey seasons in full swing around the world, the 2025 NHL Draft class of prospects is being solidified. The projection lists from the summer are turning into more concrete evaluations and the list of the best young players available is becoming harder to debate.

According to NHL insider Elliotte Friedman, there are still a few areas being hotly contested. One of which is who is the best player and the number one prospect available at the upcoming draft? From what Friedman can see and is hearing, no one knows for sure.

On a recent episode of 32 Thoughts, Friedman referred to a conversation he had with Sportsnet's Sam Cosentino, who was at the recent CHL vs. United States Prospects Challenge, where Cosentino talked about the upcoming 2025 NHL Draft. For the past few months, American-born forward James Hagens has held the consensus top spot, but the race is opening up.

"He (Consentino) thinks it's a four person race for the number one spot," Friedman said.

Consentino named Michael Misa, Porter Martone, James Hagens, and Matthew Schaefer as the four prospects in the running to go first overall.

Misa, Martone, and Schaefer just competed at the recent CHL vs US games and each impressed. Schaefer was the undoubted first star of the two games, and it could be enough to propel him to the top spot.

But Martone, a big and strong forward with first-line winger written all over him, is just as strong an option. While Misa is easily the best overall offensive player available in the 2025 draft class. It all adds up to things being wide open, and Friedman believes that's a great thing for both the prospects and the NHL.

":The number one spot is more open than I think a lot of people believed," he said. "And I think that's a good thing. A little intrigue before the draft is a good thing."

This could all be for nothing if Hagens remains the top prospect available. Since he is playing in the NCAA, Hagens wasn't eligible to participate in these two games. If he had, this conversation might not be happening at all. But as the season roars on, so does the debate for the top prospect in the 2025 NHL Draft.

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Published 7 Hours Ago

JACOB PUNTURI