2025 NHL Draft Profile: Edison Engle

THE BASICS: STATS AND CONTEXT

• Position: Left-shot defenseman
• League(s): USHL
• Height: 6'2"
• Weight: 174 lbs
• Birthdate: February 15th, 2007

Here are his draft rankings, as of writing this:

• Bob McKenzie: Not ranked
• Corey Pronman: Not ranked
• Will Scouch: 79th
• Elite Prospects: 75th
• Scott Wheeler: Not ranked
• Dobber Prospects: Not ranked
• FC Hockey: 100th
• McKeen's Hockey: 135th
• HockeyProspect.com: Not ranked

Engle is a 6'2" left-shot defenseman playing in the USHL. He was the 20th overall draft pick to the USHL by Des Moines back in 2023, but was actually the 12th player picked and the third defenseman. To explain that briefly, the USHL allows for teams to sign top prospects beyond the draft in certain circumstances, and if they do they forfeit their first or second round picks. He was coming off of two straight years playing in AAA hockey as a 15 and 16 year old where he was just outside the top 10 in the country for points per game by defensemen. I use a per-game pace because the number of games played varied wildly in different parts of the USA. So he was in that next tier for offensive defensemen, but also had good size already and a similarly solid but not elite defensive reputation.

In his first USHL action, Engle played half the year with 12 points in 33 games. Not bad for a 16 year old in a league that has pretty low scoring for defensemen – in fact, he was just behind two US NTDP players and Sascha Boumedienne, a Swedish import who will likely be a first rounder this year. Even at that age, on a rebuilding team, Engle was getting good minutes and a top powerplay role. That trend continued to start this season, with Engle getting good (but not top) minutes on a bad team. He played 20 games for Des Moines and had 4 points, then joined Team USA for the World Junior A Challenge U19 tournament. While he was away, he was traded from Des Moines to one of the best teams in the league, Dubuque.

While on Dubuque, Engle had a smaller role. He still got power-play time, but was bounced mostly on the third pairing at even strength, occasionally the second pair, and very rarely on the top pair to cover injuries or roster absences. He also flipped sides at times, playing almost entirely on the right side down the stretch this season. By the time the playoffs came around, he had earned a slightly bigger role. He was their PP1 quarter back, he had 4 points in 7 playoff games before they lost to the eventual USHL champions. He's committed to Ohio State in the NCAA but, as of now, not until the 2026/27 season.

THE GOOD: MOBILITY, TWO-WAY POTENTIAL

The most obvious, standout traits that Engle has as a defenseman is that he's got good size (6'2") and is an excellent skater. He has what scouts call "four way mobility", which just means he's a good skater in all directions – straight line speed, sideways agility, and backwards/defensive skating. It's never a bad thing for a defenseman to have "big and great skater" as a foundation to build on.

Scouts who know their skating mechanics have called Engle's mobility as NHL-calibre. He makes quick and smooth transitions between skating angles (forwards to backwards, side to side, side to forwards, etc) and has a good explosive separation gear. That helps him a lot in all situations. He can recover and get back on defense quickly, he can get back on dump ins to retrieve the pucks cleanly and evade forecheckers to start pushing it up the ice, and he can explode up the ice to join the rush. His strong backwards skating helps him defend transitions at a high level.

Engle's puck movement and passing, along with his skating, helps him be a transition machine. He makes good first passes, he scans and pre-scans so he knows where he can go and what's coming at him, then hits his passing lanes with good accuracy. He shows good, quick decision making for what to do, where to go, where to look, and has enough skill to execute on the plays that comes to mind to deal with pressure. I won't overstate that last part in how he deals with forechecking pressure on retrievals, but it's at a good level and something he can work on with time, practice and maturity. He's patient under pressure on breakouts, using deception in his skating with fakes and delays. He also good, hard and accurate strong stretch-pass to create rush chances.

Currently, Engle's defense is at a higher and more consistent level than offensively. He has good tracking data from Mitch Brown and Will Scouch on his defensive impacts, and it matches what I can see while watching him. Again, his size and mobility are big parts of this. He's aggressive in denying zone entries and defending the rush, utilizing his long reach effectively at the USHL level. He mostly uses his stick and footwork here, but I've seen him truck some guys trying to skate by him. He is very good at angling puck carriers to the outside, forcing opponents into uncomfortable spots, and can step in front of attackers in transition to stall their forward progress.

Engle has a good defensive stick to occupy passing lanes, either to deflect or intercept pass attempts or to convince puck carriers to look elsewhere. His defensive style is to be disruptive, playing aggressive to force the opposition to make a play to beat him. I've seen most scouts really like his hockey sense, with good grades for intelligent play on both sides of the puck.

His offensive game has yet to really come together as a whole, but I can see the potential and I like it quite a bit. I think it could wind up developing into a bigger strength than his defense at higher levels. He is a good puck carrier and as a quarterback during offensive zone possessions, especially on the powerplay. I don't think he's likely to become a top unit powerplay guy in the NHL, but I could see him developing into someone capable of running a secondary unit. He walks the line well, he makes good passes to keep the puck moving and set up scoring chances. He will activate off the point to support the play, and will jump into the rush when the time and situation calls for it.

For more dynamic, higher level offensive skill, Engle only shows occasional flashes for now. He shows glimpses of deceptive puck handling and dekes, and more creative passes. His best deceptive skills currently come from his feet, pointing them or his hips in one direction before making a quick cut and exploding in another. He has a good shot, but currently only a real weapon when he has time and space from mid-range. His shot from longer distances, like from the point, are mostly good with good screens.

THE FLAWS: QUESTIONS OF UPSIDE AND PROJECTION

So there is one main issue with Engle as a prospect to explain why he seems likely to be a third round pick. The current level of his collective skills, tools and ability will need a not insignificant amount of improvement before he will be at an NHL level. Basically, it's a question of his ultimate upside and projection. This is something I've read more than a few scouts question, even if they like him. He's one of those guys who is good at so many things, but maybe won't be great at enough.

For example, Engle's shots lacks power to be a big threat. His wrist shot has good accuracy and a decently quick release, but he lacks a big slapshot or one timer. Mind you, a good shot is about the very last thing I care about from a defenseman. But the same kind of thing is generally true of his passing, even if that's already a better skill for him. His accuracy is good, but can be off in his consistency. Perhaps because of that, he mostly keeps to trying to make simple plays and passes. This is true both in the offensive zone, and on breakouts. Next year, he should have a bigger role if he repeats in the USHL and I hope he uses that time, development and practice to work on trying more dynamic plays and passes. Now is the time for him to be trying that kind of thing.

Then there is his defense. Honestly, even if everything goes right for him he's not going to turn into the next Tanev. The things he can more easily work on that will help his defensive game are part physical, part mental. On the physical side, he is still a bit skinny and will need to work on improving his strength to help his physical game in his own end, along the boards, in front of the net, and so on. On the mental side, this is tougher to do but he needs to get better at processing the game to make quick and effective decisions without the puck. His positioning, his awareness, things like that. He can also be too passive at times, especially when he's around the front of his own net. He needs to be better at boxing out to keep clear lines of sight for his goalie, and tying up sticks so they can't go for deflections or rebounds.

OVERALL ASSESSMENT

My read on Edison is that he's more tools than realized substance as of now. Those tools are quite exciting, mind you. The question is, how much of that potential can he turn into real development? I do like the foundation of size and skating at that level, plus flashes of potential in moving the puck and contributing offensively. I think his brain hasn't fully put it all together yet, but by the time the USHL playoffs came around I got the impression he was starting to figure it out. Down the stretch, he was getting more ice time. He won the PP1 job, he went from zero PK time (in the earlier Dubuque games I watched) to getting some time, and was relied on more at even strength even if he was listed as a third pair to start games.

That's important, because for a lot of this year it was obvious to see the tools but not obvious to see the impact – and I think a lot of that had to do with him moving from being more of an offensive guy on a bad team to a depth guy fitting into more of a defensive role on a good team. So how much do you buy that he figured it out late in the season?

I buy it, at least to some extent. More important, I'm willing to bet on that with a third round pick. Even if that's mostly in my head, I trust Toronto's system to help him figure it out enough to turn him into something. He'd be a long term project and he certainly wouldn't be a guaranteed thing – no one taken in the third round is anything but a long shot – but I like him more than just about any other defensemen in that range.

Thanks for reading!

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