2025 NHL Draft Profiles: An Introduction

It's that time again! Time for me to write far too many words about the prospects that interest me the most for Toronto's picks in this year's draft. I've been doing some form of these since the 2020 pandemic draft, and my process has changed a lot since then. The last few years I've settled on a rough structure for watching, reading about, organizing names, and picking players to profile that I will follow again this year.

If you want to view past profiles to get an idea for how I do things, or to review all the watch lists I wrote over this season, you can check all the articles under the "NHL Draft" tag:

NHL Draft - PPP Leafs

Coverage of the NHL Entry Draft and draft prospects.

PPP LeafsCathy Squires

My Process

A lot of time is spent in the research part of this process. I'm talking around 10 hours a week, on average, for the whole hockey season by the time the draft comes around spent just watching and reading scouting reports on prospects. So the bulk of work I put into this is done by the time I settle on my list of players to profile and start writing about them.

However, having all of the profiles ready to be published once a day over the full month leading into the draft means that I need to start writing early. I do like to write, but I would probably die trying to write one full profile per day on the day before. So instead, I start writing at least two months before draft day so I'm not writing thousands of words every day to keep up. The first profile is already done, and it will come out tomorrow – the first Monday of June. After that, I will have a different article on the draft coming out on every day of the month right up to the draft itself on June 27th. There will be 20 full player profiles, and then four other articles or lists of mini-profiles for overagers, goalies, and late round swings that interest me.

I will basically be writing several individual profiles on the top players, and most interesting ones, that I think could be available when Toronto picks in the second and third round. To make a reasonable guess of who will be available in Toronto's range, I am relying on rankings from people like Bob McKenzie or Corey Pronman, since they are the most accurate for the actual draft day results. The problem is, their very final rankings don't come out until just before the draft and as I said... I can't wait that long if I'm writing these ahead of time. So I'm making reasonable guesses based on their most recent rankings as of me setting my final list, and then some assumptions based on what players have late hype (or the opposite).

I'll typically mix in some players that will likely be gone before Toronto picks, but who I really like and can see some small chance they fall to us. After that, I will pick from the players that are in a reasonable range to be available.

Selecting Players

The way I selected players, outside of deciding who may be in range of Toronto's various picks, is to look for certain traits in players that matches the things the team and their scouts like. That was a bit easier in the past because I had a good idea for who Wes Clark and Kyle Dubas liked, based on that they had said about their picks in the past. This includes things like hockey sense/IQ/intelligence, being hard working on and off the ice, and being "late bloomers" in the same sense that Easton Cowan and Fraser Minten were.

But now we have a new GM, and a new head scout. It's a whole new combination and while I do generally know what things they seem to really prize (e.g., Large Adult Sons on defense) there are other trends I'm less sure about. So I'm mixing in some guesswork with guys I just plain like. Suffice to say, Toronto's drafting has changed and that will change the kind of players I will profile. Using the big defensemen example again, while I won't just focus on that type of player, I will be including more than one profile on big, defensive minded defensemen who I at least find interesting for other reasons. I won't be just picking big pylons who hit and fight but aren't actually that good on defense and can't do anything offensively.

Then there are the goalies, and I'm not even going to pretend I have any idea about them or what kinds of goalie prospects that Toronto may like. So I'm just making one list of the various guys I think could be interesting regardless of where they're ranked. Spoiler: there aren't that many that I know anything about, and I'll have to be doing special research to know enough to make my list about them.

What I Look For

I'll add this section just to talk about what I like in players, or what catches my eye and makes me like certain prospects.

For forwards, the short answer is I'm looking for guys that impact the play more often than not. While I don't care over much about points when they're still prospects in junior, I want them to be able to help push play in the offensive direction – drive transitions for their line, make smart plays off the puck to help free up space for their linemates, help on the forecheck, create chaos in the offensive zone, draw defenders to them, and when they do get the puck can they get it to more dangerous areas of the ice either by themselves or by passing it. On top of that, I will obviously like guys who have a good shot, who can break down defenses on their own to set up high danger passes, and can finish plays and score goals around the net.

For defensemen, the best way to explain what I like is that I weigh their strengths and skills from defense (most important) and then up the ice. So I want a defenseman who can defend – break up plays by the other team, disrupt their possessions, stop them at the blueline before they can even get set up. Then I want them to be able to get the puck out of their own end efficiently, to handle pressure by forecheckers by making good, smart passes instead of throwing it away or turning it over. Then I want them to be good at getting the puck into the offensive zone by carrying it or passing it across the other team's blueline. Then I want them to help facilitate offense on sustained possessions by reliably moving the puck when it comes to them.

Only after that will I care about them scoring goals or generating points. Now, if there are defensemen who have a different balance of skills – maybe they're good at getting the puck out and driving transitions, but aren't too great at the defending part, I might still like them. It will depend a lot on how good their strengths are, how bad their weaknesses are, and how much I value the things they're good/bad at.

Profile Schedule

For shits and giggles, here's the schedule for the profiles that will be coming out starting on June's first Monday. At this point, I have all the full player profiles done, and I'm just working on the lists of the mini-profiles.

• June 2nd – Bill Zonnon (F)
• June 3rd – Cole McKinney (F)
• June 4th – Vaclav Nestrasil (F)
• June 5th – Ben Kevan (F)
• June 6th – Cameron Schmidt (F)
• June 7th – Carter Amico (D)
• June 8th – Henry Brzustewicz (D)
• June 9th – Haoxi (Simon) Wang (D)
• June 10th – Max Psenicka (D)
• June 11th – Quinn Beauchesne (D)
• June 12th – Alexander Zharovsky (F)
• June 13th – Ryker Lee (F)
• June 14th – Hayden Paupanekis (F)
• June 15th – Gustav Hillstrom (F)
• June 16th – Michal Svrcek (F)
• June 17th – Edison Engle (D)
• June 18th – Sean Barnhill (D)
• June 19th – Kurban Limatov (D)
• June 20th – Karl Annborn (D)
• June 21st – Maxim Agafonov (D)
• June 22nd – Goalies
• June 23rd – Late Round Forwards
• June 24th – Late Round Defensemen
• June 25th – Re-Entry Forwards
• June 26th – Re-Entry Defensemen
• June 27th – Bob McKenzie Final Rankings Update & Draft Day Preview
• June 28th – Day One Recap & Best Remaining Options

Thanks for reading!

I put a lot of work into my prospect articles here, both for the draft and Toronto's prospects. I do it as a fun hobby for me, and I'd probably do it in some capacity even if PPP completely ceased to exist. But if you like reading my work, some support would go a long way! I pay for a few streaming services (CHL, NCAA, USHL, the occasional TSN options for international tournaments that are broadcast) to be able to reliably watch these prospects in good quality streams. I also pay for some prospect-specific resources, such as tracking data and scouting reports from outlets like Elite Prospects, Future Considerations, McKeen's Hockey, The Athletic, and more.

Being able to get paid for this helps me dedicate more time and resources to it, rather than to second/third jobs. And whatever money I make here, a lot of I reinvest back into my prospect work through in those streaming and scouting services. Like I said, I'd be doing whatever I can afford for this anyway, so any financial help I get through this is greatly appreciated!