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# 2026 T25U25: Noah Chadwick is #19
- URL: https://www.pensionplanpuppets.com/2026-t25u25-noah-chadwick-is-19/
- Published: 2026-08-20T12:00:08.000Z
- Updated: 2026-08-20T12:00:07.000Z
- Description: Making the jump to pro hockey is hard.
- Author: Hardev
- Tags: Top 25 Under 25

Noah Chadwick started his journey in the T25U25 at #18 after a rookie season with the Lethbridge Hurricanes in the WHL, jumping up to #10 and #11 in subsequent years as his scoring with Lethbridge rose. He is now back to #19 after a rookie season with the Toronto Marlies. The hope moving forward for the tall and mobile defender is he can acclimate to the pace of pro hockey in his second season.

| Noah Chadwick    | Vitals |
| ---------------- | ------ |
| Age as of July 1 | 21.14  |
| Position         | LD     |
| Height           | 6'4"   |
| Weight (lbs)     | 207    |
| Shoots           | L      |
| Draft Year       | 2023   |
| Draft Number     | 185    |

### The Player

It's not a surprise Chadwick's ranking has risen and fallen alongside his point totals, it's an easy way to write or read analysis. However, I encourage you to watch this highlight reel of Chadwick's points with the Marlies, because they are a great example that points don't matter at all. Especially for defenders. 

This is not a knock on Chadwick at all. It's a critique of points-based analysis in general. Unless a defender is the best player on the ice, they're not the one making goals happen. It was Lettieri, Nylander, Groulx, Quillan, and Shaw who made offense happen on the Marlies and I think you will agree that highlight reel tells that story really strongly. 

For the vast majority of defenders, how they handle plays in their own end, getting out of their own end, joining the play up the ice, and contributing to the play in the offensive zone is what matters. And all but one of those things might be featured in highlight reels, and only when teammates don't fluff the chance. 

There is so much to playing defense that isn't points. Despite that, I see many prospect reports that are just "his offensive ceiling is low because points". Instead, let's have a look at where the strengths and weaknesses lie in Chadwick's game after what I'm sure was a rookie season full of learning on the job with the Toronto Marlies.

## STRENGTHS: Physicality and Offense

Since being drafted in 2023, Chadwick has filled out his frame to be a defenseman with great size and mobility. And during his rookie season with the Marlies it was clear Chadwick could hold his own in front of the net and along the boards, making the plays you need defenders to make in that area of the game.

He was a regular on the third or second pair for the Marlies playing in 68 of the team's 72 games, a feat that is hard to do for rookies with respect to keeping up on and off the ice. Most rookie defenders out of the CHL have regular stretches in the pressbox where practice, strength, and conditioning is the priority. I think it's a good sign for Chadwick that he got to play the entire season and most of the playoffs, only stepping aside after Ben Danford joined the team. 

We saw Chadwick's ability to box opponents away from the front of the net and battle along the boards in junior, it's a good sign that he was mostly able to hold his own in the AHL and maintain that level over the course of a long (long long) season. And at this point I think plenty of players have proven that you can be tough in front of the net without needing to fight or instigate other antics. 

Offensively, Chadwick is a capable set of hands along the blueline. He has a good shot, pass, and uses good anticipation to move into useful spots on the ice. He got on the Marlies 2nd power play unit either with or without William Villeneuve depending on whether the Marlies were trialing their five forward power play. His highlights mostly speak for themselves in this area of the game, it's a big plus to have Chadwick's kind of length and mobility on the blueline. 

## GROWTH and NEXT STEPS: Zone Exits and the First Pass

After watching a lot of video, I have curated these highlight reels because they showed what I think is a representative sample of Chadwick's play in different areas of the ice. 

I'm mostly going to talk about the Iowa game. 

First, you see him on the penalty kill. I think he generally does a good job of knowing where to be, cutting off lanes, and boxing out opponents. For someone who was a genuine quarterback on the power play in junior, Chadwick appears to have a good understanding of what it's like on the other side of the puck. Seeing him be a second unit penalty kill time as a rookie and doing more than standing around and reacting to passing plays is a good sign for me. 

Then he showed some genuine skill with his hands in the offensive zone and was rewarded with a primary assist. Chadwick is good with the puck on his stick, it's a skill he showed in spades in the WHL, but the shorter gaps and decision-making time in the AHL meant we didn't see it as much last year. 

The next clip revealed the biggest area of growth that Chadwick needs to improve on if he wants to reach the next level. The puck was ringed around the boards to Chadwick's side, he was slow and passive to make a move on it resulting in a turnover and goal against. The goal against isn't my concern so much as seeing how much Chadwick struggled to make a first pass to get out of the defensive zone. 

I think part of the cause of these zone exit turnovers is that these plays don't need to happen – or happen as fast – in junior, whereas it's a key play to make in the AHL. To me, this is part of what players mean when they say "tough transition" and "pace of play". 

In junior, forwards give up the zone a lot more easily, the gaps between players are much more conservative, and honestly a player like Chadwick was much more likely to skate past a couple forwards all the way to the offensive zone without much issue. In the AHL, however, it's a much different ballgame. 

The skill of finding the outlet and switching between defense to offense is something Chadwick struggles with. Defending against rushes also fits into this category. Tying into this, Chadwick struggled to be proactive with his body positioning and stickwork against the rush, meaning opponents could attack the play with more speed. 

Comparing him to another rookie defender at the at the AHL level, Ben Danford is an excellent defensive defender who has a knack for disrupting rushes before they start by boxing out opponents or getting the puck off their stick. He's an example of a plus skill in this area and already started doing it quite well in the AHL playoffs. In Chadwick's case, experience and practice will do him well. How well is up to him. 

Chadwick's struggles at denying zone entries and completing zone exits is not necessarily *just* a rookie issue that gets ironed out with time. It cane be, and he's going to need to put in a lot of training time to make those outlet passes more consistent and done with more confidence. 

I think a lot of readers will nod in agreement when I compare him Morgan Rielly, who also came out of the WHL, but went straight to the NHL at 19\. Rielly was so skilled in other parts of the game that these giveaways mattered less. They more-or-less still do while being the vortex of conversation about who his partner should be (besides Tessa). At the end of the day, Rielly is an example that players often don't fix "that one thing" they need to fix to become the perfect player, and that's okay. Chadwick isn't nearly as skilled as Rielly (no offense, Noah), so his improvements in defensive zone transitions will make a bigger difference in whether he makes the NHL or not. 

### The Votes

I voted Chadwick 22nd because there's still uncertainty whether he can improve on his defensive zone transitions that were exposed in the AHL. If he can, I think it'll be huge for his game. 

| Voter            | Vote  |
| ---------------- | ----- |
| Cathy            | 20    |
| Species          | 22    |
| Hound Line       | 21    |
| Shinson93        | 14    |
| Cameron          | 18    |
| Sclodiggity      | 21    |
| Brian S          | 25    |
| Svalbard38       | 16    |
| Zone Entry       | 23    |
| Hardev           | 22    |
| Adam             | NA    |
| Weighted Average | 20.73 |
| Highest Vote     | 14    |
| Lowest Vote      | 25    |

Chadwick's weighted average is only marginally higher than Fedoseyev yesterday. That number will jump when we get to tomorrow's name. 

### The Opinions

> Shinson93: Chadwick is another guy that I’ve been all over the place with. I liked the jump he took after being drafted, but thought he was being over-hyped. This season he surprised me at how easily he jumped into a steady AHL role. Usually you see guys struggle in the first season, and kind of figure it out in the second season. If he makes another jump this season, he could put some distance between himself and the large number of D prospects that will be gunning for his icetime. 

> Brigstew: It wasn’t a spectacular rookie season for Chadwick, but for his age and the role he was used he did do better than I was honestly expecting. The problem is the same with him as it has been for Villeneuve since he joined the Marlies. He just doesn’t have good enough skating to make me think he can be better than a solid AHLer, like Villeneuve. Maybe he can follow in those footsteps to get a taste of the NHL and be an AHL all star at his peak, but without more substantial improvements in his foot speed and agility, that will remain his projected ceiling. I ranked him 25th, still, because I do like him. 

> Svalbard38: Chadwick is a guy I’ve been high on for a while, he was 10th on my list last year and his drop to 16th on my list this year is more a product of an influx of new prospects than it is a knock on him or his season. He handled the jump to the AHL as well as anyone could hope and became one of the youngest every day players on the Marlies. Points aren’t everything for a defenceman, but offence is how Chadwick made his name, so it was good to see him bring that element in his first season as a pro and end the season second in points among Marlies D. He has work to do on his skating, but overall I like his transition game, his offensive acumen, and I think he’s young enough that there’s room for improvement. I consider him on track in his development.

> Sclodiggity: I liked watching him in the Marlies playoff run. The points weren’t overly impressive and a few scratches aren’t great but I thought he played well and was generally responsible. He’ll need to be a regular and define a role for himself before it's worth talking about a shot with the Leafs but there’s still time for him.

> Cathy: My skepticism of Chadwick is older than some of the prospects on the list this year (not quite). When defencemen, primarily from Sweden, who could actually skate, handle the puck and play a valuable offensive role began to rise in status in the NHL, a lot of bad decisions started to get made about defence. The result is players like Chadwick with some superficial similarity to this type, but little of the actual game-processing skills that lead them to deny zone entries, retrieve and control the puck and transition effectively. The list of attributes can't stop at "can play a role offensively". Defenders have to have all the on-puck and off-puck skills that help lead to the conditions for winning. Any forward can jump in a cycle and pass the puck to the next guy. To be fair to Chadwick, he's got decent puck handling skills and his transition game in junior was fine, but he's still "if he gets better, he'll be good" and that's why I ranked him in the bottom tier.

Even when everyone tells you what to expect, transitioning to a new league is always difficult, and Chadwick definitely felt that with a quiet season. I could barely find much that was written about him that wasn't guessing from points or the odd paragraph from a daily Marlies columnist like Mark Rackham. It took a lot of video to get an idea of Chadwick as a player on the defensive side of the puck, as it often does with defenders. 

I can easily see Chadwick having a stronger season next year. My eye will be focused on if he can show improvements in his transition game, namely his first pass. The jump from the WHL to the AHL is excellent at exposing weaknesses in players, but credit to Chadwick and his time in junior as the rest of his game is quite solid.