2024 NHL Draft Profiles: USNTDP’s EJ Emery, Cole Hutson, & Teddy Stiga

2024 NHL Draft Profiles: USNTDP’s EJ Emery, Cole Hutson, & Teddy Stiga

we started digging into some of the late first early second round prospects that the San Jose Sharks could be interested in you’re locked on sharks your daily podcast on the San Jose Sharks part of the locked on podcast Network your team every day hello welcome to a locked on sharks the premier hockey podcast covering your favorite team in the Bay Area my name is JD young caretaker at the reef and also the co-host of the Western Conference Tuesdays on the locked on NHL Channel want to thank you for making lockon sharks your first listen probably part of the lockon network Rec cover your team every day and if you want to be an everyday or all you have to do is just foll wherever you get Podcast or you can watch this on YouTube as well and today we’re joined by our good friend Stephen Ellis from uh the daily face off and if you’re been a fan of the draft profiles we’re doing something a little bit different with these guys were you before we would dedicate a whole show uh to one player now we’re going to be kind of trying to go a little more rapid fire with with these picks here and these players to try to talk about as many as possible so uh we’re gonna be talking about EJ Emery uh Cole Hudson and Teddy seaga all from the US national team program and why they would make sense for the Sharks especially as the sharks have again four picks in the top 42 um and if the Sharks might have to move up for some of these these guys but again we are trying kind of trying to hit as many guys as we possibly can between now and the draft as we’re three or four weeks away um from that point so uh before we get into it do want to let you guys know that today’s episode is brought to you by FanDuel make every moment more right now new customers get $150 in bonus Bets with any winning $5 betat that’s 150 bucks with any winning $5 bet visit fel.com locked on to get started and now we bring in our good friend Stephen how’s it going buddy I’m doing pretty good but probably not as good as the Sharks fan base after you know the first overall pick and uh Will Smith coming along yeah uh we are Sky High right now and then you pair that with Casper halton’s uh ridiculous playoff run in the OHL Memorial Cup uh nothing can stop us until the actual games get played so uh that that’s what you want to be as a franchise is just enjoy everything that happens until you actually have to play games again so yeah I will say though I will say though sharks fans were very obsessed with ph Smith of the world championship and uh I know and I know I saw your tweets too I know you were folling closely uh you Mr you you’ve been driving very much the Will Smith bandwagon since we talked last summer and saying he should want and done and even you were like why isn’t Will Smith played why isn’t Will Smith playing so if Stephen asked why isn’t Will Smith playing I’m G to ask the same question why isn’t Smith playing we don’t have to worry about that uh because wiith will be playing in San Jose next year but uh we’re going to kind of focus on some of these second late first early second round prospects that could be available for the sharks with that pick 33 or if they decide to kind of move up a little bit but just kind of the end of these guys and this is H we’re gonna start with a guy who I know you are very excited about one EJ Emery So if you don’t know who EJ Emy is defenseman 6 fo3 176 pounds 61 games this year zero goals 16 assists 54 shots on goal I believe he is uh going to North Dakota State um so Stephen what makes emry such an intriguing prospect it’s definitely the defensive side of things and I think when you look at some of the top prospects for this year’s draft whether it be uh zann perek whether it be you know maybe actually Zan per is probably the good example of a guy who’s really skilled with the puck but still needs some work defensively there’s EJ Emer who is all defense all the time he had zero Go gos during the season he did score once in the uh the top prospects game they had but other than that didn’t really contribute anything with the puck there and yet I still feel like he’s a better Puck mover than I think he gets credit for but the him is you know He commands size and when I got to vote of the u8s in Finland for the top defenseman I did pick EJ Emer it was his defensive partner Cole Hudson I won it mostly because he had 13 points but with Emme he was the one starting a lot of those plays he was the one that was allowing Sy go a four forward out there so he can just shut things down bling shots getting sticks in the lanes like He makes himself so difficult to play against and someone who could do that so effectively in your own Zone that’s valuable like he could play with anybody like Cole Hudson is one of the most skilled defenseman you’re going to find in this draft and every time we saw emry play alongside him it just it elevated the pair together because they just kind of fit that role so well so I think being able to just be that rock while you have someone go Rush the puck gives you a lot more confidence in your own Zone and that’s what emry does and I know I’ve been pushing him probably higher than most people saying like he’s top 20 Prospect and some think he’s not even first rounder because he’s missing that offensive push but you still need guys who can play defense if they’re a defenseman of course and I feel like this is a guy who does it about as well as anybody in this draft all right so I mean I’m very much in the defenses for nerds go play offense because uh as you know I think you have to score goals to win games uh but a guy like emry if you’re like a like Bonafide legitimate like shutdown defenseman that can pair with a guy who can go play a bunch of offensive stuff maybe a luka kagon type of player who a little bit smaller but you see the offensive skill there uh is this a potential like yes this is you just pick him in second round you don’t have to worry about it and you’re you’re going to have a guy who’s going to play a bunch of NHL games if he’s in the second round if you got to take him I think no matter what because to me again I think he’s a top 20 Prospect um and a guy that you can just pair with anybody didn’t seem to matter who he played with and I still feel like there’s some untp potential offensively coming because it’s a guy that watching him practice throughout the year and he he shoots the puck a lot of practice he continuously tries to get better when he played with Cole Hudson he didn’t have to shoot the puck he just had to get gu who knew what to do afterwards and I think you know when he goes to college he might have to take on a bit more responsibility there I could see him playing 20 minutes a night no problem in his first year of the college hockey because he’s a national born athlete uh he was a track runner in high school he told me he only lost once in his entire High School career now who knows how accurate that is but that’s a guy that just could like he just all he does his move he’s always being so athletic his dad is a former Canadian Football League linebacker and you can kind of see it in the size there of Emory and just how pure like pure strength there is I also got a laugh that he played for the US national development team despite I’m pretty sure he never really lived in the states uh he’s his his dad is listened as being from Compton but uh uh Emory himself like grew up in Vancouver he’s a Canucks fan um but anyways kind of just seeing his rise this year as a guy who just you can throw in any situation was going to be good he was going to get the job done he could play games those college guys like again I I’m really high on him what makes his defense so special is it um the way he maybe like shuts down guys at the Blue Line is it like how he controls the crease like what is it that makes him such a special Defender so I think it’s you know he plays manto man uh D very well and I still feel like it could be even better it just he does it better than most in this group already uh I think that he’s he he skates really well too so he’s able to use that’s uh that he’s not like a mean Prospect you know for a guy who’s built like a tank he’s not going to go out there and just lay somebody out he’s out there like he just wants to take your space away he wants to give you no room to play with and when he does that that’s what makes him so effective so uh he’ll block shots um you know he continuesly to get better like offensive instincts he knows want to rush into the play a bit more but he still knows that his job is to defend and getting in the way like he just doesn’t want the puck getting near the goal and he’s very aggressive in front of the net when he needs to be there too so he just you know as basic as it sounds this guy learned how to play defense and sticks to it like another guy if you’re looking at as a potential second round early Target there’s there’s Henry Muse who was a forward who converted into a defenseman a couple years ago and I think the issue there is he still isn’t great defensively because he wants to rush in all the time it’s like that’s what he always wanted to do but maybe he wasn’t going to be able to make it work as a forward I think with in this case this is a guy that from day one wanted to be the most responsible defenseman and he told me he wants to be someone where if you need a guy to go out there and defend late he could be the guy he’s counted on and that type of mentality goes a long way all right uh we’ll finish up this with with him really quick on this question uh where would you kind of Stack him in if the Sharks your draft and where would you kind of Stack him in uh their defensive pipeline see that’s the thing he I love kegn I wrote about him on draft day last year as a guy like this guy is going to be one of the best prospects or one one of the more underrated prospects in the draft because he just does uh so many good things there I think maybe right now if he was taken I would put maybe Muka Mulan to start ahead partly because of his you know elevated you know development time here but uh I would I think I like him a bit more than Henry th I think like him a little bit more than uh they’re definitely more than kegani um just from a defensive standpoint but he’s kind of just like I’m not sure they actually have a defenseman in the system that kind of fits his profile all right guys before we continue and we talk about Cole Hudson and if his brother’s good why not just draft Cole and see if you can get the same thing uh so we’ll get to that here in just one minute it’s winner take all time in the NBA and NHL and FanDuel is giving you a shot to bring home a big win of your own right now new customers get $150 in bonus Bets with any winning $ bet so if you vamos gotos if you’re an oil man uh if you think the Celtics are win if you’re a Luca uh and a Mavs fan and you your team wins you’ll get 150 bucks to bet on spreads money lines player props and more visit fanduel.com lockon and make every shot count FanDuel America’s number one sports book all right uh let’s go to the polar opposite type of player uh Cole Hudson defenseman 5 fo9 165 pounds 51 games a year 15 goals 36 assists 104 shots on goal and if uh you think defense is for nerds and you still want to score score a bunch of points Cole Hudson’s your guy right uh yeah no question about that you know this is his defensive play has gotten better but not good enough to me to be a first round candidate which is kind of why it’s a good opportunity here and I I just wrote about him on the day we record this I actually published a story about um his record-breaking season or record-breaking career at the US national team development program the all-time scoring leader among defensemen and when you’re passing to Cole Eiserman or you’re passing to uh um James Haggins it makes that a little easier but uh you know you look at the points and say this guy just awesome with the puck and his teammates have nothing but good things to say about his skill but just like his brother doesn’t have a whole lot to say in interviews hey man you just broke the record cool yeah I didn’t come here to break okay sure yeah that’s just whatever at least it was a short article then yeah care whatever whatever you say sir just have some fun man celebrate I will say he was pretty excited about watching his brother go and play in the uh in the uh first game in the NHL at the Montreal Canadians which was the day before uh Cole had to fly out to Finland for the u8s all right so we know the Hudson family they Boston University connected uh he’s going to be going there to I guess take his brother’s place who’s now as you mentioned uh signed with the Canadians we we we look back at his brother and like wow how did he fall to the second round is this another possibility of like wow how did he fall to the second round so sort of the record I was a I I had Hudson at number 10 in his draft year um um Lane Hudson just because I thought the pure skill was there and I thought the defensive game would kind of catch up and I still have my questions on whether it has really caught up to the point where maybe even with all the hype I maybe I’m not 100% convinced still about him um but when it comes to with Cole I think a lot of the same issues are there where he’s not the greatest defensively you know he’s not the world’s greatest you know fastest skater out there and his shots actually really weak I think that’s a big thing for him it looks like he puts no power behind a shot it has gotten better um last year looked like he never wanted to shoot this year it’s not as big of an issue but the offensive gifts are like undeniable they one of the most pure skilled defensemen in this class um even looking at some of the guys near the top like a Zay perek like a z buam type thing and uh you know that when the US national development team when you look at their blue line they didn’t have a whole lot of great defenseman to work with like that one pairing of emry and in Hudson truly were number one number two and there was nobody close to being a number three on there and Hudson made the team better every single day no question about it the team was way better of him on the ice than they were without him uh he can play you know a good amount of minutes uh I think next year will be a big one because he’ll be going to college he’ll be playing of the World Juniors and he’ll be filling a role on both teams that his brother left and he plays such a similar style um I just you know is he smart enough player to make it at the next level is he is he going to be a quick enough skater is he going to have a hard enough shot I think those are the questions but from a size perspective he is two inches taller than his brother was at the same age and I believe a little bit stronger and he plays with a bit more grit so there’s those parts he’s been able to lean on and learn from his brother and to make that better it’s just I feel it feels lazy just looking at Lane and saying he’s going to do the same thing but I feel like honestly that’s probably what’s going to happen there’s just so many similarities it’s like they training together for their whole lives learning from each other and you kind of see two players that are pretty identical and he’s going to go into this exact same development program that his brother went in and produced yes there’s still some questions there but you you see what makes him such an intriguing Talent so why is he not talked about as a potential like one of you know a higher up especially if you might be getting Lane Hudson 2.0 and what’s a very I don’t want to say random but very weird Defensive class right where there’s not really that one consensus guy you can make Arguments for five or six guys who you kind of like their traits why not just be like oh I think Cole Hudson’s just gonna be good I think a lot of it is even though he’s bigger than his brother he’s still a 5 foot 10 defenseman and he plays a role where you see that skill and you’re that’s a skill you’re looking for from a number one defenseman on your team he’s not a number one defenseman because the defensive side of things still needs some work though as as do the you know the Own Zone hockey IQ like on the offensive zone he knows what he wants it makes it happen especially on the power play I feel like there are times in his own Zone where he can get caught you know either trying to do too much or just panicking and trying to make a quick play that doesn’t work out there and um I think there were also points where yes he did set the scoring record for the US national development team program but I think most goats were expecting another 20 or 30 more points this year like that’s the thing it just offense didn’t come to the level like we were expecting this year and um I think you know the first half of the season I think Scouts were pretty disappointed again because they wanted to see more in those International tournaments they played on it’s like let’s see if he could really take over and he wasn’t it was almost like we saw him better last year playing the u8 team than we were this year so I think the fact that we didn’t see a massive step forward in his game was AIT more that’s what kind of some Scouts are worried about there but we’re still talking about a guy where if he’s taken in the first round probably late a that’s way higher than his brother but B you know that’s it’s that’s still I could still see it happening just because the you’re betting on the upside here and I love betting on upside yeah I mean betting especially that late in the draft like the first round early second round bet on upside a guy who again especially with these small defenseman it’s either they they make it and they’re really good in the NHL or they just never make it at all and if you betting on upside uh Hudson is is especially uh an intriguing Prospect and especially if you have you know maybe number one number 14 33 and 42 where you could have a little bit of wiggle room to take a a swing on a guy like Hudson who could be a potential uh you know just crazy man back there and like his brother but if he never works out you’ve got three other picks that can kind of maybe insulate you a bit more so uh yeah I’m curious to see where Hudson I think it’s going to be I think it’s going be one of the big draft stories in Vegas is what where Hudson goes just because of what happened with his brother and kind of his brother’s development I wouldn’t be surprised if Hudson’s where he goes is a big draft story for Vegas Vegas and of all the prospects kind of we’re talking about here today is the one I feel is most likely to have a shot at actually going to the San Jose Sharks uh in case you know maybe maybe maybe the Sharks decide EJ Amry first overall that’s what they’re looking for there first yeah yeah you know if you want to get get a little bold there but uh I have I have Hudson a number 36 in my rankings and I feel like taking him if he was taken like 25th I would still see that and say yeah that makes sense to me makes sense uh I mean I like how the sharks have basically all but said they’re drafting celebrity uh at this point uh but even asking Will Smith there there half the conversation was about celebrity uh so yeah uh that would be a sh I would probably walk right into I’d walk from Vegas straight to the ocean and you never see me again all right guys uh before we finish up with Stephen and we talk about Teddy STA and why he’s just he’s he’s going to be great uh Gavin Brinley 2.0 that that’s what you think of with with Teddy sea H just need to take a quick [Music] break and now we’re going to finish up uh with a Ford Teddy sea uh 5 foot 10 173 pounds 61 games 36 goals 43 assists 184 shots on goal SGA uh I mean we’ve we’ve seen the Sharks go the US ntp Route with plenty of forwards uh is sta just the next line of college guys in the the Sharks program so I talked to one Scout recently uh when I wrote my feature on him it’s like what what can you say about Teddy stega and he just gave me one line every team needs a Teddy sta that’s that’s a pretty good skting report that’s all you need there’s a reason he was paired with um on that Top Line with um U James Haggins this year and it’s because he’s just got Boundless Energy to every single shift he it’s like every shift he goes out there it’s like oh no there’s 500 Scouts in the building and my career depends on me making the best play possible and we saw that the u18 spe like especially where he just took his game to another level uh especially Midway through when I saw him at the five nations uh tournament in February in Michigan I thought he was the best player in that entire tournament I NHL Central scouting had him listed at the start of the year as a seventh round pick I’m confident he’ll be taken in the first round this year uh and that’s a huge glowup for a guy like that I listed him actually in this article a few days ago as one of my biggest risers for the draft and it’s because you know I feel like he’s going to be a middle six player but he’s going to be a middle six Swiss army knife who could do a little bit of everything um now the Swiss Army KNE are not amazing at anything but I think the one thing sta does is he just brings that energy that you don’t always see from skilled players like that and whenever we’d ask James Hagen like hey like great game whatever what was that like and he was like oh Teddy sta basically did everything for me he’s great and someone like that you can throw with anybody any skilled player because he’s been playing with skilled players and he’ll he’ll really step up and a big thing for him was last year you know I think he came into the program at like 56 or 57 was really weak and had an injury that took him out at the end of the season and he spent the whole summer trying to get stronger trying to get better and the result was this outstanding season to push him into the first round territory so again if he’s if he’s available with that third pick awesome I don’t think he’ll be there you won’t want to take him with that second pick but he’s a player again that every team could use because I think people forget you still need middle six you still need bottom six players and Teddy sta can do that very well so he’s projected he’s going to Boston College uh we know that they have an opening on the uh freshman soon to be sophomore line with Will Smith uh do you think that’s a possibility where he could just go in and play maybe not the Will Smith role but playing as that guy who kind of helps combine pero and Leonard and and that kind of maybe just fills in that chemistry a little bit well see he could play with James Haggins too and I feel like that’s probably what’s gonna happen because of their their connection this year and that’ll work but yeah that’s see that’s the thing hegets might get the the push up just because of you know the pure skill but at the same time I think there’s an opening maybe Ryan Le play center next year because he he was he joined the program as a centerman maybe that’s what they do there so it be interesting because one of the things that made Boston College so good this year was the fact that Will Smith’s on in the ice cool here’s cutter goce the best Prospect in hockey it’s like let’s just throw out this other guy here who could do everything too and uh the I wonder if that’s what’s something they do next year where they don’t try to stack that Top Line and because obviously Ryan Leonard could still go pro and it feels like that’s going to be what happens but um then that makes it interesting where if those two if ler does Go Pro and then maybe you do have St and then you got James hains it’s like oh so pero there that’s gonna be you know yeah it might not be the same line but it’s gonna be pretty damn good and uh that’s what’s gonna make that fun so sta is put it this way if if sta goes to the sharks sharks fans you’re just going to become full-time Boston College fans that’s fine I had uh some of my best times last season were watching Boston College because having to slog through another sharks or Barracuda game and then you’re like oh look this is a fun team that knows how to do fun things uh that’s you know I think as trks fans we we’ll be more than happy to to root for Boston College again this season so uh sta you mentioned as a potential kind of yeah Swiss army knife but like that glue guy like that guy who just kind of keeps things together so um mention as a potential top kind of middle six guy but what do you kind of see him eventually finishing up is he gonna be like just a guy who does everything like kills penalties play on the power play whatever you need him to do he’s just that that guy he’s a guy that if he’s not scoring and he’s not in a scoring role he’s going to find something valuable to be out there and doing and a lot of that is I love players who are smart and I love players that bring that dog on a bone like I need to prove myself every is he just bigger Gavin Brinley is that very much like Gavin Brinley maybe not as skilled with the puck but yeah um Gavin Bley going in as low as he did still shocks me because yeah I know he’s not a big guy but man that dude’s so talented and Adam fin Tilly called him his favorite Prospect um granted they were teammates but they only knew each other for a year and they became super close and um but when it comes to sta it’s like yeah like you can there’s just so much about his game that makes him so valuable out there and I just I would not be again if he’s available you take him because he could just do something in in every role you could play him on the first line because he could play with the skill guys you could put him on the fourth line he’ll go out there and check everybody and and do a lot of good stuff defensively too so um I think he’s going to be one of those you know middle six guys maybe could even be a bottom six guy that ends up just carving out a great 12 to 15E career yeah it makes sense uh and again if you’re a team with four picks in the top 40 and maybe you move around and stuff like that getting a guy you you you know what you’re getting at number one we’ll see what the chks do at number 14 but the getting a guy who’s going to be an NHL player in sta uh makes a lot of sense especially with a lot of the skilled players that the chks do have finding that guy who can just fit into whatever situation you need like sta uh makes a ton of sense so Stephen uh thank you so much for your time uh buddy where can the people find you uh find me on uh Twitter X whatever you want to call it at SLS hockey and uh of course my work at Daily Faceoff I will be writing a story every single day leading up to the draft in Vegas uh on the on the draft I will be also at the draft combine looking forward to that uh mostly because one of my favorite Italian restaurants is down the the way from the rink and uh yeah it’s going to be a good month I think yeah I know we we we’re ready we’ve been waiting for this all all your luck this is why we lost all those games so uh Stephen I’m sure we’ll talk again sometime if not I’ll see you in Vegas buddy yes sir all right guys hope you enjoyed uh draft conversations today again want to try something a little bit new here as we get to the end of of the draft uh cycle we focused a lot on on the top 15 top 20 guys want to try to hit as many potential guys in these middle you know kind of that that’s end of The First beginning of the second round type of players so we’ll continue to do this we have some of our friends on to try to do these little three kind of three-part or three three Guy episodes here uh so make sure you’re following wherever you get Podcast of course you can watch on YouTube as well uh follow the show on Twitter Facebook and Instagram at locked on sharks follow me on Twitter at my fry hole till tomorrow bye friends [Music]

The USA Hockey National Team Development Program has a trio of players who are viewed as late first-round and early second-round players. Steven Ellis of The Daily Faceoff joins to profile EJ Emery, Cole Hutson, and Teddy Stiga. We start with EJ Emery and why his athleticism makes him worthy of a first-round pick despite his lack of offensive production. Can Cole Hutson repeat the same path his brother Lane Hutson carved as a second-round pick? Look at how Cole is similar to his brother and if betting on the upside is worth it for the San Jose Sharks. Finally, Teddy Stiga could be this year’s Gavin Brindley. He is a player who makes his linemates and team better, and the Sharks should look to add a player of this ilk to their prospect pool.

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