15 *BIGGEST* STEALS From The 2025 NHL Draft!

15 *BIGGEST* STEALS From The 2025 NHL Draft!

with the 2025 draft over and my grade video finally outs I wanted to go through a few of the biggest draft steels in my opinion from the 2025 draft prospects that I think got pretty good value where they ended up now of course because they’re on this list that doesn’t automatically mean they’ll be future NHL studs but I just want to go through the guys that I think maybe should have gone a little bit higher and were pretty undervalued in this draft class these could be guys that could be in the first round up to the seventh round no matter how they were disrespected we’re going to give them some respect today so make sure you guys watch till the end as we go through all the top prospects from each round to see which are the biggest deals of the draft and make sure you hit that subscribe button if you’re new for more draft content just like this as we lead up to the 2026 draft now next year now as we go through the 15 prospects today we’re going to start with the players that were drafted first and then end off the player that had been drafted last among the biggest draft steels of the group let’s start out with the biggest draft steel especially to me to me at least in the top 10 of this year’s class in James Hagens are you guys surprised to see about this spot i don’t think you really should especially after my reaction to the Bruins drafting him it really was kind of a shock because the Bruins have pretty consistently over the last few years gone for translatable type of players and when they go for a big swing in a Dean Lord Torno they’re usually not very good players anyways so to see them go after a James Aens who’s a swing but also has so much talent and is actually good by himself was a bit of a shocker but my goodness it is a franchisechanging selection especially to get him at seventh overall well I I think for the Bruins it was the perfect pick to make and in Hagen’s case I think he is going to be a fantastic top six centerman for them even though I have some concerns still I want to see him add some more muscle get a little bit more faster in the neutral zone this guy is still great in transition the vision the creativity with the puck on a stick is among the best in this class the speed and hands combo might be the best in the class in all honesty and to see the Bruins go after that type of elite talent it’s kind of refreshing to see i still think he’s probably another year away and I think he will do good being a little bit farther in this draft and it not being as big of a problem if he goes back to college because I think he should go back to BC next year and really dominate the NCAA next season learn some more lessons and get a little bit more quicker and I think that’ll ultimately do him some good and I think once he gets into that Bruins lineup in 2027 things are going to get nasty and there will be people that’ll say he’s not a draft steel if he’s in the first round i think any player can be a draft steel it’s just about where they went compared to where I think they should have gone and in Hagen’s case to me he was a top three prospect pretty definitively for me in this class and to go at number seven is still a pretty massive drop let’s go on to the second draft steel to talk about today here and this goes outside of the top 15 but just barely outside of it the New York Islanders got themselves a heck of a pick getting Victor Ecklund at 16th overall in some ways I was expecting a player like Eklund to fall likely around that 11 to13 range either being picked by the Pittsburgh Penguins or the Detroit Red Wings but I really didn’t think he would get past Detroit that’s when things started to get a little bit interesting and Ekkan eventually stopped dropping and he went 16th overall to the Islanders and my goodness I mean after getting Matthew Schaefer as a transformative first overall pick Ekkan’s the perfect complimentary player for this team going forward and exactly what I think they need even though he’s not the biggest player like I mentioned before Ekkan is an absolute dog along the boards this guy is relentless i think the best board battle in this entire draft you’re going to have a ton of people saying that Brady Martin is this ultra physical type of player but I think a net player like Eklan is even more efficient in getting turnovers creating chaos with his size even though he’s not very big and just making things simple he’ll go to the net he’ll score goals he’ll do everything for you and I think in Eklland’s case he’s kind of one of the more disrespected players in that aspect because really if he was 6’2 doing what he’s doing I think he’d be a top three pick and definitively so to me the Islanders got extreme value in this position and I think especially for them the wing was looking a little bit of an interesting part for their system in the prospect pool it was a bit of an issue but I think they really do get a good one here in a future top six piece onto my third draft steal of the day and the second to last one in the first round after these next two we’ll get into the later rounds of course but I need to talk about Lyndon Lakovich finding himself to 27 in the Washington Capitals this was a surprise and a shock to me because even though I saw Lakovich falling a little bit in this draft I saw him falling more towards like number 20 rather than number 27 but to me this was a guy that I ranked 15th in my draft board for some very clear reasons when the puck is on his stick he is undeniable and there is some problems of course with his consistency and his work ethic i understand that but I think Lakovic is still a pretty smart player and knows what he needs to work on and I think those are things that he will end up working on the conditioning I think also can come away too and if it does this guy is an absolute wizard he can do so many things that so few prospects in this draft are capable of and that combined with the size if he just gets like 50% more engaged this guy is a top six wing automatically for me so yes there is question marks and I could see still why he’d end up dropping i can see why all these guys drop it’s for a different matter of reasons but in Lakovich’s case he has I think a pretty high chance of making teams look silly and of course the Washington Capitals get away with it yet again on to number 32 and the last first round pick to talk about here I would be remiss if I didn’t mention Colin Potter going to the Calgary Flames at 32 ranked number 10th in my prospect rankings he to me is just such a unique blend of the best skating of the draft while also having some of the high highest end hands in the draft too in transition this guy can do so much for you and brings it at an intense pace and an intense speed that again not many people are able to bring in this class i mean to me especially off the puck there’s so much engagement so much speed you saw that of U18s just how good he was at creating turnovers even though he’s not the biggest player in the world at 5’10 172 lbs the biggest issue to me is the muscle and that frame and how much it’s able to translate especially if he is to play center long term i think it is still more likely that he plays wing but I thought he was good as a center all year long for Arizona State so there will be a question mark there for Calgary but my goodness that’s a pool that could use some more high-end swings potter is a ton of fun and a ton of talent wrapped into one neat little bow and again I’m at 32 overall i’ll take that quite a bit if I’m the Flames now starting us out in the second round draft picks i think we’re absolute steals here let’s go on to Malcolm Spence going to the New York Rangers and finding himself at the 43rd overall selection and I’ll say this if the Rangers kept their 12th overall pick somehow they they kept that pick they wanted to select with it and they selected Malcolm Spence I think that would have been less of a surprise than Malcolm Spence ending up at 43 like he did to me I think Spence is a marvelous player and I think projects extremely well as this great efficient speedy third line wing good physicality good brain on him the big problem to me is just the lack of pure pop in his game i want to see more skill on display but to see somebody that is so projectable as an NHL player go at number 43 is just kind of baffling to me so we’ll see what ends up happening he could get screwed up by the Rangers development team but honestly he’s a pretty pro refined player already so I don’t think there’s much to screw up now let’s go on to another Metro team in this second round just a few picks later that I think also got some tremendous value let’s go into the Philadelphia Flyers getting Shane Van Sagi at the number 48 selection i absolutely adore this for a Flyers team that was very clearly prioritizing size in this year’s draft well you go for a guy that I love with his size and his physicality in Shane Vansagi to me I think this is just a slam dunk move to make this is a future NHLer in really all respects the only thing and this is a theme that we saw with the Flyers draft class that’s an issue is the skating speed and how efficient he will be as a forcheer because of that but to me he’s so smart with his positioning so smart with how he puts himself and his body out there he’s an intense player he’ll get around you with that body and stick and just hem you in as a defenseman and I think for Vanaga especially that netfront ability that ability to overpower defenseman and just use his physical prowess to dominate people and this isn’t him doing this in like the OHL this is him doing it in the NCAA consistently as an 18-year-old he to me just is so impressive with how he puts himself out there you’re getting a simple refined I think 500 plus NHL game career out of Van Saki pretty much immediately i think this is just a home run mood to make and I think there is some more little bit of skill especially once the cycle gets going than has been led on either so I think for Philadelphia fantastic pick they made some pretty solid ones i would say overall some ones that were a little bit overreach but Van Saki is just a steal no matter how you slice it maybe that’s my NCAA bias showing through because that’s easily the league I watch the most but as a Wisconsin Big 10 fan when I tell you that Vansi is just a monster he’s a monster now on to the next draft steel here let’s go on to another guy that will be coming into the Big 10 here pretty soon in Cole McKini of the San Jose Sharks now San Jose had got a pretty strong draft all things considered of course Misa is the prize at second overall but Cole McKini I think could prove to be a really really good second round selection at 53 i think he is just house money similar to a Shane Van Sagi play such a pro ready style game the big thing to me with McKenna is how speedy he is as a forch checker he isn’t afraid to use that big body either to create chaos and I think Van Sagi is even a little bit more projectable just because that the physical traits but in Mckenny’s case I think he has a little bit more pop in him a little bit more substance to the offensive game and I would not be surprised if he could be good enough to be a third line center someday most likely will be a 4C but I think in McKenny’s case you’re also getting a very projectable safe ready center here in the future and for a team like the Sharks that has their top six pretty much lined up right now figuring out that bottom six for the future is a priority and McKenna is going to be a big part of it now number 62 it was a matter of time really before we got into the Carolina Hurricanes and we need to talk about one of the biggest ones that they stole off in Ivon Reabkin now spoiler alert this will not be the last time we mentioned the Carolina Hurricanes in today’s video but in Carolina’s case even though most of the time it might not work out they just go for the high upside swings and the guys that end up falling and just seeing what the heck happens with him and in Ivory Atkins case I think it’s a very worthy bet to make i would have expected if the Canes didn’t end up taking him that he’d fall probably into the third maybe even fourth round but he finds himself at the 62nd selection and if he actually starts giving a crap about his game and finding the intensity finding a fire within him this guy could be absolutely insane the goal scoring the power play ability when he finds just a little bit of open space this guy can be so incredibly lethal you see the production of the USHL great production when he is on his game this guy is insane it’s just finding that extra little bit extra gear that extra intensity that I think will be a problem for him but in the late second round this to me on pure talent alone is a firstrounder so if you’re able to unlock that who the heck knows you could get a special player here now let’s move on to another one that I wasn’t really too surprised to see fall but still I think will end up proving to be potential value here in the end in Adam Binoch now I was pretty I was debating quite a bit between Binoch and LJ Mooney when it comes to the little guy steal of the draft but I think Bog fits Minnesota especially well at 102nd overall he to me brings a lot of good traits for a smaller forward that I look for smarts but intensity and hard work ethic he to me from everything I’ve heard about especially isn’t just this you know guy that that feeds off his skill and that’s it at 5’8 this guy is willing to put in the work to get better the big issue of course with Bak and LJ Mooney will be the strength that they end up accumulating over the next little bit because they in both cases absolutely need more muscle but Bino had a great USHL season unbelievable playmaker unbelievable processor in all three zones this guy is just seeing the game ahead of so many players on the ice i am desperately hoping he pops because this guy is just so much fun but I have a feeling in Minnesota system he has the potential to do so them trading Marco Rossi right now might be a bit of a question mark towards that but as of right now I’m willing to give them the benefit of the doubt now let’s move on to another European center here as to me a pretty great value pick let’s go on to Gustaf Hilstrom out of the New Jersey Devil system now and he was a fourthrounder 114th overall by New Jersey and kind of like the Cole McKini type of pick this to me is just a future bottom six center to a T great size 6’2 176 lbs he knows how to use it great on the penalty kill fantastic face off percentage as well in the junior 20 this year and in the SHL when he was going against men i don’t think looked out of place whatsoever he’s just a strong defensive player good reads on the ice rarely makes too many mistakes the big question will be how much offense there is in him but as a fourthline center I think he’s going to do everything you want in that role to me I’m kind of just curious how he ended up dropping 214th overall maybe there’s something we don’t know about i’m not sure but in Hilstrom’s case I think especially with the defensive habits with how much he projects as an NHL especially among Europeans in this class I think New Jersey got themselves a heck of a of a deal here i mean I think New Jersey overall did pretty solid this was to me though the biggest value out of everything now you’ll notice as well especially over the next few picks there were a lot of sweets that I think kind of got a bit disrespected maybe in this draft order next up let’s go on to the Winnipeg Jets and their selection in Victor Clingell i think in the in the Jets case they had a strong draft they went for some high upside i mean especially in going for a D in such a bum bum in the first round another Swede right there going to Winnipeg but Cling Cell to me is just an electric factory this guy is just so good with his habits up the ice he’s a smaller guy at 5’10 of course but this year in the junior 20 great production the goal scoring I think will be a massive thing for him going forward he is just so much fun and to have that type of selection in the fifth round I think you’re just playing with house money to me this was a top three round type of caliber talent and the Jets get him in the fifth round there is of course the question marks but I will say I think he handles pressure pretty well and as you can see 5′ 10 100 almost 90 lbs i mean the guy packs a bit of a punch with his muscle so I wouldn’t count him out in that whatsoever but I just really like that fit for the Jets and Cling Cell i think Clingo will really be good in that system especially as I think a third liner in the future he’s not going to be a grinder by any means but I think as kind of a Nino rider type of position on that team I could see him filling that type of hole now we move on to one of my favorites of course in this draft class let’s go on to the Croatian man himself in Bruno Ajan who my goodness to get him in the sixth round Ottawa i you guys could probably already tell by my draft grades video but I adored this class by the Ottawa Senators love seeing them get Henny earlier on i think Ajan is though their greatest value pick in this year’s draft somebody that I ranked inside my top 60 he has grown leaps and bounds over the last year you’re looking at a player as an overager that was playing in the junior 20 last year and had some decent production but nothing all that crazy this year he steps into the Alves Hockey League and absolutely crushes it 21 goals in 19 games and then comes over to the USHL and is even better in 36 games 22 goals 44 points one of the top USHL producers this last year and it’s a hard league to score in to get 22 goals in 36 games 44 points he was an absolute animal the biggest thing to me with Ajan is the finishing and just how successful and efficient he is at finding that open space that’s to me the thing that separates him from some of the other power play guys that you could find in this draft ean to me is just so good at finding that extra space and with how strong he is too he’s not a big bruiser at six foot but he’s 194 pounds this guy is physically developed i don’t know what he did last summer but it’s working so I think for the Sense it’s a six round pick so if it doesn’t work out it’s not the end of the world but I think in in Aan’s case you’re looking at a potential thirdline power play sniper if he ends up working himself out with the muscle and I think the strength to be able to not be a defensive black hole if he were to make it now let’s move on to another Swede that I think got a little bit disrespected in the draft order this time around let’s go on to Arvad and the Florida Panthers who I think had a very underrated class this year you had players like Shamar Moses who I was a little bit close to putting on this list as well but Arvad in the sixth round just my goodness give me that every single day one of the youngest players in this draft class 6’87bs so like in Ajan pretty bulky for his size but I think in Dro’s case he is such a brilliant skater such a talent when he does have the puck on his stick and I think the speed especially is what his game is really catered to the most i’m surprised to see the Panthers of all team draft him but I I I would wonder I’m curious about Florida that they they know that a lot of teams are overcorrecting trying to go in the Panthers mold and then they realize hey let’s get some skill let’s just draft the guys at this at these spots and try to get some potential in our system while other teams are going for these big bulky guys in Drot’s case I think he could be a really good fit with the speed he possesses i think just slowing the game down will be the biggest problem that could maybe force him out of the NHL lineup one day but at the same time I’d rather have the skill and try to teach him to rate it back a bit than the other way around let’s go on to the last player to mention here today and yet another Swede on today’s list to me maybe the biggest steel out of everybody that we’ve talked about today let’s go on to Philip Eberg finding himself at the 221st position of course to the Carolina Hurricanes i put out a tweet in the seventh round as this thing was going wondering if Philip Ecberg as a U8 World Junior MVP would end up going undrafted in a draft year that I don’t feel like has ever happened i don’t I I haven’t kept track or anything but it would be shocking to me if it’s happened very recently in Ecur’s case it would have been an absolute shame if that happened and the Carolina Hurricanes thankfully save Eber’s life getting him right at the end of the seventh round and I’ll say this I completely understand why Ekberg would drop he’s a very transitionalbased forward which works for some teams doesn’t work for others so I think that kind of automatically puts him out of some teams lists carolina though I mean they are a team that always looks to start the transition always looks to use the skill first and Ecberg of course does bring that i think he’s such I mean I I say he’s mostly a transition player but he’s a really good transition player this guy in and one among and on man rushes with his speed can do so much is very efficient when he does get those offensive opportunities and of course what he was able to do to the U8 speaks for itself 10 goals 18 points in seven games i also thought extremely underrated in the OHL this year didn’t get much time under Dave Cameron in the Ottawa 67 system i think should have been um but he’s somebody that I think kind of got overlooked and I think next year with maybe a bigger role hopefully or maybe on a different team hopefully cuz Dave Cameron doesn’t seem to like him i think Ecberg is due for an explosion we’ll have to wait and see what happens but seventh round value you can’t get many players that are at this point just better hockey players than Philip Eer Ecberg at this point what a home run by the Carolina Hurricanes but those to me are the biggest draft steels in this 25 NHL draft there are some players I didn’t end up mentioning i mentioned Shamar Moses as a potential pick by the Panthers of course LJ Mooney is one that I like quite a bit but guys like Kerban Lima top also another good Kane’s pick eric Nielsson I thought was a really good ad at 45 for the Anheim Ducks so definitely not a lack of draft steels in this year’s class but thank you guys so much for tuning in this was a ton of fun to see which players I think maybe should have got a little bit higher but to also explain why they might not have what they could prove wrong a lot of fun to talk about here today so thank you guys so much for tuning in and if you guys did enjoy hit that like button hit that subscribe button and notification bell and comment down below your thoughts on all these guys who do you think of the 15 names I mentioned you have the most confidence in out of your team and who they drafted who do you think maybe gets the most underrated let me know your thoughts down below of course sh all the fans you guys know online and click on this card for all of my 2025 draft content including the grade video which is an hour long of prospect analysis so if you want to hear more about your team go click on that and have yourself a ball but I’ll see you guys in the next one have a fantastic hockey day and goodbye [Music]

► Hello guys and welcome back! Today I’m ranking the 15 BIGGEST STEALS in the 2025 NHL Entry Draft! With the players I think brought the MOST value with their selections!

Which players do I think were the BIGGEST steal of the bunch? And what roles could they bring to their NHL teams? Let’s find out!
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