Hagens in pole position for top spot at 2025 NHL Draft

The pole position in the race to be No. 1 in the 2025 NHL Draft is set.

It belongs to American James Hagens, a 5-foot-11, 176-pound Boston College freshman centre who put up some gaudy offensive numbers last season while playing for the U.S. National Development Team Program U-18 squad.

He was the near-unanimous choice for No. 1 on TSN’s annual Pre-Season Ranking for the 2025 draft. Nine of 10 NHL club team scouts surveyed by TSN have the Hauppauge, N.Y. native at No. 1 to start this season.

Now the actual race for No. 1 — otherwise known as the 2024-25 hockey season, which culminates with the NHL Draft in June — begins in earnest.

“It wasn’t a particularly difficult choice [to make Hagens No. 1 on the pre-season list],” one NHL club team head scout said. “He’s earned it, to this point. But I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s going to be a real battle for No. 1 overall next June.”

In other words, while Hagens could very well play his way to first overall status in June of 2025, it’s far too early to label this the James Hagens Draft in the same manner we did in each of the past two years with Connor Bedard and Macklin Celebrini, both of whom were expected to go wire to wire as No. 1 and did not disappoint.

The early line on the most credible threats to Hagens’ No. 1 status are dynamic Erie Otter defenceman Matthew Schaefer, who is No. 2 on TSN’s Pre-Season list, and Swedish two-way centre Anton Frondell, who is No. 3.

But the scouts surveyed by TSN said they are also intrigued to see the performances this season of Brampton Steelheads 6-foot-2 3/4 power winger Porter Martone, who is No. 4; Russian 6-foot centre Ivan Ryabkin, who is No. 5; and Brandon Wheat King 6-foot-5 centre Roger McQueen, who is No. 6.

McQueen was the only prospect other than Hagens to get a No. 1 vote, and he also received one vote at No. 2. The rest of his support in our scouting survey was between Nos. 6 and 10.

“It’s a projection, obviously,” said a scout who noted that Hagens’ body of work to this point is clearly superior to McQueen’s, “but [McQueen] is a 6-foot-5 right-shot centre with speed and skill who ticks all the boxes to be a No. 1 NHL centre.”

Hagens, meanwhile, is a gifted point producer. He led the U.S. U-18 team last season with 102 points, including 39 goals and 63 assists. He also scored nine goals and 22 points in seven games at the 2024 Under-18 World Championship last April, eclipsing the tournament scoring record of 21 that had been held by Nikita Kucherov since 2011.

“[Hagens] has tremendous vision, passing and creativity,” said one scout, “but he’s also a good goal scorer. He’s not that ‘special’ prospect we have had in past years but he’s very good.”

Some scouts say Hagens is destined to become a No. 1 NHL centre because he’s so adept at producing offence; others wonder if his size — he was measured and weighed by NHL Central Scouting in the pre-season at 5-foot-11 and 176 pounds — will mean he may be better suited as a second-line centre.

“Size is a mild concern,” said one scout, noting that it won’t hold him back from becoming an effective NHL player. “He’s not 6 feet tall; he’s a little light. He could be overmatched against bigger, stronger No. 1 Cs in the NHL. But if he’s not a high-end No. 1 C he could be a 1B or an elite point-producing No. 2 C.”

If Hagens were to be taken first overall this year, it would be the first time in the history of the draft that U.S. college players went back to back at No. 1 overall. Celebrini, of course, was taken out of Boston University by San Jose last June. If Hagens goes No. 1, it will be a Boston College Eagle getting the nod.

Should Hagens not go first overall, the TSN survey suggests Erie defenceman Schaefer goes into this season as the next best contender.

Five of the 10 scouts surveyed by TSN slotted Schaefer at No. 2, and he was the only prospect other than Hagens to not get a vote outside the top five.

Schaefer is amongst the very best skaters in the entire draft class. He has speed to burn, but he’s also incredibly agile on his skates and can be really quick going in any direction. He’s able to be aggressive with both his offensive forays and gap control because he’s so adept at getting back quickly to play defence.

“I have a feeling [Schaefer] will be a really difficult guy for some teams to pass on at No. 1,” said one scout of the 6-foot-1 3/4, 183 pound native of Stoney Creek, Ont., who was the first-overall pick in the 2022 OHL draft to Erie.

Schaefer projects as a top pair NHL defenceman.

“That’s his floor,” said a scout. “He might be a true No. 1 NHL defenceman, but a top pair projection for sure. He can do it all. He makes things happen offensively. He can run a power play. He can kill penalties. He’s dependable five on five with and without the puck. His skating is elite. He gets the puck up the ice quickly. He can skate it up himself or pass it.”

Schaefer will, however, be starting this OHL season on the sidelines as he was recently diagnosed with mononucleosis.

He’s also a teenager who has experienced unfathomable tragedy in his young life. In the span of a few months at the end of 2023 and beginning of 2024, his mother Jennifer died after battling breast cancer and his billet mom in Erie passed away in what was ruled a suicide.

Incredibly, through it all, Schaefer has continued to play at a high level. He was a star for Team Canada at the Hlinka Gretzky Cup U-18 tourney in August, arguably one of the best players in the tournament, if not the best.

Swedish centre Frondell is another prospect scouts find easy to like.

At 6-feet and 196 pounds, he already has strength and physical maturity. He has a strong attention to detail slant to his game and a high hockey IQ – both with and without the puck.

He probably projects more as a No. 2 NHL centre rather than a No. 1 because his offensive productivity is not necessarily elite, but his all-around game is excellent. Which is to say he can generate offence both by scoring and making plays, but he also is dedicated to a smart defensive game that includes a healthy amount of physical play.

“He’s just a really good two-way centre with all the tools,” one scout said.

Frondell received votes from No. 2 to No. 6 and six of the 10 scouts had him at either No. 2 or No. 3.

Like Schaefer, Frondell starts this season on the sidelines. He suffered a knee injury that required a procedure but it’s not, at this point, anticipated to affect his draft status.

Martone, the Brampton power winger, had nine of his 10 votes in the top five and the lone vote outside of that was at No. 6. He has all the physical attributes to play a hard-hitting and agitating game but he’s fast and skilled, too. He scored 33 goals last season, so suffice to say scouts are excited to see if he can do all that more consistently this season.

“In terms of style,” one scout said, “think Corey Perry but with better skating.”

At least, that’s what the scouts believe his goal should be.

Ryabkin, the Russian centre who plays for Dynamo in the Russian MHL, is said to be cut from similar cloth as Ivan Demidov, the fifth-overall pick to Montreal in last year’s draft.

Ryabkin received two votes at No. 2, behind only Hagens, and as is often the case with Russian prospects had his support sprinkled throughout from No. 2 to No. 9.

“High-end skills, skates really well, good size and strength – just your really good, all-around Russian centre,” one scout said.

McQueen, of course, is the only prospect not named Hagens to get a No. 1 vote. And it was interesting that he got a No. 2 vote as well. But the rest of his support ranged from No. 6 to No. 10.

Scouts are obviously intrigued by his 6-foot-5 frame and above-average skating ability, but will be looking for him to be a lot more consistent this season than last. McQueen is a late-2006-born prospect, so it’s not unusual for scouts to expect to see more a little more maturity in their draft year from late-birthday prospects.

Incidentally, the other top-rated prospects who are late born 2006s include Hagens and Martone. Hagens has obviously delivered on that maturity/productivity; the scouts will be looking to Martone and McQueen to do the same thing in the early going of this season.

The balance of TSN’s Pre-Season Top 10 is as follows:

7. Saginaw Spirit skilled offensive centre Michael Misa, who was granted exceptional status by Hockey Canada in 2022. He received two votes in the top five and none beyond No. 8. Misa is a smart and creative player who does his best work with the puck.

8. Erie Otter pro-style 6-foot-1, 203-pound winger Malcolm Spence, who is also a late 2006 born prospect. Spence plays a gritty two-way game. He had two Top 5 votes, but the rest of his support was in the Nos. 7 to 16 range.

9. Wisconsin Badger freshman defenceman Logan Hensler. The 6-foot-2, 196-pound blueliner spent the last two years in the U.S. National Development Team program, where he forged a reputation as a solid two-way defender.

10. Moncton Wildcats 6-foot centre Caleb Desnoyers, who played well at the Hlinka Gretzky Cup U-18 tourney in August. Desnoyers plays a strong and cerebral two-way game with a good attention to detail.

It’s unusual to see a goaltender on our pre-season rankings, but Prince George Cougar Joshua Ravensbergen snuck into the Top 20 at No. 20.

The 6-foot-4 North Vancouver native is quite a remarkable story.

He wasn’t drafted in the WHL, but walked on last season to become the Cougars’ No. 1 goalie and then proceeded to have a rookie season for the ages. He was 26-4-1 with a 2.46 goals-against average and .907 save percentage in the regular season. He also tied a WHL rookie record for most shutouts (six). In the playoffs, he was 9-2-1 with a 1.98 GAA and .931 save percentage and helped lead Prince George to the third round of the playoffs.

His size, athleticism and amazing numbers caught the eyes of NHL scouts. They had no expectations for him but that will change this season, when he’ll very much be in the scouting spotlight to see if he can replicate his rave rookie performance in his NHL draft year.

Now, a few words about TSN’s rankings, including frequency and process.

The pre-season list is followed up with a much more comprehensive mid-season ranking in mid to late January. There’s a special Draft Lottery Edition ranking that focuses in on the top 16 prospects in late April/early May and the final TSN ranking comes out a week in advance of the draft in June.

For all our rankings, we survey a panel of 10 NHL club team scouts for their own individual rankings and from those 10 lists, we crunch the numbers in a mostly objective numerical exercise to get a consensus ranking that historically has been a decent barometer of the range a prospect is reasonably expected to be taken on draft day.

For this 2025 pre-season ranking, we asked the scouts to give us their top 16 prospects going into the season. We established that if a prospect did not receive three or more votes from the 10-scout panel, that prospect would not be included on the list.

So every prospect you see on our Top 20 had a minimum of three votes.

So if you’re wondering why Brady Martin or Reese Hamilton or Peyton Kettles or Jackson Smith or Kashawn Aitcheson or Blake Fiddler or Sascha Boumedienne or Adam Benak or Shane Vansaghi or Conrad Fondrk or Milton Gastrin or Viktor Klingsell or Viggo Nordlund or anyone else you think should be there, it’s because those players didn’t meet the three scout threshold.

It goes without saying, but we’ll say it anyway, the pre-season list is the least reliable of any of our four lists. Cole Eiserman was No 2 on last year’s pre-season list and went 20th overall. That’s the fourth time a prospect ranked No. 2 on our pre-season list was drafted in the bottom half of the first round.

This list is really just an introduction of sorts to the class of 2025, based almost exclusively on last year’s performance and/or summer events such as the Hlinka Gretzky Cup U-18 tournament and the World Junior Summer Showcase, amongst others.

And now the games begin and the real evaluations for the 2025 draft will commence.

The Top 20

1. James Hagens, C - Boston College

United States

2. Matthew Schaefer, D - Erie

Matthew Schaefer

3. Anton Frondell, C - Djurgardens

Anton Frondell

4. Porter Martone, RW - Brampton

Porter Martone

5. Ivan Ryabkin, C - Moskva

Ivan Ryabkin

6. Roger McQueen, C - Brandon

Roger McQueen

7. Michael Misa, LW - Saginaw

Michael Misa Saginaw Spirit

8. Malcolm Spence, LW - Erie

lMalcom Spence

9. Logan Hensler, D - USA NTDP

Logan Hensler

10. Caleb Desnoyers, C - Moncton

Caleb Desnoyers

11. William Moore, C - USA NTDP

Will Moore

12. Radim Mrtka, D - Trinec

Radim Mrtka

13. Victor Eklund, LW - Djurgardens

Victor Eklund

14. Jake O'Brien, C - Brantford

Jake O'Brien

15. Charlie Trethewey, D - USA NTDP

Charlie Trethewey

16. Cole Reschny, C - Victoria

Cole Reschny

17. Emile Guite, LW - Chicoutimi

Emile Guite

18. Jakob Ihs-Wozniak, RW - Lulea

Jakob Ihs-Wozniak

19. Braeden Cootes, C - Seattle

Braeden Cootes

20. Joshua Ravensbergen, G - Prince George

Joshua Ravensbergen