The last month has given great context to the 2025 NHL draft class. Scouts have been able to view players in a number of different and difficult environments, with the world juniors being the most prominent of those events. The 2025 edition featured three of the projected top four picks in the upcoming draft.
Our projected first overall pick in this month’s rankings, Matthew Schaefer of Erie, played just four periods at the WJC in Ottawa, but his time leading up to that, including a phenomenal showing at the CHL/USA Prospects Challenge, has vaulted him to the top of the class. Not to mention what his absence meant to Canada.
Being dethroned as the projected first overall pick for the first time in this space,…