Who are the New York Islanders top 5 prospects after an EXCELLENT 2025 NHL draft? Where do top prospects like Matthew Schaefer, Victor Eklund, and Kashawn Aitcheson rank in the Isles pool?
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13 Comments
Nice i like it. Also we have more prospects to watch
I just disagree with George, we saw what he brings to the table and it is not much…
Interesting broadcast. I hope Schaefer makes the team. I'd love for Denis Potvin to give him some pointers
Jeffries full complete year in the AHL was the longest season he ever played, which was 59 games compared to his most in college, at 38. May have contributed to him slowing down
10:29 I’ve seen enough Frans Nielsen welcome back
Not bad and that's not including Shabanov.
Finley is an interesting one for sure, hope he gets a chance. Schaefer, Ritchie, Eklund, Eiserman, love these prospects. Not too high on Kashawn. Prokhorov the odd man out. Shabby young, Heineman young. 2 firsts, possibly a 3rd addition with a trade.
Wonder what 2025 – 2026 Bridgeport roster will look like.
Why is Cole Eiserman not rated higher by NHLe? It feels like he's a year away from going pro, especially how strong of a year he had in the NCAA, one of the most rigorous leagues for a young prospect to play in.
This guy has number 2 wrong . Eiserman is definitely number 2. Ritchie is number 3 . I believe Aitcheson will prove he's number 4 . Last im going to say that's a great 10 prospects. Danny Boy Nelson is a great player to have on a Stanley Cup team. He's a big 6 foot 3 great on faceoffs and great on defense. And he can also score . I like to compare him to Otto. Remember Calgary beat Edmonton so Edmonton wouldn't win 4 like us . Because he stopped Mark Messier. And of course he had JT helping him .
V.Eklund projects to be a star, objectively. Look at other Allsvenskan producers in Draft eligible yr.. D.Pastrnak- 36-8-16-24..WJC 5-1-2-3. Bos calls up ½ way thru yr. 27pts in 46games-NHL.. W.Nylander-35-15-12-27. 2nd yrPostDraft 13pts in 22games-Tor.. E.Pettersson-43-19-22-41. WJC 6-0-1-1. 2ndyr PostDraft 66pts in 71games-Vcr. Alexander Wennberg(14th overall)-46-14-18-32.+10. WJC-6-2-1-3. 2ndyr PostDraft.20pts in 64games-Clb.Then 40pts. Then 59pts…V.Eklund- 42-19-12-31.+16. WJC-7-2-4-6..They all had huge yrs in Allsvenskan in Draft eligible yr. All had great World Jr's either that yr or Post Draft yr. None of them needed more than one year of development after being Drafted before they were producing in NHL
I have a question – for a guy like Isaiah George who had a handful of NHL games already and is ranked 6th, are you assuming/implying that the top 5 can also play at the NHL level?
Schaefer – #1 Obvious. What needs to be said.
I think you can make arguments for #2 between three different players(Eklund, Ritchie, Eiserman). All of them have strengths, but also question marks.
Eklund is undersized, almost 19, and has questions about his offensive creativity–which puts into doubt his potential to be a top-line player in the NHL. In my opinion, outside of Schaefer, he is most likely to be an NHL player however.
Ritchie seems to be loved universally by scouts and coaches, but his point totals are very underwhelming. He reminds me of Barzal in that way. Both players failed to meaningfully improve their offensive metrics in their final draft season, and this was hand-waved away because of how well their game projected to the NHL level. In Barzal's case, his skating ability was what made him seem like a sure-fire NHLer. In Ritchie's, it's his IQ. His IQ is what has earned him playing time in the NHL this season, and a spot on Canada's WJC team.
However, skating ability and IQ are two different traits. Skating is purely objective, whereas IQ can be more subjective. Barzal's skating ability made him and impact player at the WJC–a higher level of competition. Ritchie was far less impactful at the this years WJC than Barzal was.
Eiserman goal-scoring ability is very exciting, but the rest of his game isn't even NCAA-level. That should concern you. However, he is practically the same age as Eklund, so he has time to fix the many warts in his game. There aren't many true top-six forwards in the NHL who can score, but are bad at everything else. Patrik Laine as a comparable perhaps? But Laine's pre-NHL record blows Eiserman away–absolutely miles apart. And Laine hasn't exactly had a great career. Here's Eiserman's card from the same guy who did Finely's in this video(https://x.com/NHLFoley/status/1942598223148806499)
I think I like Finely at #5. His numbers are good, and we have to remember, U of Wisconsin isn't a great school, but it's not a joke league. There's a big difference in leading your college team in scoring when it's Wisconsin compared to Merrimack or U of Maine or something like that.
Most people are going to have Aitchenson at #5, which is fair. But he's an older player, like Eklund. People question how his offensive game translates, people question his IQ, he isn't gifted physically, and despite his reputation, I've seen more than one guy who actually watches the games and records the stats say that he isn't as physical as his reputation says. So, to me, he has a lot of question marks.
George is another good option at #5. I'm ignoring Shabanov.
This video: we basically have 6 top 5 prospects