Matthew Schaefer Leads 2025 NHL Mid-Term Draft Rankings In Tight Race

For the last two years, the first-overall pick in the NHL draft has been all-but-guaranteed. Canadian centers Macklin Celebrini (2024) and Connor Bedard (2023) went wire-to-wire as the consensus top picks in their draft years.

But 2025 is shaping up differently. While U.S. center James Hagens was widely seen as the front-runner heading into this season, NHL Central Scouting pegged Canadian defenseman Matthew Schaefer as its No. 1 pick among North American skaters when its mid-term draft rankings were released on Tuesday.

The top five also featured three Canadian forwards: Michael Misa, Porter Martone and Roger McQueen.

Calling the 2025 draft class, “top-heavy with talent” with room for volatility, NHL Central Scouting director Dan Marr called Schaefer the best available prospect at his position.

“The results he achieves with his combination of speed, skills and size give him the edge for the No. 1 spot,” Marr said. “While his game is still maturing, he’s playing a style that will transition well once he gets his NHL opportunity.”

Schaefer’s nod comes while he’s sidelined with a broken clavicle. After earning a spot on Team Canada for the recently-concluded U20 World Junior Championship at age 17, Schaefer was injured in Canada’s second game of the tournament on Dec. 27. He’s expected to miss three months, which would be right around the start of playoffs in the Ontario Hockey League.

Born on Sept. 5, 2007, Schaefer is one of the youngest players in the 2025 draft class. The 6-foot-2, 183-pound blueliner is a strong skater with impressive decision-making capabilities, who’s effective at both ends of the ice. His best moments so far have come on the international stage, where he has won gold medals with Canada at the U17 and U18 levels as well as at the 2024 Hlinka Gretzky Cup.

Schaefer’s start to his 2024-25 OHL season was delayed until late October due to a bout with mononucleosis. Before his injury, he had posted 22 points in 17 games with the Erie Otters, who currently sit fifth in the league’s Eastern Conference.

If he is selected first overall, Schaefer will be the first defenseman to do so since Owen Power went to the Buffalo Sabres in 2021 and the first player from the OHL since another Erie Otter, Connor McDavid, in 2015.

The top of the draft is strong this year for the OHL. Misa, who plays for the defending Memorial Cup champion Saginaw Spirit, currently leads the league with 35 goals and is tied for top spot with 72 points. Martone has 62 points for the Brampton Steelheads.

McQueen is also a product of the CHL system. The 6-foot-5 right-shot center had eight goals and 11 points in eight games with the Brandon Wheat Kings of the Western Hockey League before he suffered a lower-body injury. He’s expected to be out until early February.

As for Hagens, the Boston College pivot hasn’t done anything to dim his shine: it’s just that other players have caught up. After two productive seasons with the U.S. National Team Development Program, Hagens has slid into a key role in one of the top-ranked programs in NCAA Hockey this season. He has also won gold at the U17, U18 and U20 levels, and centered the top line for Team USA in its recent repeat win at the 2025 World Junior Championship.

At 5-foot-10 and 177 pounds, Hagens is on the smaller side. But he’s an outstanding skater, and his elite offensive instincts as both a scorer and playmaker have made him an impact forward at every level. With a November birthday, Hagens is also a bit further along the development curve than some of his rivals as one of the older players in his draft class.

After no Swede was selected in the first round of the 2024 NHL Draft, Central Scouting’s list of top international skaters for 2025 is topped by a pair of teammates from Djurgardens in the nation’s second-tier Allsvenskan men’s league. Right wing Victor Eklund is the younger brother of San Jose Sharks winger William Eklund, and just skated for the fourth-place Swedes at World Juniors. His teammate, 6-foot-1 center Anton Frondell, is now back in action after missing time with a knee injury.

Like Celebrini and Bedard, 2025’s top-ranked North American goaltender hails from North Vancouver, B.C. At 6-foot-5, Joshua Ravensbergen has a 20-6-4 record this season with the WHL’s Prince George Cougars, and is a rare netminder who catches with his right hand.

Central Scouting’s top-ranked international goaltender is Pyotr Andreyanov. He has a .943 save percentage this season in 24 games this season with the junior arm of CSKA Red Army in Russia’s MHL.

The NHL has not yet made an official announcement about the location, date or format of its 2025 Draft, but teams voted overwhelmingly to decentralize the affair starting this year. Rather than make potentially franchise-altering decisions amid the din of an arena floor, surrounded by their rivals and with eagle-eyed fans watching every move from the stands, the organizations are looking for more privacy, as well as saving money on staff travel.

In December, Cam Robinson of Elite Prospects reported that the hub for the 2025 event will be the Peacock Theatre in Los Angeles.

NHL Central Scouting will release its final 2025 draft rankings in mid-April, then hold its annual scouting combine in at Harborcenter in Buffalo from June 1-7.

The 2025 NHL Draft is expected to take place on June 27 and 28.