To wrap up our 2023 NHL Draft coverage, here are 15 prospects of note who passed through this year’s draft (one from my draft board and 14 others of varying interest).
These are players I’d either consider for development camp invites/contracts, or would at least keep a watchful eye on moving forward.
1. Mazden Leslie — RHD, Vancouver Giants, six feet
Despite having been a top prospect in minor hockey and now a 50-point defenceman in his draft year as the most productive defenceman on a below-average team in Vancouver, and despite having pro size, Leslie is NHL Central Scouting’s 125th-ranked North American skater, well back of his statistical contemporaries. Some of that is because his offensive game isn’t where his defensive game is and he has had to learn to play a little less as an individual. But he also played 25-plus minutes a night for most of this season against matchups he probably wasn’t ready for as a 17-year-old. And while he’s still growing into his game and really tightening it up and dialling it in, he made real progress this year, has some legitimate tools, and could emerge as a player in a year or two that people look back on and think “he should have been a late-round pick” even if he doesn’t make it. Leslie, who ranked 94th on my list, was the only player on my board to go undrafted.
My complete first-round #2023NHLDraft analysis is out at @TheAthletic:
– Winners and losers
– Thoughts in all 32 picks
– Best players available for Day 2More: https://t.co/OL4UY5tNYz
— Scott Wheeler (@scottcwheeler) June 29, 2023
2. Oskar Asplund — LHD, Almtuna IF, 5-foot-11
No. 73 on my 2022 draft ranking, Asplund registered 30 points in 49 games as a teenage defenceman in HockeyAllsvenskan (second among all Almtuna players in scoring, and first among all under-20 HockeyAllsvenskan defenceman by nearly threefold) this season and is signed to play in the SHL for next. He’s a player I never heard about in conversations with scouts last year, and expected wouldn’t be picked, but developed a real fondness for. His statistical profile is obviously quite strong — much stronger than plenty of kids in his age group who’ve been picked — and he’s now ranked No. 58 among European skaters by NHL Central Scouting in his second go-around.
Advertisement
Asplund is an offensively-inclined distributor who loves to skate and pass the puck and uses light edges to elude pressure, walk the line, and pivot into outlets. He identifies passing options early and does a fabulous job playing pucks quickly through seams or delaying until one opens up. Defensively, though, he’s not particularly physical, he does a good enough job gapping up and/or breaking up plays with his stick to hold his own against pros and has clearly demonstrated an ability to control play against his peers. He’s never likely going to be a great defender, but I don’t see him as a liability either and I’d consider picking him and working to see if you can turn him into a budget Shayne Gostisbehere as a sheltered offensive-defenceman type.
3. Gabriel Szturc — C, Kelowna Rockets, 5-foot-11
Szturc was excellent at this winter’s world juniors on a successful line with Rangers pick Jaroslav Chmelar and Golden Knights pick Jakub Brabenec. He was also the second-leading scorer on a weak Rockets team, registering 79 points in 56 games (a 96-point pace had he not missed games to be with Czechia’s national team). He’s a very smart player who understands how to use spacing to his advantage to play a tactile game. He skates well, he’s got a nifty wrist-shot release which I think owed him more than 24 goals this season, he’s got good puck skills and passing intuition, and he works hard off the puck to keep himself involved in plays. I’ve enjoyed watching him.
4. Jordan Tourigny — RHD, Shawinigan Cataractes, 5-foot-11
The younger brother of diminutive Habs prospect Miguel Tourigny, Jordan has two or three inches on his brother and plays a fairly different game. An alterante captain for Canada at last summer’s Hlinka Gretzky Cup, he posted 41 points in 67 games for a poor Shawinigan team this year. He doesn’t play quite as free-flowing offensively as his brother, but he gaps effectively, he reads the play offensively and defensively well, he’s a competitor, he uses a good stick to be disruptive defensively, and he can move pucks and steer play. I like him as a late-round guy who, if he makes it, will be a modern third-pairing type in the Travis Dermott/Sean Walker mould.
5. Francesco Dell’Elce — LHD, St. Andrew’s College, 6 feet
Dell’Elce’s game is about his edges, his four-way mobility, and his elusiveness. He’s underdeveloped physically and has work to do to improve his game defensively in space, but he played harder and harder as the season progressed. I watched a couple of his games late in the season where he didn’t look shy physically despite his slight frame, and he’s got a lethal shot which is complemented by good offensive instincts to get open and/or attack into a look. And while he’s a UMass commit for 2024-25 and will take some time, he’s also a June birthday who has plenty of runway to get stronger and put it all together.
Advertisement
6. Hudson Thornton — LHD, Prince George Cougars, 5-foot-11
One of the most productive defencemen in junior hockey this season, Thornton emerged as an offensive catalyst on a Prince George team that had plenty of scouts coming to see them play because of first-year eligible forwards Riley Heidt and Koehen Ziemmer. He finished second among all WHL defencemen in goals (23) and fifth in points (74), both of which broke Cougars records. He has worn a letter for that team the last two years, has also penalty-killed for them for those two years, and has worked to harden his game defensively. Add in a hard and accurate shot (including a comfortable one-timer), an ability to fake-and-shake to create lanes for himself, an eager game on offence — and there’s reason to consider him. There are questions about how projectable his game is defensively, but I thought he made progress defending the rush and in his own zone this year, even if there are still times when he gets caught down ice or doesn’t close out/box out effectively.
7. Elmeri Laakso — LHD, SaiPa, 6-foot-1
No. 93 on my 2022 ranking, Laakso made a fast transition through Finland’s U20 junior league to full-time Liiga player. It’s pretty rare for an 18-year-old defenceman to have more games played in Liiga (49) over two seasons than in junior (37). His statistical profile at both of those levels is strong, too, with six goals and 16 points in Ligia already, and 14 goals and 37 points (a point per game) in his stints in junior. He has also been a consistent part of his age group internationally and should factor into Finland’s blue line at the 2024 world juniors in Gothenburg. Add in pro size and there’s the look of a worthy pick at first glance.
I think his game is compelling enough to warrant a late-round selection as well. Laakso plays with a subtle care and smoothness from the back end both offensively and defensively. He’s a smart player who reads and processes the game at pace and then makes light, intuitive plays — and occasionally more ambitious, attacking ones — within it. He does a really good job getting his point shots through by changing angles across and off of the line, too. He’s going to have to round out his game to give himself a shot up levels, but he’s on a good track and won’t turn 19 until almost a month after this year’s draft.
8. Samuel Urban — G, Sioux City Musketeers, 6-foot-1
A standout at U18 Worlds who played well in a bit of a three-goalie setup with the Musketeer after arriving for the second half and getting into three games (just one of which he started), Urban’s game is about his lateral movement and control, his knack for reading and anticipating shooters (and their passes), his advanced ability to read and react when plays break down and he has to scramble, and his competitiveness. He always seems to be ready before the shot comes on cross-ice plays, and then fights to get to rebounds when he has to. His small track record kept him off my list but he has shown some promise.
9. Ty Higgins —RHD, Acadie Bathurst Titan, 6 feet
Higgins is a nice success story. He went undrafted in the 2020 OHL Draft, played his post-draft season at the midget AAA level for the Waterloo Wolves to get selected in the second round of the league’s U18 draft by Owen Sound, failed to get signed by the Attack, played half a season with the Stratford Warriors Jr. B team (registering 28 points in 27 games), and was then signed just before Christmas in 2021 by Acadie-Bathurst in the QMJHL, who acquired his rights from Owen Sound. In his season-and-a-half with the Titan since, he worked his way onto NHL Central Scouting’s preliminary, midterm and final lists for the 2023 draft. This season, in his first full year in the Q, he registered 41 points in 68 games to lead the Titan defence in scoring and finish second on a poor team overall. He plays a physical style, he defends hard, he’s a solid skater, and he’s got a big shot (which he scored a hat trick with in March to become the first Titan defenceman ever to do so).
Advertisement
10. Ryan Fine — C, U.S. NTDP, 5-foot-9
Maybe the most improved player at the national program this year for my money, Fine became an important player even when they loaded up in the second half in preparation for U18 Worlds with players like James Hagens and Cole Eiserman and then Carey Terrance, playing up and down the lineup in stretches at both centre and on the wing. He’s got good hands, created more chances in games than the counting stats reflected, and increasingly found ways to be around the puck and the net as the season progressed. There were games I watched where he was all over it, getting in on pucks, hanging onto them and drawing coverage when he had it, moving when he didn’t to play in and out of coverage, hustling, and slipping past checks. He’s got the shiftiness you expect in a smaller player, too. And while there are mixed opinions on whether he has even a small chance to become a late-round pick, I’ve come around on him. I expect him to become a good college player and put himself in the conversation for a contract by the time he’s done at Harvard, even if that tops out in the AHL.
11. Samuel Mayer — LHD, Peterborough Petes, 6-foot-3
Unranked by NHL Central Scouting but a huge, counted-upon part of Peterborough’s OHL championship run and an invitee to Sharks development camp last summer, Mayer is a pro-sized defenceman who fairly skates well and plays a staunch two-way game. His reads and processing can occasionally burn him on both sides of the puck, and he’s going to have to play a fairly simple game at the pro level, but he can be quite effective in his role, he’s got the physical tools, he plays a pro style, and he might fit well opposite a player who excels at the things he doesn’t.
12. Jake Livanavage — LHD, Chicago Steel, 5-foot-10
Nicknamed “the roadrunner” with the Steel, Livanavage, a North Dakota commit for next fall, has been one of the more productive defenceman in the USHL the last two years and led all under-18 defencemen in scoring in his first go around. He plays a highly active, moving style and while he was small in height and physical maturity into the 2022 draft, he has added more than 15 pounds in the last year and is now listed at 5-foot-10 and 175 pounds. He’s a heady, inventive problem-solver who can navigate play with the puck on his stick or by using his feet to create and draw eyes to him and then execute a pass through to the weak side of coverage. His business can be a double-edged sword, but his ability to skate and fake his way around the ice usually wins out. I’m not entirely sure yet what his projection is, which is why he didn’t make my list last year (I wonder if he’ll just become a top college D who doesn’t become more than an AHLer) but there are a lot of redeeming qualities to his game and he plays hockey the way it’s trending.
13. Adam Cedzo — LW, HC Oceláři Třinec, 5-foot-10
Cedzo ranked No. 78 among European skaters by NHL Central Scouting, a slotting which is usually a pretty good indication that a player will either get late-round consideration or pass through. In my viewings, I think that sounds about right, especially considering his lack of track record (he scored at a high clip for Trinec’s junior team, which was swept in the league final this year, but only played a handful of games in its second-tier pro league). I like the player. He’s got good puck skills and he’s willing to go to the inside with them. He’s quick. He’s a decently-talented player who I expect will become a top-six type in Europe at minimum. With the right patience and development, there might be slightly more, too. I think that should probably start with a move to play against junior competition in North America though, because he doesn’t look pro-ready for Europe right now and no NHL hopeful should spend their post-draft season in the Czech junior league. I’ll be interested to see if he gets picked in July’s CHL Import Draft, because I think he’d develop well in a skill role on the smaller ice.
14. Frantisek Dej — C, HC Modre Klidan Slovan, 6-foot-4
Dej is a tricky prospect to slot and project because he played at a level that draft-eligible prospects don’t typically play at in Slovakia’s second-rung pro league this year and he’s not a great skater but he still produced at that level (nearly a point per game against men, even if it’s a poor league) and he works hard to compensate for his skating. Add in good size and puck control skill, a physically imposing style, and I could see a team eventually giving him a look.
15. Ondrej Molnar — LW, Erie Otters, 5-foot-10
It’s never good when you’re known as a scorer at lower levels in Europe, you come to a more competitive league in North America, and your game doesn’t really work the same way on the smaller ice surface. And that’s what happened for Molnar, who has shown quite well internationally, scored in bunches with his age group in Slovakia, and then potted just four goals in 34 games after a move to the OHL this year. There’s a lot at play in that though, too with a new place, a new team (and a bad one at that), etc. Still, it would leave me a little apprehensive about taking him as a first-year eligible higher than Rounds 5 to 7, and because he was a player who was once considered a second-round guy, I expect that he’ll still go a little higher than my taste even if he has fallen for some. I like the way he skates (good base, quick acceleration), competes, finds and steals pucks, but he can also force it and get away from how he needs to play.
(Illustration: Sean Reilly / The Athletic. Photos of Gabriel Szturc, Leslie Mazden and Jordan Tourigny: Steve Dunsmoor, Erica Perreaux / CHL)
