Mock with draft sim

Id love Trevor Connelly on the Islanders. super high upside, left handed (which we need BAD) and hes a great skater. Him with Barzal in 3-4 years would do insane damage.

Im hopeful he decommits from Providence tho, he could easily end up somewhere else. IDK how that process works but him being commited for 2025-26 doesnt make sense to me-- he is eligible for next season?

Anyways at this point he probably has higher upside than all but 5-6 prospects in this draft so id love it

Also Demidov dropping to 6 would be insane but i guess you never know. Im sure if he wanted to end up somewhere hed fine a way to do it, tho. He is gonna be a beast

He is super underrated for sure. He is projected too low by most imo (He should fall into my top 10 by next rankings I would think)

“15. NJD“

I don’t like any of this.

There are a lot of reasons a player takes an extra year in junior…could be school doesn’t have spots (Providence is 4-yr school…so anyone who gets scholarship gets full 4 years)….the player is not ready (often the case for bottom of lineup guys…even Div 3 schools are asking most players to play a year of juniors)…they have not met NCAA eligibility (could be grades, credits, or paperwork. NCAA makes these kids jump through a lot of hoops, and can be major pain in the rear-end, but in USHL, most of paperwork is done for you)….or it could just be a likely high draft pick waiting until after draft to see why team wants.

But Providence may be the ideal place for him. Nate Leaman is one of the best, most respected coaches in NCAA and his vouching for Connelly is a stamp of approval that NHL teams will note.

He committed late, around time many of guys entering 2025-26 committed, so I wouldn’t read too much into it. My guess is that he ends up there next year.

If it unfolds like this, the Blues probably take Elick or maaaaybe Wallenius, but it's also probably at least as likely that they've already traded up.

Interesting. I'm not particularly high on either of those guys ngl. I'd assume they fit the Blues system pretty well. Personally, though, I'd look at Mews or Solberg at that range (I know, I'm very high on Solberg)