Matthew Schaefer, center, NY Islanders number one overall pick, Michael Misa, San Jose Sharks number two pick and Anton Frondell, right, Chicago Blackhawks (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)
The first round of the 2025 NHL Entry Draft may not have produced the fireworks some expected on the NHL trade market, but there was plenty of action leading into it and plenty more is expected in the coming 1–2 weeks.
“The table was set for a lot of things, I think,” one NHL executive told RG as the first round wound down. “I think a lot of teams talked and set the table. There may be some stuff that may surprise you before free agency begins.”
As expected, Erie Otters (OHL) defenseman Matthew Schaefer went first overall, Saginaw Spirit (OHL) center Michael Misa went second overall, and Swedish prospect Anton Frondell went third overall. Then the fun began!
For days leading into the 2025 NHL Draft and right up until it began, there was plenty of trade speculation building, with many speculating what the Utah Mammoth would do with the fourth pick. They wound up taking Moncton Wildcats star center Caleb Desnoyers (QMJHL) at fourth overall, and no trades involving picks took place until the Pittsburgh Penguins traded the 12th overall pick to the Philadelphia Flyers in exchange for the 22nd and 31st overall picks.
The biggest trade of the day came earlier on Friday as the New York Islanders and the Montreal Canadiens pulled off a blockbuster trade that saw restricted free agent defenseman Noah Dobson traded to the Canadiens in exchange for the 16th and 17th overall picks and forward Emil Heineman.
Just after that, the Columbus Blue Jackets acquired forwards Charlie Coyle and Miles Wood in exchange for forward Gavin Brindley, a third-round pick in the 2025 NHL Draft, and a conditional second-round pick in the 2027 NHL Draft.
There was also a big signing, as the Toronto Maple Leafs kept veteran center John Tavares in the fold with a four-year, $17.5 million ($4.3 million AAV) contract.
With that, here are the leftover scraps of interesting tidbits and rumors from the first round of the 2025 NHL Entry Draft, resulting from multiple conversations with NHL executives, scouts, and agents on Friday night.
Was Hagens to the Islanders Ever Close?
One of the biggest rumors heading into the draft was the Boston Bruins trading the seventh overall pick to the New York Islanders and the Islanders then drafting Long Island native James Hagens. Instead, it was the Bruins who kept the Boston College center for likely years to come and took him at seventh overall. So, how close were the Islanders to Hagens?
“I heard really close, but first of all, the Bruins—I think if they couldn’t get Caleb Desnoyers—really wanted Hagens there,” an NHL scout told RG.
“They obviously saw Hagens a lot and loved him, so the Islanders needed to knock their socks off—and I think with a roster player—to make this happen. It didn’t, and here we are. The Bruins are absolutely still happy to be here.”
‘Keep an Eye on the Penguins’
The Pittsburgh Penguins made some noise in the first round of the 2025 NHL Draft with two trades, but according to multiple NHL sources, the walk of the Penguins may get louder over the next 2–3 weeks.
“Keep an eye on the Penguins,” an NHL source told RG just before the first round of the NHL Draft. “They’re starting to listen on [Bryan] Rust, [Rickard] Rakell, and [Erik] Karlsson. They’d like to trade a few bigger names too.”
Ironically, during the first round of the draft on Friday night, ESPN analyst Kevin Weekes, as he was co-hosting the draft broadcast, sent social media into a frenzy when he tweeted a picture of the city of Denver.
That prompted rumors of Sidney Crosby being traded to the Colorado Avalanche and a reunion with Nathan MacKinnon, but MacKinnon and Crosby’s agent, Pat Brisson, quickly shut those down.
RG reached out to a source close to the situation about the Crosby-to-Colorado speculation, and he had this to say:
“I would say Weekes got ahead of himself! But I know it’s had legs for a while. I just don’t see this at this point.”
Another source close to Crosby had this to say:
“If they deal Rust… that’s Crosby’s boy, then things could change.”
Blue Jackets Are Still In on Andersson and Looking for a Goalie
As RG reported, the Columbus Blue Jackets are big-game hunting. Yes, they acquired Charlie Coyle and Miles Wood from the Colorado Avalanche on Friday, but according to multiple sources, they’re still hunting.
“They lost out on [Noah] Dobson, but they still want a top-four right D and they’re still in on Rasmus Andersson,” one of the same sources that spoke to RG already said. “I wonder about the Canucks too still. They want to pluck a goalie from there still.”
James Murphy
