Eiserman focusing on developing game, being 1st pick of 2024 Draft

CRANBERRY, Pa. -- Cole Eiserman has seen the 2024 NHL Draft projections, the ones that have the forward with the USA Hockey National Team Development Program Under-18 team in a battle with Boston University forward Macklin Celebrini to be the No. 1 pick.

Eiserman said it's a goal to hear his name called first.

"It would mean a lot," the 17-year-old said. "I've obviously put in a lot of work throughout my life so far. That would be unreal."

A lethal shot is Eiserman's best asset. His 69 goals in 62 games with the NTDP U-18 and Under-17 teams last season are second in program history, behind the 72 goals scored by Cole Caufield in 2018-19.

Eiserman led the NTDP U-17 team with 72 points (43 goals, 29 assists) in 42 games, and had 32 points (26 goals, six assists) in 20 games with the U-18 team. His 104 points were the seventh-most in program history.

Celebrini led the United States Hockey League with 86 points (46 goals, 40 assists) in 50 games with Chicago last season.

During the offseason, Eiserman (5-foot-11, 190 pounds) said he focused on scoring even more this season.

"Everything is good," he said. "Trained on the good stuff I do well and the stuff I don't do so well. Tried to get the basics going. I'm really working on trying to score as many goals as I can. That's basically it."

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So far, so good. Eiserman leads the U-18 team with eight points (five goals, three assists) in four games. That includes five points (four goals, one assist) in two games at the USHL Fall Classic, against Dubuque and Omaha, at UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex on Sept. 23-24. That earned him the first USHL Forward of the Week award this season.

But Eiserman, who is committed to play at Boston University next season, said he knows to truly open eyes he must show there's more to him than an outstanding shot.

"Individually, I'd like to round out my game and try to be a 200-foot player for the guys to make sure we win more," Eiserman said.

U-18 coach Nick Fohr believes Eiserman will add more dimensions too is game in time, but will more than get by with a shot he compared to that of Washington Capitals forward Alex Ovechkin.

Like Ovechkin, Eiserman tends to hang out in the face-off circle waiting to unleash a one-timer, the only difference being that Eiserman, as a left-handed shot, sets up in the right circle as opposed to Ovechkin's spot in the left circle.

"I think the closest one is Ovechkin because he scores like Ovechkin does," Fohr said. "He hangs out, just on the opposite side because he's a lefty, and just rips pucks past goalies. It's one of those things where it's a scary comparison to use a guy like Ovechkin, but the dots start to line up."

Eiserman scored 12 goals in seven games at the 2022 World U-17 Hockey Challenge, tying a record set by Ovechkin in 2001.

"Everything starts to line up when you go back to last November, when we were at the Under-17 World Challenge and he tied Ovechkin's goal record in that event up there," Fohr said. "So maybe he is similar. Who knows? That's definitely the closest one just because he does it very similarly."

Eiserman would like to be compared to Ovechkin beyond his scoring touch, though.

"You see him now, he's been a team guy,” Eiserman said. "He got that (Stanley) Cup back in 2018. You can see how his game kind of went around the team. That's why he won. So I'm just trying to be like that."

Ovechkin was drafted No. 1 by the Washington Capitals in the 2004 NHL Draft. More than Ovechkin, Eiserman said he has modeled his game after forward Auston Matthews, who was selected by the Toronto Maple Leafs with the No. 1 pick in the 2016 NHL Draft.

Matthews' 59 goals in 2014-15 are the third-most in a season in NTDP history.

Eiserman said he looks forward to the draft, potentially joining Ovechkin and Matthews as the next dynamic goal scorer to go No. 1. But the draft will come in time.

In the meantime, Eiserman said his priority is having another big season with the NTDP U-18 team.

"I try not to think about it, but obviously, it comes up a lot," Eiserman said of the draft. "It's obviously really cool. It's a big year, but just trying to stay in the moment."