There will be several top prospects for the 2025 NHL Draft in the spotlight at the 2025 IIHF World Junior Championship, but the player who could outshine them all is defenseman Matthew Schaefer.
That's the belief of Flo Hockey draft expert Chris Peters, who helped co-hosts Adam Kimelman and Mike G. Morreale preview the tournament on the latest edition of the "NHL Draft Class" podcast.
Schaefer, who turned 17 in September, could have a top-four spot for Canada when the tournament begins in Ottawa on Dec. 26, and the 17-year-old could use the attention of the WJC to propel himself into being the No. 1 pick of the 2025 draft.
"If he does take a top-four role as we think he could for this team, if he does become one of their primary defensemen, if he edges out guys like Sam Dickinson (San Jose Sharks) and others that were very high draft picks to be on power-play two, power-play one, whatever he ends up as, that's a pretty significant indication of just how much there's a belief in him right now," Peters said. "The thing about Matthew Schaefer is he only seems to be scratching the surface. He is going to be one of the youngest players in this draft class, he was born 10 days before the cutoff. That's an opportunity for him to show ... this upside and runway he has is a separating factor for the No. 1 pick."
Among the other topics covered with Peters were the potential impact United States forward James Hagens and Canada forward Porter Martone could have at the WJC. They are considered along with Schaefer to be candidates to be chosen with the No. 1 pick.
"I think in terms of opportunity, Hagens is probably going to have more opportunity than Porter Martone is," Peters said. "I think Hagens is much more important to the USA than Martone is to Canada. ... It's never really 1-on-1, how much will they be on the ice together, all those things. But everybody's going to treat it as 1 vs. 1 or 1 vs. 2-type of situation."
Under-the-radar prospects to watch were discussed and tournament predictions were made.
The World Junior Championship runs through Jan. 5, and all games can be seen on NHL Network in the United States and TSN in Canada.
The "NHL Draft Class" podcast is free, and listeners can subscribe on all podcast platforms, including iTunes and Spotify. It also is available here and the NHL app.
