EDITORIAL: Five 2025 NHL Draft Prospects to Watch For The 2024-25 Season

With the 2024-25 WHL season finally underway, I got to looking at the long list of draft-eligible players for the upcoming NHL Draft. Of course, Roger McQueen is making his case early, and Cameron Schmidt is looking quite dangerous, but the question I'm asking is: Who are some "diamonds in the rough"? Who should more people be watching? Below, I have a list of five players I think deserve more attention than they are currently getting.
Note: Players are not in order. This list is simply that, just a list.

Owen Mastroianni- Edmonton Oil Kings

After a strong showing in the 2024 Oil Kings Camp, the young forward looks to become a bigger presence in the team's forward corps. Bigger, of course, meaning in status as opposed to stature; Mastroianni stands in at 5'8", and in my opinion could suffer the same fate as fellow undersized teammate Gavin Hodnett. (That being, overlooked due to his size.) With that said, the Golden, B.C. native has the skill and puck protection ability to hold his own at the major junior level.

Ondrej Stebetak- Portland Winterhawks

Hailing from Czechia, Stebetak takes the place of former Hawks goaltender and fellow countryman Jan Spunar. Opening his regular season with back-to-back wins, Stebetak is showing his colors early. Fans who watched the 2024 Hlinka Gretzky Cup should not be surprised by this, as the netminder was quite a large part of his country's run that culminated in a silver medal. Winterhawks fans should get quite comfortable with Stebetak between the pipes for the foreseeable future.

Jack Kachkowski- Medicine Hat Tigers

A player I had the pleasure of speaking to right around the end of preseason, Kachkowski is presented with a lofty challenge to open the regular season. With three Tigers blueliners moving on over the summer, the St. Albert native is looking to emerge as a definitive top-four asset on the Medicine Hat back end. Playing on three teams in the last two seasons, Kachkowski is set to settle in and focus on growing his stock heading into next June.

Caleb Matthews- Victoria Royals

While my viewing of Matthews was limited previously, it's about to go up soon. A significant piece of the U18 AAA Calgary Buffaloes (AEHL) run to the 2024 Telus Cup, the Calgary native amassed 68 points in 35 regular season games and another 23 points in 10 playoff contests. Matthews carries a lethal shot (not too far off from an NHL player of the same surname) but most of his points come from his playmaking ability. He and 2008-born Keaton Verhoeff have connected once already and should continue to do so all season.

Vit Zahejsky- Kamloops Blazers

Another important player for the Czech Hlinka Gretzky team, Zahejsky quickly became one of my favorite players of the tournament. Carrying a 5'10" frame but playing much more like a bigger power forward, the Blazers prospect should endear himself to Kamloops fans pretty quickly. Zahejsky is a playoff performer as well, tallying seven points in seven games for HC Energie Karlovy Vary U20 in Czechia.

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