2025 First Round Endorsement List

The Penguins have a chance to walk away with a significant change to their prospect pool regardless of what happens with the Rangers' pick.

I had to limit myself here as this list could’ve been longer than The Grapes of Wrath. While I don’t think there’s a franchise-altering talent in the Penguins’ range, there’s an excellent opportunity to walk away with one (or two) players that significantly alter the health of their prospect pipeline.

I like a lot of the players in this range, and I didn’t want to cop out by listing all of them. A few players of note won’t appear here simply because I don’t think they’re going to be available with the 11th pick. Most notable among this group are Jake O’Brien and Brady Martin. I don’t think there’s a big chance that Martin is slipping beyond Nashville, Philadelphia, or Boston, assuming he’s available when each of those teams picks. His leadership, physicality, and permeating hype from the U18 Worlds are going to be too much for one of those teams to pass up. I think O’Brien may have been a possibility at one point, but his two-way game is proving to keep him floating around in the top ten for most rankings.

The Penguins are in an intriguing position here. Beyond not knowing whether they’ll have one or two selections this year (I’m looking forward to not having to wonder this anymore), this draft has the potential to go off the rails as early as pick three. I expect a run of picks at the center position to happen either before the Penguins’ selection at 11 or right in the middle of it. The same run could happen with defensemen. It makes projecting availability more difficult than usual because of the nature of this draft.

I mentioned I tried not to list a dozen players here, so that means some serious high-quality talent won’t appear on the list. One of those names is Roger McQueen. Just because they don’t meet the general set of preferences I have doesn’t mean they wouldn’t be huge (both physically and otherwise) additions to the organization’s development roster. I didn’t list them here because I wanted to feature some players ahead of them and keep the list concise. I think McQueen would net the Penguins a tangibly high-reward player into the system.

The reality is, assuming the Penguins don't do something completely off-the-wall in the first round, there isn’t a bad option here. There is a bevy of players in this range who you’d consider to have some level of an NHL future, the bare minimum. Someone said to me a few weeks ago that this draft reminded them of mashed potatoes from picks 4 through 17. There are mashed potatoes with gravy, mashed potatoes with chives, mashed potatoes with sour cream, etc. You might find what you like specifically, but at the end of the day, you’re eating potatoes just like everyone else is in that range. I would expect certain falling forwards to garner a lot of interest from Kyle Dubas and his staff. It’s no secret that Porter Martone is someone they covet quite a bit; should he slip beyond the 6th spot, I can’t help but wonder if Dubas would put together a package to take a run at him.

With that being said, here’s a rundown of my favorite players in the Penguins’ wheelhouse in the order I’d rank them regarding my personal preference.

4. Carter Bear - LW - Everett (WHL) - Shoots L - Nov. 4, 2006 - 6’0” - 179 lbs.

I find it difficult to place exactly where Bear is going to land. He was a riser throughout the year and was playing some good hockey when a freak laceration of his Achilles tendon happened towards the end of the year. Given the nature of that injury, there was some purported hesitance around his status until the combine, where it was revealed that he was skating already and ahead of his scheduled timeline early on in his recovery. That bolstered the vibe around him and tossed some comfort back into the equation.

Bear has a good combination of size and skating. He’s a straightforward player with a North-to-South preference in his attack, but he also can take guys wide with his long stride and solid top level of speed. When you add his long wingspan into the equation, he’s a bear (pun intended) of a player to dispossess. Some of his best work this season came behind the net, whether it be swooping in for a wraparound chance or distributing the puck to a high-danger scoring area. Bear dominated that space this season and proved that there’s a great foundation to build off of as he grows into his size. He’s got a surprising set of dangles to him, and my only complaint with that suite of skills is that he seems to prefer to utilize them after a tempo change. When he’s got speed, he’s dipping his shoulder low and driving through and around people. When he changes tempo, he tends to chain skills together a bit better and embarrass defenders with sequences of moves.

I think the best assets to his shot are the accuracy and speed. He tucked a lot of pucks into tight spaces in and around the net this year. His release is fast. He’s a no-nonsense shooter. He exhibits the appropriate amount of patience when he’s cutting through high-danger areas and the proper amount of urgency in rebound opportunities around the area in front of the net. Where he doesn’t get enough love is his playmaking; Bear did a fine job this year, stepping up his distribution abilities, and began to make some more creative passes as the year progressed. He was using his peripheral vision more, throwing accurate passes at sharp angles, and driving to the middle to distribute the puck to someone at either post.

So, what is the risk here? Besides the obvious Achilles surgery, I’m not entirely sure what kind of skating profile Bear fits in the future. I don’t think it’s negatively affected his game in any fashion so far, but I would like to see some improvements made to those first few steps. If you examine the type of game he plays, it will require more muscle as he advances through levels and starts playing against larger opponents. I think both of the areas above are likely to improve over time, let alone with the influence of an NHL development camp. The upside here is a top-six winger with size, power-play presence, and a boon to any center that matches his skill in finishing and playmaking.

3. Justin Carbonneau - RW - Blaineville-Broisbriand (QMJHL) - Shoots R - Nov. 25, 2006 - 6’1” - 191 lbs.

Justin Carbonneau may be the most leathally creative player in the draft class. If we boil this group down to pure hands and dangles, I’m pushing all my chips in right here. Carbonneau is relentless in his attack; off of the puck, he’s dogged in his forechecking and backchecking. He works hard to regain possession of loose pucks. He’s not shy about using his size to his advantage in trying to separate a man from the puck in transition. He’s got a battery that never seems to run out of energy. A powerful skater, he has a beautiful burst from a dead start and wins a lot of loose pucks based on the speed he can hit from his first few jumps. Sometimes, at top speed, he can skate over himself some. In a hurry, leaned over, he almost trips himself up breaking at the waist. There can be too much forward lean in his stride and it can be a little too compact in its function.

The suite of offensive skills here is as deep as any player in the draft. An underrated aspect of this suite is Carbonneau’s one-timer. He posted up on the left wall of the power-play and was a serious threat from the circle. He pre-loads his shots perfectly, legs in a wide base, and gets a full rotation through his hips, ensuring he lets his stick mechanics do work for him. The speed with which he can deliver this shot and the amount of velocity it contains are what make it so hard for goaltenders to handle his one-timer. It’s also a tool he can use from compromised positions. Think of Sidney Crosby dropping to one-knee, I’m talking about the same kind of behavior. He can contort himself or make himself small in order to rip a one-timer off.

In addition to this, Carbonneau has a wrist shot that he’s extrordinarily accurate with. He can pick corners and puck-sized holes very well. This is expecially true in the battle areas around the crease. Carbonneau was great at lifting pucks from compromised positions or simply getting a stick on a puck to squeeze a puck out to a teammate. The chief skill among all of these is his dangling. Carbonneau can carve defenders up with toe-drags, sweeping body dekes, or in-tight maneuvers that put the puck in a defenders feet. He is a magician with the puck, operating with an almost magnetic-like ability. He also layers his attacks well, meaning he can tuck himself into spaces between the defensemens alignment to exploit them. In the face of a 1-2-2 forecheck, he’d often nestle himself right in the middle of the box and then laterally skate through it, completely ruining the systems ability to collapse on him.

I don’t think there’s a significant amount of risk here, rather some refinement that needs to happen. For instance, I think, given his mastery of his skill, there’s a tendency for Carbonneau to occasionally overdo it. He bypasses good playmaking opportunities to try and create more magic. I also think he flies the zone a bit too early from time to time. He’s got unbelievable anticipation on when to hit the gas and jump the defensive zone, but sometimes he’s a little too overzealous. These are coachable issues I expect to work themselves out with time. Overall, the Penguins haven’t had a puck manipulator like Carbonneau in their system in a long time. I’d concede Ville Koivunen as a viable contender for that title, but make no mistake about it, Carbonneau has an immense about of puck skill.

2. Kashawn Aitcheson - D - Barrie (OHL) - Shoots L - Sept. 21, 2006 - 6’2” - 196 lbs.

I’ve got nothing but time to talk about Kashawn Aitcheson and the multi-faceted impact he can have on hockey games. This is a player who puts his tangible mark on hockey games in all three zones. People seem to want to box him into one stereotype but I think his game disagrees with those assessments directly. When it comes to serving up big moments, Aitcheson has it in droves. Whether it be a devastating hit in the defensive zone, a turnover in the neutral zone from a strong gap, or a signature moment offensive, Aitcheson’s tape tells the story of an active, aggressive defenseman who can play minutes in any situation the game can conjur.

Aitcheson is a shark, he stalks the ice looking for opportunities to dispossess an opponent or grab the puck and take it for a skate. I think he’s sound defensively. He keeps an aggressive gap and closes to a stick-length at the right times. He’s more than willing to get in lanes and block shots. He’s an excellent presence in net-front battle situations and clears screens effectively. His physicality is by far his greatest trait here. Aitcheson laid some of the most brutal body checks in the entirety of the CHL this season. These are clean, shoulder contact checks that come from lateral, blindside positions. Aitcheson stopped a lot of games with his checking and answered a lot of bells as a result. This is the kind of player who will lay a devastating, momentum changing hit, have his gloves off before he stands up, beat someone up to defend his hit, then take a lap around the rink motioning for the crowd to get on their feet before he goes to the penalty box. Now, the obvious wart here is that Aitcheson sometimes chases these signature moments. I have plenty of clips of him trying to take someone out and a two-on-one developing behind him. I think this is a problem that virtually every mobile, 18-year-old defenseman with a penchant for hitting has encountered. It’s coachable and is apt to change with maturity.

From an offensive perspective, Aitcheson is involved in a variety of ways. I’ve heard a lot of pushback on my notion that he’s a willing offensive contributor, but if we look at the data from Mitch Brown & Lassie Alanen’s Tracking Project, it doesn’t exactly back that counterargument up very well. Across the entire CHL, including forwards and defensemen, Aitcheson was in the 90th percentile for offensive involvement, and in the 73rd percentile for controlled zone exits per 60 minutes of even-strength ice time. Again, these percentages incude every draft eligible player across the CHL. Aitcheson is comfortable with the puck on his stick, has a surprising arsenal of dekes, and can distribute the puck just as effectively. For instance, I thought he excelled at “Murphy Dumps” this year, or lobbing the puck ahead of a chasing forward to send them on a break. The wart here is skating. It’s not bad, it doesn’t hamper him, but it has to see improvement in very specific areas for him to continue to progress forward. His skating reminds me of Brayden McNabb’s in style. His crossovers are a struggle and sometimes cut a ton of speed off of his momentum. His stride has a choppy vibe to it at speed. He's expending a little too much energy and can streamline his top end.

Aitcheson is active in the offensive zone and scored a lot of goals this year in the slot between the circles. He sinks low in the offensive zone and when a lane presents itself, he takes it. He has a strong, booming slap shot from the point and was a feature on the power-play as a result of his shot and mobility within the offensive zone. I would describe him, at times, as unconventional in his attack offensively. He scored a lot of goals from places you’d least expect to find a defenseman.

I think Aitcheson is the type of player who requires some refinement but contains a gross amount of raw skill in a number of buckets. He is eminantly aggressive and understands how to make plays that impact the game. His playoff run for Barrie featured a number of signature moments that he seemed to truly relish. I’m taking Aitcheson for his understanding of the game, physicality, and ceiling as a middle-pair, two-way defenseman that can quickly draw the ire of the opposing team. Gains need to be made in areas of skating refinement and you’d like to see him clean up some of the more adventerous work in the checking department, but as the below video shows, Aitcheson is the kind of player who can turn a game on its head.

Official 2025 Draft Endorsement: Victor Eklund - RW - Djurgarden (Allsvenskan) - Shoots R - Oct. 3, 2006 - 5’11” - 161 lbs.

One of the reasons I have Victor Eklund in the top spot is the trend the NHL is heading in right now. The Florida Panthers just won back-to-back Stanley Cups by employing a rigid, aggressive forecheck that sends the house over and over again. Florida mows teams down by suffocating their opponents defense at the genesis of the breakout, causing turnovers and forcing defensemen to be haunted by the ghosts of forechecks past. It’s a copy-cat league and I think high-tempo forechecking is about to become to soup of the day for pretty much everyone.

That is Victor Eklund’s game. He is a dogged and tenacious forechecker, hunting the puck when he doesn’t have it and working hard to regain it. I see a lot of people on social media ask me why I’d endorse such a small forward. The answer is simple: I watched Eklund bury grown men all year long. Eklund was playing in Hockey Allsvenskan, the second division of pro hockey in Sweden (they have a promotion and relegation system) and was punishing adults significantly bigger than him from the beginning of the year to the end. A big part of Djurgaden’s promotion to the top-flight of Swedish hockey was the performance of Eklund and his ability to cause havoc during his shifts. Eklund is an explosive skater. He’s got a good top speed, the ability to hit fast tempo changes, and the cutting and edgework to stay on top of his target no matter what. When Eklund is in on the forecheck, his skating is the straw that stirs up the drink. He’s physical and has an active stick, causing defensemen tons of issues and forcing them to concede possession or make a bad pass.

Eklund’s shot is his bread and butter, offensively speaking. He does a great job manipulating his blade on release to control the speed and direction of his wrist shot. He has an adequate, fast one-timer that he can use in open space. He’s relentless around the net, gaining second and third opportunities on rebounds, playing right through the whistle on loose puck situations. Eklund draws a lot of attention in scoring areas and, despite his size, is a difficult player to move. In one viewing this year, a larger defenseman got away with clear-cut interference on Eklund in front of the net. Eklund got up, spun off the defender, and in the split second he was open, fired a quick puck that found him via pass into the back of the net. If you take your eyes off of him for one moment, he can make you pay.

I think Eklund is a good playmaker that probably doesn’t do it enough for my liking. A lot of his assists were short, connective plays in the offensive zone. He’s exhibited an ability to go cross-ice and work off of the half-wall for distribution opportunities, I’d just like to see him do a little more of it. Eklund is deployable on the penalty-kill and has the tenacity to be a power presence on a short-handed unit. He can also work a power-play from the left circle and does a good job of walking the puck off of the wall to drive low to the post.

Eklund doesn’t get enough love for his hands, but he’s got a good set of dangles that he uses in a very direct fashion. There isn’t a lot of puck motion sweeping across a defender. He keeps pucks in tight as he works, sort of luring defensemen in to him and then making quick, darting moves around him. Eklund is a strong forward who rarely takes the brunt of the physical collisons he finds himself in despite his size. He seeks out opportunities to engage with defensemen in one-on-one styles and has hands fast enough to skill-chain right on top of people.

When I think of comparables for Eklund, I am immediately drawn to Chris Kunitz, longtime linemate of Sidney Crosby. Kunitz was the space creator for that line; winning loose pucks, extending possessions, eliminating defensemen with physicality, and making the most of his open space when he finds it. I think there’s the potential for Eklund to hit some higher points in his offensive arsenal that increase his potential ceiling. Overall, this is a forward who has been playing against men all year long. He bossed his age group around internationally and played as the aggressor in every situation. You’re getting a strong forward with existing pro experience who proactively hunts pucks. The top-six potential here feels like a pretty safe bet.

(Coming next: Endorsement list for Pick #59!)