{"id":151490,"date":"2025-09-12T13:02:09","date_gmt":"2025-09-12T13:02:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/151490\/"},"modified":"2025-09-12T13:02:09","modified_gmt":"2025-09-12T13:02:09","slug":"the-athletic-hockey-shows-u23-nhl-draft-pronman-wheeler-peters-and-bultman-pick-teams","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/151490\/","title":{"rendered":"The Athletic Hockey Show\u2019s U23 NHL Draft: Pronman, Wheeler, Peters and Bultman pick teams"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>For the second year running on The Athletic Hockey Show, the guys hosted their U23 draft, building four rosters of six forwards, four defensemen and one goalie out of the top U23 talent in the league, for a total of 44 picks.<\/p>\n<p>After a random snake draft order was drawn, The Athletic\u2019s Corey Pronman, Scott Wheeler and Max Bultman were joined by Flo Hockey\u2019s Chris Peters.<\/p>\n<p>Here\u2019s a condensed version of how it played out and the debates that were had, with each team at the end. Note that the guys were trying to pick for the future, not the present, so this was still an exercise in projection as much as roster-building.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p>Round 1<\/p>\n<p>          PICKTEAMPLAYERPOSITION<\/p>\n<p>1<\/p>\n<p>Bultman<\/p>\n<p>C<\/p>\n<p>2<\/p>\n<p>Pronman<\/p>\n<p>C\/W<\/p>\n<p>3<\/p>\n<p>Wheeler<\/p>\n<p>W<\/p>\n<p>4<\/p>\n<p>Peters<\/p>\n<p>C<\/p>\n<p>Bultman: I\u2019m not going to surprise anybody at the first pick. It\u2019s Macklin Celebrini. It\u2019s the do-it-all No. 1 center. The rare guy who, at 18, 19 years old, you feel really confident saying projects into a true two-way star, a guy who can be your leading scorer and who can shut down opposing players. We\u2019ve talked about him in the kind of the vein of Sidney Crosby, but I think of an Aleksander Barkov, the No. 1 center on the Stanley Cup champs for the last two years. (Celebrini) doesn\u2019t quite have that size. I think he can have that kind of impact.<\/p>\n<p>Pronman: Not a lot of argument, I think, is going to come from this panel. I feel like the first two picks are not going to be very controversial. Connor Bedard goes to Team Pronman. He\u2019s going to be an absolute dynamo we\u2019re going to build around. He\u2019s going to give us a lot a goals, a lot of points, and we\u2019re going to hopefully have the best offense in this four-team league led by him.<\/p>\n<p>Bultman: Are you slotting Bedard on Team Pronman as a center, or are you slotting him as a winger?<\/p>\n<p>Pronman: Kind of like how Chicago is doing it: Tentatively, he is a center, but I reserve the right to change that depending on how the rest of my asset accumulation goes.<\/p>\n<p>Wheeler: Well, when this draft order got passed around earlier today, I kind of knew that the draft was going to going to start at No. 3 and that I had the first real choice here. There are a couple of defensemen I considered here. There were a couple of centers I considered here. But I\u2019m going to take the first winger of the draft and select Matvei Michkov. I\u2019m big on Michkov\u2019s upside. I think he\u2019s going to be one of the five or 10 leading scorers in the league in the prime of his career.<\/p>\n<p>Peters: All right. Let\u2019s go back to the centers. I have no problem with Matvei going there. I figured that he was going to be there for me at No. 4, but then he was not. So, I\u2019m going to go with Adam Fantilli. Give me some size, give me some snarl, give me some goal-scoring, give me some pace, give me all the good things. He\u2019s a guy that I think you can win with. Yes, I believe there are some legitimate concerns about the overall hockey sense, and that\u2019s why he often appears behind Leo Carlsson, who is still available on the board for now, but you know, I think that for me, Fantilli checks the most boxes among the available centers in terms of what he\u2019s going to bring to the table.<\/p>\n<p>Peters: I want to make sure that I get the defenseman that I most covet in this class. And that is another Michigan man, Luke Hughes. I\u2019ve been very high on Luke for a long time. There have been ups and downs, but as I look at the defensemen, I think Matthew Schaefer, in a best-case scenario, is going to be Luke Hughes. I don\u2019t think he has the offensive upside that Hughes does. The skating, I think, I would grade similarly. Luke\u2019s got the size, he\u2019s got some length to him. I think as he gets physically stronger, you\u2019re going to get a really solid two-way defenseman that gives you just tremendous mobility. I think he\u2019s a legitimate No. 1.<\/p>\n<p>Wheeler: And I\u2019m thrilled here because I was considering taking Matthew Schaeffer at No. 3, and he was my top-ranked D. I think he\u2019s going to be a more well-rounded player than Luke Hughes. I think Schaefer is going to be the more impactful NHL defenseman, the true No. 1. I\u2019m not sure Luke ever defends at quite that high a level.<\/p>\n<p>Bultman: I thought you might go Lane Hutson here. So talk me through Schaefer versus Hutson in your thought process.<\/p>\n<p>Wheeler: Part of it is that I think there\u2019s a chance that I get Hutson a little bit later. So there\u2019s calculated risk there. But I would rank it this way, too.<\/p>\n<p>Pronman: I can\u2019t believe Leo Carlsson\u2019s still here and I\u2019m just running up to the podium to call this name. A 6-foot-3 center with the high-end skill and hockey sense. I mean, this guy has the capability to be a star No. 1 center in the league with size. Just one of the rarest combinations of traits. I know the production hasn\u2019t gone off yet, but I think him versus Adam Fantilli is a really close debate. And I love Schaefer. I love Luke Hughes. I was kind of penciling in Luke Hughes into my second pick here. But I\u2019m happy getting Leo Carlsson. And like I said, now I\u2019m not really sure where Bedard fits in my lineup. He might be a center, he might be a wing.<\/p>\n<p>Bultman: All right, the defense board has not broken the way I hoped. I hoped that I would have a chance, as it broke around back to me to get one of Matthew Schaefer or Luke Hughes. So I will follow Corey\u2019s lead and double up on the centers here. And I\u2019ll take Wyatt Johnston. I don\u2019t know that it\u2019s quite the level of like dynamic offense, but it\u2019s really good offense. He\u2019s a really smart two-way player. I think that\u2019s how you win Stanley Cups: built like that down the middle. So between Celebrini and Johnston, I feel great there.<\/p>\n<p>And then I\u2019ll take Sam Dickinson. It\u2019s a little bit of a question here. I think I\u2019d probably like to see a little bit from him in the NHL before I made him my No. 1 core blueliner. I also just love the projection, the size, the skating. So as much as I would have loved to get a guy that was just a little bit more of a sure thing, I think there\u2019s a lot of room for upside and a lot of room for Sam Dickinson to be a No. 1 defender.<\/p>\n<p>Pronman: I have Sam rated really highly, but there was one defenseman I had rated above Dickinson, and that\u2019s Zeev Buium. He joins what I\u2019m hoping to be an exceptionally dynamic power play with him and Bedard and Leo Carlsson all on the same unit. To me, he\u2019s one of the most purely talented players I\u2019ve seen in college hockey. One of the most impactful college hockey players I\u2019ve ever seen as a teenager. Elite skill, elite hockey sense, he moves really well. I think he\u2019s got the potential to be an impact player at the next level.<\/p>\n<p>Wheeler: And I\u2019m going to step to the podium and take Lane Hutson and add him to my blue line alongside Matthew Schaefer. I think Lane is a pretty singular player. He may not ever be the perfect defenseman, but he does multiple things better than any U23 player.<\/p>\n<p>Pronman: Do you think he\u2019s that much better offensively than Zeev at the same age?<\/p>\n<p>Peters:\u00a0Yes.<\/p>\n<p>Wheeler:\u00a0Yes. I would say the only U23 D who I think has a chance to be close to Lane offensively wouldn\u2019t be Zeev for me; it would probably be Zayne Parekh.<\/p>\n<p>Peters: My next pick should be won\u2019t surprise anybody that\u2019s followed me for any amount of time over the last five years. Give me the dynamic Logan Cooley. Cooley, for me, I think, is just scratching the surface of what he\u2019s going to be.<\/p>\n<p>Rounds 4\/5<\/p>\n<p>          PickTeamPlayerPosition<\/p>\n<p>13<\/p>\n<p>Peters<\/p>\n<p>W<\/p>\n<p>14<\/p>\n<p>Wheeler<\/p>\n<p>C<\/p>\n<p>15<\/p>\n<p>Pronman<\/p>\n<p>W<\/p>\n<p>16<\/p>\n<p>Bultman<\/p>\n<p>W<\/p>\n<p>17<\/p>\n<p>Bultman<\/p>\n<p>W<\/p>\n<p>18<\/p>\n<p>Pronman<\/p>\n<p>C<\/p>\n<p>19<\/p>\n<p>Wheeler<\/p>\n<p>D<\/p>\n<p>20<\/p>\n<p>Peters<\/p>\n<p>C\/W<\/p>\n<p>Peters: I\u2019m going Ivan Demidov at No. 13. Now I\u2019ve got what I feel is a very elite trio of producers.<\/p>\n<p>Wheeler: I\u2019m going to take my first center. The way that the board broke here, I went with two D and a winger off the top, and now, after taking the first overall pick in the 2025 NHL Draft, I\u2019m to take the second overall pick in Michael Misa.<\/p>\n<p>Bultman: I don\u2019t think anyone here is going to be too surprised. I think Misa is very much in the range. I was not sure how this was going to go for you, avoiding center for as long as you did. You come out of it with a really good player here still.<\/p>\n<p>Pronman: I\u2019m super excited to add Juraj Slafkovsk\u00fd as my first-line left wing. I think his player profile is really unique.<\/p>\n<p>Bultman: I think it\u2019s notable here that Corey, you ranked him on your list No. 7 and you\u2019re taking him off the board here at No. 15. I think this happens to teams a little more often than anyone would realize. Corey\u2019s got four players in his top seven here. There are teams in their classes that have scenarios like this.<\/p>\n<p>We talked about the game theory Scott had earlier, of placing a pretty calculated bet that he was going to be able to float Hutson four picks back to himself. And that paid off. I do wonder if Corey had to calculate that he wasn\u2019t going to get Slafkovsk\u00fd back around.<\/p>\n<p>I am going to go winger twice here. First, I\u2019m going to go with Dylan Guenther, a young forward whom I really love. I think he is going to blow past 30 goals this year. I was extremely impressed with the combo of him and Cooley. And I\u2019m going to back it up and take Matthew Knies. Love the power element. I think he\u2019s going to really complement the guys that I have in place here.<\/p>\n<p>Pronman: I\u2019m debating a little group of centers here. Mason McTavish, Matty Beniers, Caleb Desnoyers, Anton Frondell, Shane Wright and Berkly Catton. Will Smith, too, could be in that mix, although I think he\u2019s probably a winger in this format. Realistically, we\u2019ve only got one power-play unit we\u2019re leaning on. So I\u2019m going to take Matty Beniers and he\u2019s going to be an outstanding second-line center for my team.<\/p>\n<p>Wheeler: There\u2019s one thing that none of the players who\u2019ve been selected have done, and that\u2019s play 25 minutes a night for three seasons in the NHL already. And despite already having Matthew Schaefer and Lane Hutson, I think the way that the board has gone here has led me back to another D, and I\u2019m going to take Owen Power. I love the variety that Power, Hutson and Schaefer give me.<\/p>\n<p>Peters: Corey had just kind of alluded that Will Smith is probably a wing in this scenario, and he\u2019s going to be a wing on my team. I just think that what we saw in the back half of last season, the way that he\u2019s progressed and the track record that he has, he\u2019s always been a top producer, he\u2019s always made players around him better.<\/p>\n<p>Peters: I\u2019m going to go with Artyom Levshunov here. I like the size. He\u2019s always finding ways to do things. I want to have some size on the back end.<\/p>\n<p>Wheeler: And I\u2019m going to go D yet again here. And we\u2019re going to take a fourth defenseman for Team Wheeler here and complete my defense with Zayne Parekh. I\u2019m ecstatic to have Zayne Parekh and Lane Hutson as my two power-play quarterbacks and Matthew Schaefer and Owen Power as my minute-munching pillars.<\/p>\n<p>Pronman:\u00a0My board says take another forward, but I have four forwards and I have one D. And the good D are going quick here. So I feel like I got to jump in and take one and take Carter Yakemchuk. He\u2019s going to be on that first pair on the right side with Buium. He\u2019s got just a high-end skill level, the size and he has physicality. He had a tougher year than expected, but I\u2019m excited with those two on my blue line.<\/p>\n<p>Peters: Yeah, I mean, the D class has definitely thinned out in a considerable way, quickly.<\/p>\n<p>Pronman:\u00a0Scott\u2019s gonna run a 4D first power-play unit.<\/p>\n<p>Wheeler: 2D first power-play unit, maybe.<\/p>\n<p>Bultman: I\u2019m filled up at center, but I\u2019m going to take a center here with the explicit intention of playing him on the wing. And that\u2019s James Hagens. I need the skill and sense, kind of the pure power-play quarterback type. Hagens is the last guy here that I feel really good about in that role.<\/p>\n<p>And it\u2019s abundantly clear to me that I need a defenseman next. And I\u2019m going to go with the one I\u2019m the most familiar with on the board, and that\u2019s Simon Edvinsson. Love the size, length, skating. I think there\u2019s more offense.<\/p>\n<p>Pronman:\u00a0I\u2019m tempted to take a D here, but I\u2019m gonna go forward and take a player that I think is pretty unique, in Porter Martone, to be on my second-line right wing, a guy with really high-end skill and size.<\/p>\n<p>Wheeler: I was sort of tapping my feet here for Porter Martone.<\/p>\n<p>Bultman:\u00a0A little bit of a steal.<\/p>\n<p>Wheeler: I\u2019m going to pivot and go with Catton. I think Catton, in terms of the remaining forwards, has the most pop, the most offense. Love the way that he plays, the way that he attacks.<\/p>\n<p>Peters: I\u2019m going to go with Anton Frondell. I think that there is an opportunity for him to be a strong, two-way player, but I think the offense is going to come and I feel he\u2019s going to be a legitimate goal-scoring threat. He gives me some good size. He gives me some versatility.<\/p>\n<p>Up next, my inclination is to go toward defense again, but it\u2019s so hard to pass on some of these forwards that and I\u2019m gonna go with Ryan Leonard. I have a goal-scoring cavalcade here, guys with good shots, some heaviness now, and a bit of a hard-nosed nature.<\/p>\n<p>Wheeler: I already have two centers in Misa and Catton, but I\u2019m going to make it three centers and move one of them to the wing so that Caleb Desnoyers can slot in perfectly as my second-line center. He can penalty-kill for me and he\u2019s that impactful two-way, winning center.<\/p>\n<p>Pronman: I\u2019ve got two really dynamic players in Buium and Yakemchuk on my blue line. They defend OK, but they\u2019re more offensive defensemen than they are players who are going to check, going to kill penalties, going to be hard to play against. So I\u2019m gonna bring in some size and some tenacity with Anton Silayev to round out and add some different elements to my defense group.<\/p>\n<p>Bultman: For all the grief I gave Scott on his blue line, I\u2019m desperately scouring for a power-play quarterback that I feel merits being taken. But at No. 32, I am not going to take a power play quarterback; I\u2019m going to take Dmitri Simashev. In Simashev, I\u2019m going to get a guy who I think is very much like Simon Edvinsson, and I think my opponents might be like, \u201cWasn\u2019t that guy just on the ice last shift? How did he get back out there?\u201d I don\u2019t think your guys\u2019 skill guys are going to have much transition luck against my blue line.<\/p>\n<p>And then I\u2019m going to take Beckett Sennecke. I think there\u2019s a lot of high-end potential offensively with Sennecke.<\/p>\n<p>Pronman: Fair to say you\u2019re looking to have a group now for your last D of (Brandt) Clarke, (Axel) Sandin Pellikka, (Simon) Nemec, (Cole) Hutson.<\/p>\n<p>Wheeler:\u00a0I\u2019d have Denton Mateychuk in there as well.<\/p>\n<p>Pronman: I am ecstatic with my last forward to get Mason McTavish. He\u2019s a heavy centerman, he has legit skill, he can really shoot the puck, he skates well. I know his production hasn\u2019t been outstanding, but it\u2019s Anaheim and I think this guy just has so many traits to be an outstanding playoff-type top-two-line forward.<\/p>\n<p>Wheeler: I\u2019m going to go out and get the goalie that I want and take the first goalie of the draft (and) the goalie who I believe has the highest upside amongst this U23 cohort: Jacob Fowler. Jacob has been one of the best \u2014 forget goalies \u2014 one of the best players in college hockey two years running. I think he\u2019s a future starter in the NHL.<\/p>\n<p>Peters: I had Simashev circled as a guy that I wanted to get in this range. And then Max was like, \u201cNo, you can\u2019t do that,\u201d which was not very nice. So it gets a little bit tougher for me in terms of making the D decision here. But I\u2019m going to go with a guy that I think kind of adds some more of that snarl to the group: Kashawn Aitcheson. There are absolutely defensemen with better upside in this range, but not a lot of what he brings to the table.<\/p>\n<p>And then I was thinking about Fowler, who would have absolutely been a guy in the mix for me. But I\u2019m going to close out my defensive group here and add a little more flash and dash with Cole Hutson.<\/p>\n<p>Bultman: I had finally decided which of these power play D I was going to take, and Peters takes him.<\/p>\n<p>Wheeler: I\u2019m going to take Cutter Gauthier. I thought Cutter had a really nice rookie season last year. I like the size that he adds to my group. I like the goal-scoring punch that he adds to my group, and I think he\u2019s going to continue to take steps.<\/p>\n<p>Pronman: My last defenseman will be David Reinbacher, just to get the lefty-righty now on both pairs. He\u2019s 6-foot-2. He skates really well. When he was healthy last year in the American League, he was excellent. He has real legit two-way ability. I think my four D now between him, Buium, Silayev and Yakemchuk have a lot of different elements. We can fill out both specialty teams. It\u2019s a very exciting group I\u2019m building. We play championship hockey.<\/p>\n<p>Bultman:\u00a0So that brings me to my D question here. I\u2019m really worried about getting called a homer, but I\u2019m gonna take Axel Sandin Pellikka. But I\u2019m curious, like when you look at him versus a Brandt Clarke, I think the competitiveness is a little higher. Do you think that\u2019s a reach by me to go ASP over Clarke?<\/p>\n<p>Pronman:\u00a0No, I don\u2019t think it is. I have them back-to-back on my U23 ranking. And I\u2019m gonna caveat by saying that I think ASP is better than this player, but if you look at the profile \u2014 5-11, right shot, good-not-great skating D who\u2019s not dynamic, but is very talented, who put up record-breaking numbers as a teenage defenseman in the SHL \u2014 that is not unprecedented. In fact, it\u2019s recently precedented in what Nils Lundkvist did. And I\u2019m sure many of us remember the Nils Lundkvist hype train coming out of Sweden and the huge numbers he put up and how excited Rangers fans got. And they had Zach Jones, and it\u2019s like, actually, the NHL\u2019s a really hard league for 5-11 defensemen who are not, you know, Lane Hutson special or something like that. So I could see the reservation there, but Clarke\u2019s skating is really bad. So like I think that\u2019s a perfectly reasonable player to take in that spot to fill out that role.<\/p>\n<p>Bultman: Scott, you really like Brandt, right?<\/p>\n<p>Wheeler: I love Brandt, and I don\u2019t think his skating is \u201creally bad.\u201d It certainly looks unconventional with the knee-knock, but I think he\u2019s shown that he can move just fine at the NHL level and I expect him to pop here offensively and become one of the better offensive power-play quarterback types in the league. If I hadn\u2019t taken Zayne and Lane so high, I probably would have sat on Brandt as my second power-play guy.<\/p>\n<p>Bultman: All right, I don\u2019t know goalies at all. So I\u2019ve really just been buying time trying to figure out which of these guys I\u2019m gonna take. I think I\u2019m going to go with Yegor Zavragin. Could I tell you why? No.<\/p>\n<p>Pronman:\u00a0I\u2019m going to take Ravensburg. I love the tools, love the athleticism. His most recent viewings, which were the World Junior Summer Showcase, I thought he was excellent. I think this guy has starting-goalie upside in the NHL. I think he\u2019s the best under-23 goalie.<\/p>\n<p>Wheeler: There are a bunch of wingers here, frankly, that I like. I like Kent Johnson. I like Matt Coronato. I like Logan Stankoven. I like my boy Gabe Perreault, who I thought was disrespected in Corey\u2019s list last week. But I\u2019m actually going to take Cutter Gauthier\u2019s former NTDP linemate, Jimmy Snuggerud. I think he\u2019s got a chance to be in the Calder conversation this year. It sounds like he\u2019s going to be their first-line right wing alongside Robert Thomas right away. And I like the idea of reuniting Cuttery and Snuggy on my second line.<\/p>\n<p>Bultman: All right, Chris, bring us home.<\/p>\n<p>Peters:\u00a0I love Mikhail Yegorov, both as a goalie and as just a guy to talk to. He is awesome. And then he\u2019s also a 6-foot-5 athletic goalie. Do not sleep on Yegorov. I think this kid has tremendous talent and upside.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Screenshot-2025-09-11-at-6.05.38\u202fPM.png\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-6622120\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Screenshot-2025-09-11-at-6.05.38\u202fPM.png\" alt=\"\"\/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Pronman: It ends up being a very big lineup, which I guess will further the bias from people that think that I favor size, but you know what? I\u2019ve got Connor Bedard on this team to go with these tremendous all-around forwards. It\u2019s a really exciting group. I would say it\u2019s the best forward group, quite honestly, among us.<\/p>\n<p>I have some really good balance on D. And I\u2019ve got the best goalie in the U23 draft. I mean, Ravensbergen is a stud. I had him top-20 going into 2025. He\u2019s really talented. Just an exciting team. It\u2019s a championship team, I think.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Screenshot-2025-09-11-at-6.05.23\u202fPM.png\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-6622119\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Screenshot-2025-09-11-at-6.05.23\u202fPM.png\" alt=\"\"\/><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Wheeler: For all the talk in this sport about building from the blue line out, I\u2019m the only one who prioritized it. In Matthew Schaefer and Owen Power, I think I have the two most well-rounded D. And in Lane Hutson and Zayne Parekh, I think I have the two most purely talented D. I\u2019ve got Lane Hutson playing his off side on the right side, but he did so successfully last year, and it sounds like he could continue to. And then I\u2019ve got the actual best goalie, Jacob Fowler, between the pipes.<\/p>\n<p>And then up front, I\u2019ve got a skilled first line and more of your typical second line.<\/p>\n<p>I really like the mix I have up front and when I look at my two lines, I don\u2019t think I am giving back all that much to any of the other teams by prioritizing D like I did. In Michkov, I still have one of the two or three most talented forwards in this group. And in Catton and Misa, I\u2019ve got plenty of skill alongside him. And I really, really like the mix of my second line.<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019m thrilled with my team, and we\u2019re going to win by playing through our D.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Screenshot-2025-09-11-at-6.05.48\u202fPM.png\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-6622118\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Screenshot-2025-09-11-at-6.05.48\u202fPM.png\" alt=\"\"\/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Peters: With Adam Fantilli bearing down on you as a No. 1 center with Smith and Demidov on the wings, I\u2019ve just got a lot of dynamic talent there. Then you\u2019ve got the dynamic Logan Cooley and you throw Anton Frondell on the wing with Ryan Leonard, who is tough as nails and can score. And then on the blue line, I do have three lefties, but Luke Hughes, he\u2019s our No. 1 defenseman. He\u2019s gonna run the power play. You got Cole Hutson to run PP2. Aitcheson is the human battering ram. And then A 6-foot-5 Russian goalie who\u2019s only scratching the surface. I know Corey said he has the best goalie. I think he has the fourth-best goalie in the group. I\u2019m really looking forward to that. I think that goal-scoring is at a premium. I\u2019ve got some goal-scorers. We\u2019ve got playmakers. I\u2019ve got guys that can do it from the back end. And give me Yegorov.<\/p>\n<p>Wheeler: I think that Aitcheson-Hutson pair leaves you exposed to the quality of the rest of our groups.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-6620064\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Screenshot-2025-09-11-at-11.24.11\u202fAM.png\" alt=\"\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Bultman: A big part of my thinking in building my team was that this is going to be All-Star rosters and I need to have guys who can defend star players. I think that\u2019s how I tried to build my team, with Sam Dickinson, Simon Edvinsson and Dmitri Simashev as anchors of the blue line. Obviously, it\u2019s kind of the opposite look of how Scott did it, right? Scott\u2019s blue line is going to move pucks and drive play. Mine\u2019s going to try to deny, deny and get the puck moving back up ice. I think my forward build is very similar to Corey\u2019s. I know he thinks he\u2019s number one with a bullet there. But with Guenther, Celebrini, Hagens, Knies, Johnston and Sennecke, I think that\u2019s a forward group that can play any style of hockey and be effective. Again, I think they\u2019re not gonna give hardly anything up. They\u2019re gonna be a pain to play against.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: right;\">(Top photo of Macklin Celebrini and Connor Bedard: Kavin Mistry \/ NHLI via Getty Images)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For the second year running on The Athletic Hockey Show, the guys hosted their U23 draft, building four&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":151491,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[66],"tags":[385,99],"class_list":["post-151490","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-nhl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/151490","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=151490"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/151490\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/151491"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=151490"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=151490"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=151490"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}