First-time GM Mathieu Darche made room for his 17-year-old phenom by signing defenseman Noah Dobson and then shipping him to Montreal for a player and two picks, giving the team three of the first 17 players off the 2025 board. The uptick is tangible. And that's not all.

NHL draft that took far too long has mercifully finished. Any of the 26 teams that voted to hold a decentralized draft, you get a Z grade for that. Not an F, a Z. Let's never do that again. Back to centralization,

At every NHL draft, countless talented hockey players go undrafted.