How close is the battle to go first overall in the 2025 NHL Draft?

Though the 2024-25 season just got underway, it is never too early to look at the next wave of players set to be available at next year’s NHL Draft.

While it is a little too soon to predict who will have the first overall pick next year, a number of players are staking their claim as high-end prospects, and not just here in North America.

James Hagens was high on almost everyone’s board heading into this season. He was a dominant player with the U.S. National Team Development Program over the last couple of years, and was the best player at last year’s IIHF Men’s Under-18 World Championship.

Another exceptional player is Brampton Steelhead winger Porter Martone. Prior to his first full-time season in the OHL last year, he helped Canada with the Hlinka Gretzky Cup. After scoring 71 points in 60 games in 2023-24, Martone has had a good start to this campaign, scoring 16 points in the first seven games of the season.

Yet, with so many talented players, is there a battle to see who goes No. 1 in the draft next year?

That topic was discussed on Thursday’s edition of Daily Faceoff LIVE, as draft expert Steven Ellis joined Frank Seravalli and Tyler Yaremchuk to talk about the frontrunners for the 2025 draft.

Steven Ellis: Talking to some recent scouts at a recent Brampton Steelheads game…the gap between [Hagens and Martone] is a lot closer than what some might’ve thought would be the case heading into the season…When you’re looking at it, if you want to simplify it, James Hagens is like Jack Hughes, and Porter Martone is like Matthew Tkachuk. I think that’s a really exciting battle going on there.

Hagens is more of a smart, calculated two-way player, where Martone is afraid of nobody–a really good goal scorer, a guy I expect to get over 50 goals this year. Different playing styles but they both have their values. Watching them up-close at the U-18 World Championship back in April, Hagens went out there and scored the most points ever in the tournament history.

You can watch the entire segment and full episode here…