A breakdown of Boston College's Oscar Hemming, who is a projected first-round pick in the upcoming NHL Draft.
Oscar Hemming has had an unfortunate year — though not through any fault of his own. Conflicts with his junior hockey club and the IIHF led to him missing games this year, depriving him of opportunities to show his talents to NHL teams. Still, he showed signs of a strong power forward who can drive play and has a high hockey IQ.
Hemming is a 6-foot-4, 198-pound left-shot forward from Vaasa, Finland. He played his youth career with Kiekko-Espoo in the Finnish Liiga, where he was a fairly prolific scorer, including racking up 63 points in 31 games with the U18 team as a 16-year-old last season. He also scored nine points in 13 games with the U20 team during their playoff run.
At the beginning of the 2025-26 season, Hemming decided he would make the jump to North America after being drafted 54th overall by the Kitchener Rangers in the OHL import draft. But Kiekko-Espoo blocked the move. His parents attempted to argue that he was a minor and thus the contract was invalid, making him free to leave for the OHL. Kiekoo-Espoo disagreed with that and refused to release him to the OHL.
So, Hemming tried to jump to the BCHL. At that point, the club called in the IIHF, which informed him that if he played a game in the BCHL, he’d be ineligible to play for Finland games at international tournaments for the next three years. Hemming was trapped. While the issue was resolved, he did skate with the Rangers, but could play no games. He missed multiple months of games due to this.
Ultimately, the solution wasn’t found in the OHL or the BCHL. Instead, it would be found in Boston, Massachusetts, with the Boston College Eagles. BC happened to have a forward spot available, and the NCAA isn’t bound by the transfer rule with the IIHF, so there was no issue.
He joined BC in late December and recorded his first two assists in his second game, against Lake Superior State. It took Hemming until Valentine’s Day, though, to score his first and only goal of the season and he was held pointless in the final seven games of the year. He recorded eight assists for nine points.
Hemming’s odd year means that scouts haven’t seen consistent production from him this year. Despite that, nearly all of the scouts I spoke with remain very high on him. He’s got excellent hockey IQ and has generally produced well in every league he’s played in. He’s got a big frame and doesn’t shy away from using his size to his advantage, and he’s an extremely hard worker.
“Hemming has a very projectable style of play with a sturdy powerforward frame and great hockey sense,” Gordon Munro of Recruit Scouting said. “He shows 200ft awareness with flashes of high end offensive abilities and creativity, especially as a playmaker. All together, he has true top-six forward potential.”
At BC, Hemming was mostly relegated to a grinder role, but he’s been a playmaker for his entire career — particularly at the international level with Finland. He was the youngest player in college hockey when he joined BC, and he won’t turn 18 until August, meaning he’ll be among the youngest players at the draft. The combination of youth, high IQ and ability to create makes him one of the more intriguing prospects at this year’s draft, and he’s very likely to go in the first round.