A late-bloomer dark horse who eviscerated the Ontario Jr. A League last season, the right winger now heads to NCAA Niagara to continue his development.

While many of his fellow 2024 NHL draft-eligible peers were in the Sphere in Las Vegas, waiting to hear their names called and pulling on jerseys, Trevor Hoskin was sitting on his couch back in Ontario, surrounded by family. 

Already passed over twice and in his final year of eligibility as a 19-year-old, Hoskin wasn't guaranteed to be picked, but considering the road he had already travelled in his young career, it felt like a just reward. 

So when the Calgary Flames selected the right winger in the fourth round, 106th overall, the celebration was on in the Hoskin household.

"I wasn't too sure when I was gonna go or if I was gonna go," Hoskin said. "I knew if I did, it would be around the fourth round or after. To see your name beside an NHL logo, especially Calgary, was pretty crazy and cool."

Development is not always a straight line, and for Hoskin, the adversity he overcame to get to this point is admirable. 

At 15, he measured in at a shade under 5-foot-7 and just 125 pounds during his OHL draft year. He had already been dealt a body-blow before that season when he was cut from his local U16 AAA team, the Quinte Red Devils. To compound the wound, his dad worked at the arena where Quinte played, driving the Zamboni there while his son had to scramble to find another team. He managed to snag the last spot on a team in Kingston, around an hour away.

"It was tough," Hoskin said. "I played for that team for six years before I got cut; they told me they were looking for size that year. A couple of my best friends were on that team and I was still in high school, so going to school every day and seeing guys who made it over me or my best friends there, there was a fear of losing them. But the biggest fear was not knowing where my hockey career was going to go after that."

Fast-forward to last season, and Hoskin measured in at 6-foot-1 and 175 pounds. In his third year of Jr. A, he won the OJHL MVP award and scoring crown with 100 points in 52 games for the Cobourg Cougars, he led the World Jr. A Challenge in scoring with 12 points in six games for silver-medal Canada East and he was named Canadian Jr. A forward of the year.

As Hoskin began cutting a swath of destruction through the Jr. A ranks, his family advisor, Joe Resnick, tried to get the word out to NHL scouts, who began filtering into the stands for Cobourg games. One of the teams that made multiple trips was Calgary.

"To be honest, I went to watch him the first time and it was like 'OK, I'm going to watch a 19-year-old play Tier-II hockey' so I wasn't expecting a whole lot," said Flames scout Terry Doran. "But I saw enough where I thought I had to watch him again. And I just kept going. Every time I watched him he was the best player on the ice. You're probably looking for reasons not to go to bat for him because of his age, but I thought his game wasn't going to change no matter who he was playing."

As good as Hoskin was in the regular season, he may have been even better in the playoffs. 

In the first two rounds, the fifth-seeded Cougars upset higher-ranked teams, and Hoskin was the one driving the bus. Doran watched the right winger singlehandedly decide one game against Haliburton County in the first period, then caught another virtuoso performance in the next round against Toronto-based St. Michael's: One game after Hoskin scored the Game 6 OT-winner against the Buzzers, the Flames scout was in the building to watch the future draft pick tally points on all five Cobourg goals as the team erased an early 2-0 first period deficit to win the series on the road.

"That to me spoke volumes of his character," Doran said. "That's what you want to see; you want to see him dominate."

This fall, Hoskin heads off to Niagara University, where he will be joined by Cobourg linemate Andy Reist. Playing for the Purple Eagles, Hoskin has the chance to be an impact player right away, and he's excited to play for a program where the coaches were so instantly supportive. 

He still wants to get bigger (which is where NCAA weight-room schedules are such a boon), but the skills package will make him one to watch as a college freshman.

"He eats, breathes and sleeps hockey," Doran said. "He wants to be a player badly. He skates extremely well, he's quick, he's got good vision with the puck, he's unselfish with the puck and he's a leader. He's tenacious and he plays with a lot of drive and purpose. He can play in all situations. I can't recall the last time I saw a player get as many breakaways as this kid by killing penalties and using his acceleration to pounce on pucks."

From a kid who was cut from his U-16 team to an NHL draft pick, it's been quite the ride for Hoskin, and let's not forget: His journey has only truly begun. But the youngster has taken all the lessons he learned along the way to heart, and now, his dreams are bigger than ever.

"When I first signed with Cobourg, it was mini-footsteps," Hoskin said. "In 2021, I just wanted to make Cobourg and play Jr. A. Then you play half a year or so and you realize your goal is either OHL or NCAA, and I turned my focus to NCAA. It would be an absolute dream to commit to a D1 school, and that happened for me. Then it was my last year for the NHL draft, and I knew I'd have to have a wicked year if I want to be picked. It just skyrocketed from there. 

"It was a perfect year for me, and everything fell into place. It was a quick three years, to be honest."

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