The NHL draft is an imperfect science.
You spend years leading up to each draft watching and evaluating players from all over the world, putting countless hours of late nights and early mornings into your craft. Even with that, there is no guarantee a team will select an impact player.
It’s throwing darts and hoping that one or two of them hit the bullseye.
The ‘Team Ferrari’ exercise is essentially a multi-year continuous activity in which I choose an NHL club and draft in their position to build a prospect pool of my own. The team I’ve chosen is the Detroit Red Wings, a team that I grew up across the river from.
This exercise is meant to force me to put my money where my mouth is – at least as much as I can while not employed by an NHL club – and choose a player at a given spot to put my name behind. This allows me to look back over the next few years and refine my process and self-evaluate. It’s a fun way to see just how right or wrong I am on certain players and evaluate why.
Above, you can see the depth chart for ‘Team Ferrari’, including the players picked this year. You can find previous iterations of this exercise here. Let’s get down to business and introduce the newest members of ‘Team Ferrari’ as we conclude the 2025 NHL draft.
Round 1, Pick 13: Victor Eklund, LW
Detroit selected Carter Bear, LW
Bear likely would have been my pick here had Eklund not fallen, so I still love Detroit’s pick in this spot.
That said, I had Eklund in my top five all year. His tenacity, motor and resiliency on the forecheck combined with his puckhandling and dual-threat offensive game made him a player I valued highly all year long.
Eklund is a bit undersized, but he doesn’t ever shy away from physicality. He throws hits, gets in on board battles and usually manages to come out of a mess with the puck. He has a very good shot and loves to get it off from the home-plate area. Eklund was a no-brainer in this spot for me.
Round 2, Pick 44: Eric Nilson, C
Detroit selected Eddie Genborg, LW
I was very happy to see Nilson fall into the second round, hoping he’d get to Detroit’s pick. When he did, it was an easy choice because I had a strong feeling the next player I wanted (Svrcek) would be there at my next selection.
Nilson is an incredibly smart, tactical center who drives play. He is a stout two-way player, and he seems to understand the small nuances of the game. Nilson’s attention to detail and refinement as a center were encouraging traits all season. If Nilson can add some strength, he could be quite an impressive middle-six center.
Round 3, Pick 75: Michal Svrcek, C/W
Detroit selected Michael Pradel, G
Every draft, there is one guy I really want to get with a mid-round pick that I have a tough time waiting on because I value them much higher than the consensus. This year, it was Svrcek.
Coincidentally, I could have gotten him a bit later when the Red Wings actually selected him 119th overall, but I wasn’t willing to risk him being taken at this point. I had already grabbed Eklund and Nilson, who I valued as top 20 players in the class, so taking a moderate risk with Svrcek made a ton of sense.
His motor, speed and offensive creation for himself and his teammates are impressive. He may not have blown the doors off at the World Men’s Under-18s for Slovakia, but he was always keeping up to the bigger nations and consistently found ways to make things happen, even if he wasn’t rewarded. Svrcek has upside as a creative, offensive winger with an excellent motor. A potential middle-of-the-lineup depth scorer who can play up if needed.
Round 4, Pick 109: Gustav Hillstrom, C
Detroit selected Brent Soloman, RW
A well-rounded two-way center with size, Hillstrom gives Team Ferrari a bit more beef up front. His defensive work rate is excellent, and he is a crafty player along the boards and down low. Hillstrom is more of a playmaker than a shooter, but he brings value as a goal-scorer because he times routes perfectly and picks up rebounds or jumps into pockets of space in the slot or back door to give himself a good scoring chance.
I was pumped to get Hillstrom here as I valued him as an early second-rounder. Hillstrom is as safe a pick as there is in the fourth round, and his playmaking upside and craftiness around the crease could make him a really valuable depth scorer.
Round 4, Pick 119: Quinn Beauchesne, D
Detroit selected Michal Svrcek, C/W
I wanted to get a couple of defenders and felt like this was a good spot to do it – there weren’t really any other blueliners available I liked at previous picks.
Adding Beauchesne is a really steady pick because he plays an unproblematic game and understands his role on the ice. He isn’t an offensive creator from the back end or a guy who takes many risks. He plays steady, intelligent defense that builds off excellent play tracking and impressive poise. He stood out on OHL Guelph, which really struggled this past season.
Round 5, Pick 140: Anthony Allain-Samake, D
Detroit selected Nikita Tyurin, D
Much like the Red Wings’ actual pick, I went with a defender here. But I took a bit of a swing on a player whose birthdate is six days away from the cutoff point between the 2025 and 2026 NHL drafts.
The mobile Allain-Samake showed flashes of puck-moving and activations on the offensive-zone blueline. He has good size, and once he fills out his frame, he should be a bit more of a physical presence.
Allain-Samake loves to attack down the wall and feather passes into the slot, looking to create high-danger opportunities. His defensive game is hit or miss, but when he defends with his feet and skates forward, opposing players have problems because he can close quickly. Much like Detroit, I took a young player worth betting on based on his tools.
Round 6, Pick 172: Arvid Drott, RW
Detroit selected Will Murphy, D
I was worried someone would scoop up Drott much earlier, but I was happily surprised when he was still on the board.
Drott is a quick, powerful skater who attacks on the rush and can unload his snap shot off either foot. His speed makes him a handful to deal with, and he really seems to understand how to weaponize it. Whether on or off the puck, Drott attacks lanes and skates downhill to pressure opposing teams. He can throw his weight around at times as well. Drott is a project, but he has a very solid base to work with.
Round 7, Pick 204: Filip Ekberg, LW
Detroit selected Grayden Roberston-Palmer, C
With my final pick, I took a chance on a kid who seemed to fall off the map throughout the season. His first couple of months in North America were dreadful, but Ekberg's skill and offensive weapons were nonetheless enticing.
After adjusting to the north-south game of the OHL, Ekberg found ways to weave in his possession-based game and skill. The issue was that by the time he did this, the calendar hit 2025, and teams and analysts seemed to have checked out. He was well over a point-per-game play in the OHL and then led the U-18s in scoring for Sweden.
Ekberg is a risk worth taking in a big way, especially this late.
In Conclusion
The drafting process is always interesting because you have to balance your value on a player and the value the rest of the NHL places on them.
There were players I missed out on at the 2025 NHL draft because I waited a bit too long, such as Zeb Lindgren. I was looking to take him with the 140th pick, and everything looked good until he went one pick earlier to the New York Rangers. Sean Barnhill was another target of mine, but he went a few picks before I had the chance to draft him.
On the flip side, when it came to Svrcek, I could have waited a bit longer. I took him in the third round, but the Red Wings actually took him in the fourth. These are the difficult decisions you have to make, though, as you go through the process and try to ensure you get the players you want while also accumulating the most value possible.
I’ll be tracking each of these players over the next couple of years to see just how well Team Ferrari did at the 2025 NHL draft.
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