Carson Carels does not hesitate to do the grunt work, whether that’s on his family’s land or at the rink. When you mix that work ethic and strength with his puck skills, it makes him a lock to be selected in the top 10at this year’s draft.
In the run up to the 2025 NHL draft, much was made about the “farm strength” that pushed Brady Martin’s physical development ahead of many of his peers.
Carson Carels is cut from a similar cloth, and he has been bulking up at warp speed as his draft day approaches. To start the 2025-26 season, the Prince George Cougars listed the 17-year-old at 6-foot-1 and 175 pounds. By Christmastime, he was tipping the scales at 194 when he donned the maple leaf as Canada’s youngest player at the world juniors. “He’s turning into a man,” said Cougars coach-GM Mark Lamb. “He can skate. He can shoot. And playing in the world juniors is a big step. There’s a pecking order there. He was fine there, too.”
Carels is the second youngest of five kids and grew up on a 500-head cattle farm near Cypress River, Man., an hour southeast of Brandon. Everyone helped out with the farm chores, and everyone played the game. When organized hockey was iced during the pandemic, an outdoor rink on the family’s land offered plenty of friendly and not-so-friendly competition as Carels was challenged by his siblings. Three of the four are still active in the game – only Kadence has hung up her skates. “The sister closest to me in age farms and used to play hockey,” Carels said. “She’s probably the best skater out of us all, but she just likes the farm a lot more.”
Ethan, who’s the oldest at 25, “plays a little beer league now.” Jayden, 22, just wrapped up her senior year of club hockey at the University of Jamestown in North Dakota, and 15-year-old Kendra is playing for Pilot Mound Academy, where Carson was attending when he was selected 15th overall in the 2023 WHL draft.
Now, Carels has solidified himself as a top prospect for this year’s NHL draft. In his second full WHL season, he finished tied for fourth among blueliners with 73 points and was named a finalist for defenseman of the year. But don’t judge Carels by his counting stats alone. He’s the full package, says Lamb: “He’s very confident without the puck. He looks poised because he’s comfortable there. A lot of kids aren’t comfortable in their own end.”
And Lamb knows of what he speaks. Now in his eighth year as Cougars GM and his seventh behind the bench, he has become the winningest coach in franchise history while building an organization that brings out the best in its players.
Despite the naturally cyclical nature of junior hockey, Prince George was back in the WHL playoffs for a fifth consecutive season, and Carels will give the team a first-round NHL pick for a third year in a row – goaltender Joshua Ravensbergen went 30th overall to the San Jose Sharks last summer, while Terik Parascak was selected 17th by the Washington Capitals in 2024.
An important mentor for Carels has been Jim Playfair, who’s in his third season as the team’s associate coach. Playfair was a hardnosed defenseman during his playing days, a WHL champion with the Portland Winter Hawks who had a cup of coffee in the NHL during an eight-year pro career. In the early ’90s, Playfair shifted to coaching, and he’s been behind the bench practically ever since. “You need a father figure in your life because your dad’s obviously working on the farm and can’t be there for you,” Carels said. “He kind of did that for me, and he does that for all of us on the team. He also really helped me last year, teaching me how to play defense and how to be a pro.”
When Martin was drafted fifth overall by the Nashville Predators last June, he defied convention for a top prospect. Not wanting a trip to Los Angeles to pull him away from his daily farm chores during a busy time of year, Martin opted to skip the main event in favor of a private party for family and friends on his home turf in Elora, Ont.
After the playoffs and the scouting combine are complete, Carels is looking forward to getting back to the grind in Cypress River. “It’s always fun to go back and work a little,” he said. “And the work there is fun, so it’s not really work.”
When draft day arrives, don’t be surprised if Carels also opts for a hometown celebration. “It’s a special experience to go and be there with the teams and all the guys, but 40 relatives at my house is a lot better,” he said. “And we can celebrate like that better than just bringing a few people. Being there at home with my family might be the best thing for me.”
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This feature appeared in The Hockey News' Draft Preview issue featuring Gavin McKenna on the cover.
Not only does it feature scouting reports on the NHL draft's top 100 prospects, but it also goes further into the stories of some of the top players available, such as McKenna, Ivar Stenberg, Keaton Verhoeff, Carson Carels, JP Hurlbert and the Ruck twins.
There are also team-by-team reports that cover immediate and long-term needs, cap situation, players in the system, shrewd picks from the past and not so shrewd picks. It's worth a read during and after the draft.
