NHL Prospect Watch: Oscar Hemming Looks To Make Larger NCAA Impact, Team Canada Announces U-17 Rosters Featuring Schultz, Pue And Daneault

Oscar Hemming had one of the most interesting draft years, to say the least. If all had gone well, he would have suited up in the OHL for the Kitchener Rangers, but a contract dispute back in Finland put the kibosh on that plan.

Eventually, the budding power forward started his NCAA career with Boston College, played in 19 games with the Eagles, and showed enough (despite missing so much time) that Columbus drafted him 14th overall in the 2026 NHL draft.

For a kid who went through so much uncertainty, it's funny that being selected by the Blue Jackets wasn't a total surprise to him.

"I had a feeling," Hemming said. "But you never know."

Before Hemming attended the draft in Buffalo, however, he actually met up with the Kitchener Rangers. He was in Barrie, where his older brother Emil was playing for the Colts, when Kitchener won the OHL title in a sweep. Hemming was in street clothes, of course, but several folks tried to coax him onto the ice for the post-game celebration.

"It was awesome," he said. "I felt like part of the team again, like it was four months before. I'm super-proud of the guys."

Going through the wringer in your draft year is not ideal, especially when you just want to play. But Hemming had backing.

"At times it was tough, of course," he said. "But I had family to talk to, and that helped me. The staff in Kitchener, the teammates, they helped me through it a lot, too. I'm super-thankful for Kitchener and the organization for that."

Once he got on the ice with Boston College, Hemming faced a new challenge: playing older, stronger competition while trying to get his conditioning back.

"I knew it was going to be fast-paced and physical," he said. "And that was what I jumped into."

Now a sophomore at Boston College, Hemming got to start at the same time as all his teammates and based on how he looked early in an exhibition game against the NTDP, we should expect a significant impact from the Columbus Blue Jackets prospect this season.

Canada has announced its rosters for Team White and Team Red for the World U-17 Challenge, and some big names are involved.

Funny enough, the top two, Maddox Schultz and Liam Pue of the WHL's Regina Pats, already dominated internationally at the Hlinka-Gretzky tournament. The dynamic duo are split this time (Schultz on Red, Pue on White), but both will have other talents to play with.

A few more players I'm most intrigued by: Zaac Charbonneau has taken the USHL by storm with Muskegon - he's the nephew of Philadelphia Flyers GM Daniel Briere.

Madden Daneault is the only 2011-born player in this 2010 tournament and has certainly earned his spot, with 10 points in seven games for the WHL Kelowna Rockets so far (due to his age, he's only allowed 34 total games this season with the Rockets).

Finally, there's OHL Sudbury's Kash Kwajah and Tanner Adams, both of whom have had early success, though Adams has missed some time recently due to injury.

I really like the Dave Hakstol hiring at Arizona State. Here's a veteran bench boss with tons of college experience who was NCAA coach of the year with North Dakota a little more than a decade ago before embarking on an NHL career.

Not to ash on Greg Powers when he's already gone, but it's very difficult to go from club hockey to D1. And even though the Sun Devils had some success, the potential in Tempe is far greater than what's been realized.

I took a tour of the campus last year, and it has everything a young player could want, from the rink to the facilities and housing to the weather. They should be the Florida Panthers of the NCAA. Hakstol will need to bring this team together in the face of tragedy, but the Mayich family can at least know that the program is now in good hands.

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