NHL Scouts Face Dilemma With 2024 Draft Prospect Trevor Connelly

Swastika controversy will continue to be weighed by teams as they decide whether or not to select the highly skilled USHL forward.

The question posed to an NHL exec is a straight-forward, though admittedly loaded one: Would you take Trevor Connelly in the first round this summer?

"I'm not touching that one," said the exec with a laugh. "On or off the record."

Connelly, a tremendously talented left winger with the USHL's Tri-City Storm, certainly has the skills to be a high pick, but NHL scouts are vexed about where to place the Providence College commit because of off-ice red flags, the most stark of which involved a swastika.

A few years ago, Connelly posted a picture to social media of a buddy of his posing with a swastika that had been constructed out of children's blocks.

Connelly quickly realized his folly, but the image had already begun circulating around the hockey world (The Hockey News was sent a copy of the picture, which appears to have been taken in a school library or classroom). With scouts now putting together their lists for the 2024 NHL draft, that incident has come to the forefront. They are also mulling over an alleged racial slur that Connelly was cleared of back in California before he got to the USHL.

It is very much a situation in which a team's GM and ownership will have to be apprised of the case before any decision is made. Keep in mind: it hasn't been that long since another Tri-City player, Mitch Miller, was the center of an off-ice draft controversy.

"He's probably the second-best player after Mack Celebrini in the U.S.," said one scout. "Uber-talented, makes everyone else on the ice better, very smart, fast, good skill, high IQ, good vision. He checks all the boxes. It's going to be one of those deals where you have to kick it up the ladder and your manager is going to have to make a decision. All we can do is vet the kid. He's a top-10 talent."

Since the photo got out, Connelly has worked at redemption through volunteer work and diversity training courses. He and his father even coached an under-14 team at the Amerigol LATAM Cup, an international tournament in Florida that seeks to break down barriers by featuring squads from "non-traditional" hockey locales such as Egypt, Brazil and the Caribbean.

Connelly coached the multicultural HPOC team, organized by the U.S.-based group Hockey Players of Color.

"It was so fun," Connelly said. "It was so cool to see all these different countries there playing hockey. I had such a blast being able to coach kids and give them my knowledge."

Connelly knows he still has questions to answer, though. The Draft Combine in early June will certainly be a big week for him, and it wouldn't be surprising if all 32 teams book an interview with the Storm star. In the meantime, he has spoken to a number of NHL team scouts already about his past.

"Everyone has been super-respectful to me," he said. "I'm open to it and I know I've moved on and done a lot to better myself, so I just try to be honest and tell them the truth. That's all I can do."

Talent-wise, there's no question about Connelly's worth. He currently sits third in USHL scoring with 47 points in 33 games, though his points-per-game rate of 1.42 is better than the two players ahead of him. Nonetheless, scouts will have to ask themselves the question: Will they vouch for Connelly as a pick if their GM asks on the first day of the draft?

"Probably not," said a second scout. "We've had discussions, and it's up to management whether they make that choice or not. All I can do is tell them what he does on the ice and give them information about what I've learned about him off the ice. It's a hard sell."

It may very well come down to how a franchise feels about its dressing room culture and/or how the fan base and local community would react to the selection. However high Connelly ends up going, it will certainly be a storyline to follow when the picks get made in Las Vegas this summer.