Top NHL Draft Prospects Dish on Their Hardest Foes

Four of the best from the class of 2023 are at the Stanley Cup final so we asked them for their insider takes on their best opponents.

LAS VEGAS - As is customary, the NHL invited some of the top prospects for this year's draft to the Stanley Cup final. Connor Bedard, Adam Fantilli, Leo Carlsson and Will Smith may all be too young to gamble, but they did have an outing at Top Golf and got to meet some of the Panthers and Golden Knights (Florida's Matthew Tkachuk noted that in his draft year, he got to attend a game in San Jose when the Sharks were hosting the Penguins in the final).

With the draft combine this week and the draft not far down the road, things are going to get pretty hectic for the teens, all of whom are expected to go in the top five this summer in Nashville. All had spectacular seasons in their respective leagues, but I was curious as to which opponents stood out for them.

Smith, the Boston College commit, is the top prospect out of the USA Hockey National Team Development Program, which plays a mixed schedule of USHL, NCAA and international opponents. For the talented center, the Golden Gophers were a challenge.

"Getting to go against college teams was pretty cool," Smith said. "Brock Faber (MIN) and Jackson LaCombe (ANA) on Minnesota were really tough for us and obviously they're in the NHL now."

As for a netminder, Smith was impressed by USHL Omaha's Michael Hrabal. The 6-foot-6 goalie also repped the Czechs at the world under-18s, where Smith earned MVP honors en route to helping Team USA win gold. The Americans beat Czechia in the quarterfinal 4-1, but Hrabal made 48 saves.

"Hrabal's pretty good," Smith said. "I've actually been playing against him since the Quebec Peewee tournament."

How big was he then?

"Same size. We were a little smaller."

Fantilli had a raft of different experiences this year, spending his domestic season with NCAA Michigan but also suiting up for Canada at the world juniors and World Championship - winning gold medals at both stops.

"I was lucky enough to play against a lot of great players this year," Fantilli said. "Playing against Minnesota was tough; they had an amazing group of guys and Quinnipiac was a tough game - they were an older squad and they were awesome. The Czech team at the world juniors was amazing - I thought what they did was really special. And I have to mention Latvia's run at the World Championship, that was amazing. They were extremely tough to play against, and their fans were out of this world."

Bedard didn't play against Smith or Fantilli (though he and Fantilli were teammates at the world juniors) but did see Carlsson internationally, and the big Swede made an impression on the consensus No. 1 prospect.

"I got to play against a lot of great players, including Leo at the world juniors," Bedard said. "You look at the WHL and all the guys who have been drafted recently and the world juniors, which is a best-on-best tournament. It's tough to name guys."

Carlsson is the only player of the four who played in a pro men's league this season (in his case, Orebro of the SHL), so his experience against his own age group was actually limited to the world juniors, where he was one of Sweden's best players.

"I remember Connor of course was good, he was hard to play against," Carlsson said. "Canada's goalie was good as well, Thomas Milic."

Milic, who has been passed over in the draft before, will get some interest this summer after helping Canada win gold and backstopping WHL Seattle to the Memorial Cup final.