We've officially crossed the midway point on the scouting calendar, with league playoffs kicking off right around the corner, so it's a fitting time to get out a mid-season rankings, which can be accessed via the 2025 OHL Draft Rankings page.
My mandate since my last update was really about fine-tuning my list as much as possible. Watching more individual tape of each player, challenging my previous assessments, and gaining more and more confidence in my list as a whole. Things certainly aren't perfect, but it's starting to take shape, and I'm more comfortable with it all.
What has become abundantly clear is that it's an interesting year, with no real consensus at the top and lots of subjectivity in how things are ordered. More and more lists have come out in the second half of the year, that look nothing like mine, and I see where they are coming from. Especially in the top 25 or so, it's a close-knit group with not a ton of separation between players, so seeing a completely different ordering of those names doesn't surprise me one bit. We'll see how the second half of the year goes, but as it stands, the first round may be pretty unpredictable regarding who teams are targeting.
As always, I'm happy to chat or answer questions, feel free to contact me on Twitter @jordanmalette.
Here are some of the highlights from this rankings update:
Tiers at the Top
I've spoken my mind a few times about the 1st first overall conversation, and I still don't really have much clarity here. I watched Camryn Warren (#1) and Charlie Murata (2nd) a handful of times individually, over the Oakville Rangers Winter Classic and at the GTHL Top Prospects Game, and it's fuzzy. I build my list as if I am a rebuilding team starting from scratch, and from that angle, it's hard to displace the foundational piece of a play-driving centerman in Warren, similar to how it was difficult for me to displace Adam Valentini last year. But, depending on what assets a team may already have, I see the appeal to Murata and can't say that's the wrong choice.
I feel pretty confident that it's a two horse race for #1 on my list, and as such Jaakko Wycisk (3rd) sits firmly in that spot. There were times when I thought I could see a case to move him up or down, but I think he's more or less locked in here. Of course, lots can change from now until the end of the year, but as of now, Wycisk ending at #3 is probably one of the things I'm most sure about in this top group.
I have Ryerson Edgar (4th) to Brayden Bennett (9th) as the final firm tier at the top. At the moment, this is just the group of players I would be most confident in selecting if I had a top-10 pick. More than possible a few more names play their way into this group, but for the time being, these are the ones I feel are a touch ahead of the pack behind them.
From 10 onwards, I'll admit, it's a bit of a mess. I could put the whole group between Kieran Raynor (10th) and Caden Bell (24th) in a blender and be reasonably content with whatever order it spits out. The margins are just incredibly thin, and I can see why someone else would have ordered this group entirely differently than I do. There's lots to like in this class, but it's tough to make heads or tails of the group, and it really just comes down to personal preference on what you're looking for in this mid-first range.
High Risers
I highlighted it last month, but since he's had time to get fully up to speed, Kaden McGregor (10th to 6th) has been impressive with every viewing, earning another bump. The dual threat in his lethal shot and playmaking ability has really started to shine through, showcasing quite the offensive toolkit. I feel pretty firm about the names ahead of him, but we’ll see how the renaming months of the season go and if he can play his way even higher on my list.
Dating back to last season, when I first started to get to know this '09 crop, Brayden Bennett (12th to 9th) was always my favourite on that talented JRC squad. The story this season has been almost the same; even if he's not on that Titans top line who racks up all the points, I typically come away from a viewing thinking he might be the player on that team who I'm most bullish on his upside. I'm not sure I'll ever rank him as my highest-ranked Titan, but regardless, having that sentiment for a good portion of their games made me land on him being worthy of a bump.
Jack Johnson (42nd to 20th) is my biggest surprise thus far this season. I don't assign much credit for a player simply having size; it's more a question of how they use their tools to their advantage to drive positive results. At first, I overlooked Johnson as only offering physical tools and not really catching my eye for how he was using size to his advantage. But the more I watched, the more I saw him use his reach to shut down plays, show ambition to attack forward, and be a quality puck-mover out of the back. Reviewing my notes from last year, his skating was an initial concern of mine, but things have come together year-over-year, and Jack's way more fluid on his feet, making me way more optimistic. He hasn't been perfect by any means and there's still room to improve, but there is a lot to work with here and I could easily see Johnson developing into a quality OHL defender in a few seasons.
Deep down, Aleksandr Sementsov (41st to 22nd) is someone who was always in this late 1st / early 2nd round tier. Over the years, the player type that has most come back to haunt me is slightly undersized and not the best skater, which is the category Sementsov falls. This caused me to be a bit cautious with him at first, easing him into my rankings, but the more I watched, the more sure I was of his potential. His offensive impact through his creativity and passing has been truly remarkable, and I feel he's one of the best upside swings in the class worth a bet in this range.
After missing the first month or so of the season, I have been playing catch up on my sample size of Matthew Perreault's (46th to 33rd) game. Now that I've had some time to view him more, the mobility and puck-moving to his game has really jumped off the page, skyrocketing him up quite a few spots. The defence crop has been a tough one to untangle, but it's become more and more apparent that Perreault belongs in the upper half of the defenders on my list.
New Additions
As is typical, once we get out of the top 40 and into the 3rd round and onwards, the gaps in talent level start to become nearly negligible, and rankings always become more personal preference than anything. Everyone is looking for something different come round 3/4/5/6, and for me, the 25 new names I added simply fit what I'm looking for in these middle rounds.
Evan Pahanich (41st) is the highest debut on this iteration of my rankings. I had him just outside of my last list, but as I revisited him, it became evident he belonged and cracked into the top 50. There's a solid blend of physical tools, mobility, and a simple but effective playstyle that makes Evan a solid bet on draft day. The majority of the players ranked ahead of him are forwards, so if I'm looking for a defenceman somewhere in round 2, I could see Evan being a reasonable target, depending on how the draft unfolds.
I really liked my early read on Cooper McAslan's (47th) game, but he was out of the lineup for the majority of the first half of the season, which kept him off my previous list. Like many defenders on my rankings, Cooper brings the surface-level physical tools to be a projectable junior player and has the package of confidence, mobility, and smart decision-making to think there is some solid upside if all keeps trending right for him. With him missing so much time, I still need to expand my sample size, but he's clearly demonstrated that he's a player who fits what I'm looking for.
Jack Malandra (62nd) has been on my radar all year and finally cracks his way into the rankings. The raw power he can get in his skating and the frame make him a highly projectable player to the junior level. I think he can untap some more offensive potential by using his physical tools more to drive the scoring areas, which would prop him up my list if I see more of that come through. He might be one of the most "OHL-ready" players in the class, so I can see how he'd be a target much earlier than I have him for a team looking for a sure-thing roster player.
Entering the year, several Waterloo Wolves were on my radar, and Parker Smith (69th) wasn't really one of them. I was initially drawn to some of his teammates, but as I started to untangle them more over the U16 year, especially at the Marlboros Holiday Classic, Parker emerged as my favourite of the bunch and someone I was underrating. Smith's pesky forechecking, playmaking ability, and just overall smart game started to shine more and more as I watched this Waterloo squad, earning him one of the final spots on my list.
I've been tracking Thunder Bay native Jake Ritson (71st) all year, watching a game of his about once a month to keep an eye on him and see where he could slot in. Of course, I am not at all familiar with the CSSHL, but I've been able to get a solid enough grasp of his game to deem him worthy of inclusion. I came away thinking there's a projectable set of physical tools and enough skill to play a complimentary role at the OHL level, and in round 4, that starts to become the mold of many of these players I have ranked, so he fits in.
Looking Ahead
My goal behind the scenes remains the same: watching as much isolated tape as possible to get as clear of a picture as I can of these players. In terms of reports and write-ups, the plan is to do more targeted game reports, focusing on teams with players on my rankings/watch list and giving those players as many looks as I can to fine-tune things. I may do a pre-OHL Cup refresh of my list, but we'll see how things go over these final two months of the season.
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