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SHOHEI OHTANI IS both text and subtext, the brightest light in the firmament and the candle flicker on the wall. He is right there in front of us, obvious in all his brilliance, yet slightly out of reach, his present as clear as his future is uncertain.

This current edition of “Season of Ohtani” feels like the height of something, like a great artist’s signature piece or a writer’s seminal work. Every oversaturated box score speaks to something previously unattainable, an unrepeatable (for now) shift of the game’s tectonics. It feels as if it could be the end of something, or at least a gateway to something completely different.

Ohtani’s pending free agency hovers above the Angels’ season, following them everywhere. When manager Phil Nevin is asked whether he believes his team can compete with the Astros and Rangers in the American League West, he is being asked whether the Angels can keep Ohtani. When general manager Perry Minasian is asked how many games per month his team needs to win to remain in contention, or whether there is a magical number of losses that will denote non-contention, he is being asked whether the Angels can keep Ohtani. When Angels players are asked whether they feel momentum flowing or ebbing or remaining the same, they are being asked whether the Angels can keep Ohtani.

The only one who is not asked whether the Angels can keep Ohtani is Ohtani.

I set out to contextualize this moment, whatever it is now and whatever it might become: Ohtani on the brink of free agency, and the Angels desperately trying to play well enough to win him over. The idea was to capture the experience beginning with one Ohtani start on the mound and finishing with the next; in this case, seven otherwise random games in June, three against the Astros, three against the Cubs and one against the Mariners. The Angels won five of seven, the last five in a row. Ohtani was 11-of-28 with two homers and six RBIs, and he pitched 11 innings over two starts, striking out 12 and allowing seven earned runs. It was a decent but understated start to what would become one of the best months by an individual player in baseball history.

To watch Ohtani over an extended period of time is to be subsumed into his world. There is always a small, revelatory moment, far removed from the home runs and the 102 mph fastballs, that feels unique to Ohtani. In the sixth inning of Ohtani’s June 2 start against the Astros, Kyle Tucker rolled over on a pitch and tapped it to first, about 40 feet from home plate and 6 feet off the foul line. Ohtani ran over and picked it up and stood in the baseline, facing Tucker, who had stopped as Ohtani tried to decide the most respectful way to record the out. They stared at each other for a second or two before Tucker extended his right arm and presented it to Ohtani, as if to say, “Here, this is how this ends.”

I found myself constantly looking at my scorecard to see when he would come to bat again, and watching him and translator/friend/coach/consigliere Ippei Mizuhara gesticulate over a tablet in the dugout, and tracking the time it takes him to regroup after an at-bat and before he heads to the mound. (The umpires, understanding the moment, have granted him some between-inning leniency.) Every at-bat was accompanied by the collective lean of 30,000 people, suddenly engaged. There were times I wished — as I’m sure Nevin does — that Ohtani could expand his oeuvre and occupy two spots in the batting order at once.

Ohtani’s excellence is such a feature of the landscape that it can be difficult to believe it wasn’t always like this. During his first spring training with the Angels, in March 2018, I sat in the stands in Tempe, Arizona, watching him bounce fastballs and hang breaking balls against the Tijuana Toros, a Mexican League team in town for a game so far off the radar they played it in the morning and didn’t sell tickets. Ohtani was terrible — wild, rhythmless, confused. He threw very few strikes, and the ones he threw got hit hard. I listened as people told me the American baseballs were too slick and the mounds too hard, and I listened as his high school coach, Hiroshi Sasaki, told me that Ohtani needed two years of struggle to reach his potential. “Right now,” Sasaki said, “Shohei is crouched. He must go down before he rises up.” I nodded and wrote it down, not sure I believed it.

THE PROBLEM WITH writing about Ohtani is that in between the writing and the reading he does something that surpasses everything else. While writing this, I watched him: beat the White Sox by hitting two home runs while striking out 10 and giving up just one run in 6⅓ innings; and hit home runs at what has to be called an alarming rate, including a 493-footer that, even through the television, sounded like a gunshot in the woods. He hit 15 home runs in June and amassed a 286 OPS+ (league average: 100). He also pitched 30⅓ innings with a 3.26 ERA. It has reached the point where it’s a surprise whenever he doesn’t do something ridiculous.

A random Sunday afternoon, two outs in the ninth, nobody on, Angels up a couple of runs, Ohtani working on an 0-for-3 afternoon, and he cracks one 454 feet; a Monday night in Texas, 459 into the second deck in left-center, to a place other left-handed hitters don’t even know exists; two nights later, 453 to the same spot.

(And the ancillary problem of assessing the Angels’ playoff chances vis-à-vis Ohtani’s future is the franchise’s inability to get out of its own way. Even the best of times — winning eight of nine from early to mid-June to grab ahold of a theoretical wild-card spot — are just a grim reminder of what’s ahead: Mike Trout’s broken hamate bone; Anthony Rendon’s long-running series of injuries; Ohtani’s cracked fingernail/blister combo that ended his subpar July 4 start and kept him off the mound at the All-Star Game. They win eight of nine, they lose nine of 10. Such are the Angels.)

Discerning the meaning of something demands some sort of comparison, or at least a relevant reference point. Ohtani, having driven past — and then backed over — the Babe Ruth comparisons, has left us to our own devices. Academics who study prodigies talk about the constant push for more and the compulsion to move on from mastering one task to pursuing another. It wouldn’t come as much of a surprise if we learned Ohtani was going to spend an offseason working on switch-hitting or hitting .400 or throwing a knuckleball.

“Every day he wakes up thinking about how he can be the best baseball player on the planet,” Nevin says. “Every movement he makes is toward that purpose. Not just at the field but how he eats, how much he sleeps, how he organizes his day. He does whatever it takes to get there.”

Nevin is asked about Ohtani so often he long ago ran out of descriptions, but he consciously takes a few minutes every day to appreciate what he’s experiencing. “It feels like every day I come into the press room and someone says, ‘Sho set this record today. Nobody’s ever done this, or that,'” he says. “I’ve found I need to step back and not take it for granted.”

BY NOW IT’S safe to assume our prying eyes will never be allowed access to Ohtani’s world, no matter how boring and rote we presume it to be. He is content to narcotize the masses with uniquely unilluminating sentences presented with unrelenting politeness.

His teammates look upon him with a mixture of awe and curiosity. (“When a guy does what he does,” pitcher Tucker Davidson says, “it’s OK to be in awe.”) Strangely, the guys who share a clubhouse with Ohtani don’t know a lot more about him than the rest of us. They discuss what might happen at the trade deadline or where he might be next year, but reliever Aaron Loup says, “We haven’t asked him about it. Definitely not. But it’s a topic. You can’t avoid it.” They don’t know his daily routine — “It’s a great question,” reliever Chris Devenski says, “I’d like to know his secrets, too” — despite marveling at its results. Nevin goes on and on about Ohtani’s discipline and preparation, but when I asked him whether he knows the day-to-day specifics of how Ohtani compartmentalizes his two crafts, Nevin says, “I don’t. I don’t know what he’s doing every day at the ballpark. I leave that to him.”

But who Ohtani is has always been secondary to what he does, and what he does is so cosmic in a baseball sense — and who he is, from all available evidence, so comparatively boring — that it’s probably enough. Openness is the enemy of myth, and nobody ever crafted a legend without mystery.

He has strained the limits of language. Historic and unprecedented, just to get those two out of the way early. But how many ways can disbelief be expressed? How many superlatives strung together does it take to equal utter meaninglessness?

Every season Ohtani grows bigger, his shoulders now as wide as the batter’s box, as if in response to the expectations. He has grown more demonstrative, occasionally expressing disagreement with umpires’ calls and routinely celebrating his achievements more openly. His purchase of the celebratory kabuto helmet he and his teammates wear while prancing through the dugout after home runs would have been unthinkable even four years ago.

And maybe some measure of distance is not just preferable but necessary. It’s hard to imagine the chaos his life would become with just the merest hint of controversy. He must be left alone to do what cannot be done.

“He doesn’t share too much, to be honest with you,” Loup says. “When it comes to the work side and preparation, he definitely has his own program. I’m sure the weight he’s got on his shoulders is beyond everyone else’s.”

A Japanese journalist standing near the third-base dugout in Anaheim filming Ohtani’s center-field plyo-ball workout three hours before a game tells me, “He’s a megastar. We’ve grown numb to not getting anything from him. We’ve accepted it.” Mizuhara stands two steps behind Ohtani with a radar gun. Several Japanese journalists film while others take notes. They all wear the same languid looks; never before has someone so active been responsible for so much lethargy. The appetite for Ohtani content in Japan is prodigious; video of the plyo-ball routine shot from 200 feet away will be seen throughout the country. The beast must be fed; the beast is insatiable.

“None of us can imagine what it’s like for him,” says Angels rookie shortstop Zach Neto. “You go out and see all the media watching and filming him just throwing plyo balls against the wall. Like, every time. It’s hard to imagine being in that kind of spotlight.”

Ohtani’s career is historic in so many ways, and soon that will include the amount of wild conjecture that will accompany his free agency this offseason. With the trade deadline at the end of July, every rumor is already retailed to the masses. Another Japanese reporter holds out his phone and translates a social media message detailing how the New York Mets have enlisted fans to spread disinformation about Ohtani as a means of decreasing interest from other MLB teams, thereby increasing the Mets’ chances of signing him. It’s preposterous, of course, but since it’s 2023 and since it’s Ohtani, the reporter asks around to see whether anybody thinks it could be true.

AT 3:45 P.M., ROUGHLY three hours before Ohtani is to pitch against the Astros in Minute Maid Park on June 2, he and Mizuhara sit at a four-top in the players’ lounge, looking at their phones. (In the interest of pith-helmeted investigative journalism, I can report that Ohtani is partial to lime-flavored sparkling water.) A few minutes before they sat down, the Angels’ lineup was posted on the wall of the clubhouse. Ohtani, pitching and leading off. (“Still crazy to see it,” pitcher Griffin Canning says. “Warm up in the pen, run to the dugout, throw on a helmet and face Framber Valdez. No big deal.”) Thirty-five minutes later, Ohtani and Mizuhara are still in the same seats, still looking at their phones, proving that even the busiest baseball player in the world has a lot of downtime. At 4:23, catcher Chad Wallach sits across from Ohtani to discuss the game plan against the Astros.

“He’s pretty involved,” Wallach says. “He definitely knows every hitter. He’s pretty confident and dialed into what he’s doing, so I’m just there to suggest a pitch every once in a while.”

The task is not small. Ohtani throws eight pitches: a four-seam fastball, a two-seam fastball, a sweeper, a “shorter” slider, a curveball, a cutter, a split-finger and something Ohtani calls a “running split” — a split that has more depth to it. There are eight buttons on his PitchCom, and he reaches under his arm and relays pitch type with the first push, location with the second. The pitch clock gives him 15 seconds to choose and throw a pitch with nobody on base, so there is no time to go through the suggesting and shaking of four pitches, much less eight.

“I’m amazed at what he can make happen off those eight pitches,” says injured catcher Logan O’Hoppe. “He’ll say, ‘I’m going to throw this pitch, but I want a little more depth to it.’ And then he’ll throw it and it’ll have more depth to it. It’s the same pitch, but it’s also not. He’s got eight pitches, but he can make it 16 if he wants.”

What you see today might not be what you see next start. What you see in the second inning might not be what you see in the sixth. Eight pitches and all their variants, adding to the mystery. This granular level of detail is necessary only because pitch selection came up as an issue for Ohtani in both of his starts over the course of the seven games. Against Houston, he threw consecutive sweepers to Yordan Alvarez, the first one a harmless ball and the second one a lifeless thing that Alvarez drove over the wall in right-center.

There is an awkward self-consciousness every pitcher feels when he has just allowed a home run on the road. Fireworks go off, the fans roar and the pitcher, as a sort of penance, is forced to stand out there while the hitter soaks it all in with a relaxing stroll around the bases. Most pitchers ask the umpire for a new ball immediately, as if having one in your glove negates the one in the bleachers. Ohtani nodded for a new ball before Alvarez hit first base, and before Alvarez hit third he had already reached under his left armpit to tell Wallach what he wanted to throw to the next hitter.

After the start, an Ohtani loss, Nevin said, “There are some pitch selection things we need to talk about. A guy like Alvarez seeing two pitches like that … if you put them in the right spot, then yeah. But I’m not saying he should have thrown a fastball, and I’m not saying he threw the wrong pitch.”

In the clubhouse, everyone waited for Ohtani. Mizuhara walked out of an adjacent video room, Ohtani still inside, and looked at the assembled group with a look of surprise. He quickly ducked back into the room and emerged with Ohtani, wearing a black New Balance T-shirt, his right arm wrapped in ice, sweat rolling off his forehead and into his eyes. Questions were asked and translated, and Ohtani earnestly gave different versions of the same anodyne answers we’ve heard for six years.

“I think he understands exactly what the question is before it’s translated,” Davidson says. “But I think it gives him a chance to think, ‘OK, here’s how I want to say this.’ He doesn’t like to give off any of his secrets.”

Mizuhara, 39, is an employee of the Angels, but that seems like something done strictly for accounting purposes. He’s been with Ohtani since he arrived in the United States. He is Ohtani’s ever-present plus-one, usually following two to three strides behind him and almost always carrying something. He carries Ohtani’s luggage into the clubhouse on getaway days; he carries Ohtani’s iPad for him to study hitters and pitchers. He carries Ohtani’s water jug, a comically large vessel designed to look like an office water cooler.

They drive to the ballpark together. They sit together at Ohtani’s locker and in the players’ lounge before and after games. They are apart only when Ohtani is on the mound or in the batter’s box. Mizuhara runs Ohtani’s pregame routine on the days he pitches and the bullpen sessions he throws the day before. He sits in the dugout with a tablet and confides with Ohtani on hitting and pitching between innings. When a new pitcher is called from the bullpen to face Ohtani, it is Mizuhara, not a hitting coach, who heads to the on-deck circle with the tablet to give Ohtani the rundown on the new guy’s stuff. When Ohtani hit the first of two homers on the night he pitched against the White Sox, he didn’t have time for the post-homer frivolity involving the samurai helmet, so he handed it to Mizuhara for the ceremonial tunnel run.

So: Do they ever get sick of each other?

“I wondered about it a lot, and I don’t think they do,” says first baseman Jared Walsh. “They’ve transcended friendship into brotherhood, truly. It sounds dumb, but it’s true.”

THE NEXT DAY in Houston, after grinding through 107 pitches the night before, Ohtani led off again and had four hits. He sent line drives like hornets all over the field: a single to center, a triple to center, a double to left, a single to right.

Long after the game ended, Astros manager Dusty Baker walked through the clubhouse toward his office shaking his head. “We thought he was gassed yesterday,” he said. “And then he comes out today and gets four hits. I’ve never seen anything like him.”

Baker’s comments sparked a question that dogged me through the better part of a week: What is Ohtani’s toughest day?

“I don’t know what day is hardest,” says Minasian, the Angels’ GM. “He makes every day look easy.”

Most of Ohtani’s teammates reflexively said the day he pitches — “Has to be, right?” Wallach asks — but nobody has ever asked. A cynic might wonder: How hard can it be when he’s hitting over .400 on those days?

“I would have to say the day after. Think of it this way: He’s rotating his body this way,” Walsh says as he mimics Ohtani’s pitching motion, “and then he’s swinging the bat and rotating 120 miles an hour the other way. So I would just assume the toll on the hips and the low back with as much torque as he puts on it — you’re going to feel that the next morning. But then again, I think he plays by a different set of rules than the rest of us.”

I asked just about everybody: Nevin, several pitchers, two catchers, four infielders. “I would imagine it’s the day after he throws all those pitches,” Devenski says, while Loup says, “The day he pitches. One, to have the energy to do it. Two, to be prepared the way he prepares to perform on the mound and at the plate.”

Finally, on the last day of the trip, I get the chance to ask Ohtani. He tilts his head a quarter-turn to the right and nods — you get it, the nods always seem to say, and I get you — the way he does when he’s preparing an answer. He listens to Mizuhara’s translation and says, “The biggest workload is obviously the day I pitch, but the hardest day depends on how my body responds after my start. It can be the next day or even the second day after the start.”

As Ohtani ended the interview with English-speaking reporters and turned to the Japanese contingent, Mizuhara stood off to the side and told me, with a hint of confidentiality, “The next day after his start he still has adrenaline. It’s the second day when he’s most sore.” Mizuhara’s insight cracked the door ever so slightly; in this hermetically sealed world, it felt momentous.

THE ANGELS WON the last game of the four-game series against the Astros to avoid a sweep. Ohtani hit an RBI double in the eighth inning to break a tie and push the Angels to a 2-1 win. It felt like a big win, for the team and for Ohtani and for the team’s chances to keep Ohtani, since every game is a referendum on the Angels’ worthiness as an offseason suitor. The clubhouse music played loud enough to bounce ribs.

As the music throbbed, a Japanese-speaking Angels media relations representative is asked whether Ohtani will answer a few questions. He generally speaks only after games he pitches, but there was news — the hit that won the game, plus Nevin’s postgame announcement that Ohtani’s next start would be pushed back a day. She says she will take the request to Mizuhara, who will take it to Ohtani in the players’ lounge to see whether he will answer a few questions in a couple of languages.

If Trout had hit a game-winning double, he would stand at his locker and answer questions until one side or the other grew bored. If Patrick Sandoval’s start had been pushed back a day, he would have called everyone over and chatted for 15 minutes. If Luis Rengifo had hit a game-winning double, a Spanish-speaking translator would be standing with him at his locker waiting for the reporters’ arrival.

The request is relayed to Mizuhara, who stands with Ohtani at his locker. The two speak briefly while more than a dozen reporters stand idly, about 20 feet away. Abruptly, Ohtani puts his head down and walks past everyone to the safety of the players’ lounge, Mizuhara two steps behind.

Many locker room interactions are awkward; this one is weird. Other Angels players, packing up for the flight home, are looking around wondering why the reporters are hanging around staring at their phones and their shoes. Did something bad happen?

After what seems like forever but is probably less than 10 minutes — longer than Ohtani ever speaks after he pitches — the negotiations are apparently complete. The Angels PR staffer approaches solemnly, with news:

“I have a quote,” she says.

First to the Japanese media, she repeats Othani’s words. The reporters start to write, then stop and look up, confused.

She turns to the American media.

“I am glad I got the hit,” she says, “and I’m glad we won the game.”

WHEN NEVIN WAS coaching third base last season before taking over for Joe Maddon, Ohtani asked him to stop giving him signs with a 3-0 count. Ohtani felt teams were pitching him differently on 3-0 depending on the sign; Nevin doesn’t know whether Ohtani believed the signs were being picked or whether the mere act of Ohtani looking to third and Nevin relaying a sign was triggering a certain response. He didn’t ask; he just complied.

“He said he knew when to hit and when not to,” Nevin says, shrugging.

A few at-bats later, Ohtani ran the count to 3-0, and Nevin turned and walked away from the third-base coaching box, determined not to make any motion that might be construed as a sign. Ohtani smoked a double off the wall in right-center — Nevin is looking out from the Angels’ dugout like he can still see it — and stared directly at Nevin when he pulled into second base.

Ohtani looked at Nevin, pointed both index fingers and laughed.

“See?” he asked.

Everything must be examined. He consults sleep experts and nutrition experts. During his MLB-mandated media session the day before the All-Star Game, he revealed that sleep, that most important and boring human need, is the key to his success. He conserves his energy at the ballpark by prioritizing efficiency over repetition. “He understands now that 40 good swings is better than 100 swings,” Walsh says. “He knows when he’s right it doesn’t take much.” Depending on how he feels, he’ll throw his between-start bullpen — it’s really a comprehensive throwing workout that concludes with him on the bullpen mound — either one or two days before a start.

In his second June start, on a Friday night at home against the Mariners, Ohtani once again threw consecutive sweepers to a left-handed hitter, this time Jarred Kelenic, who hit a two-run first-inning homer. Once again, it was attributed to Ohtani’s perfectionism; he threw a bad sweeper in both cases, to Alvarez and Kelenic, then tried to right his wrong by coming back with the exact same pitch, out to prove he could throw it better. Both times the second one was worse: flabby and flat and catching too much of the plate.

After the game — a game in which Ohtani homered and the Angels won, by the way — Nevin was asked whether the problems with pitch selection might cause him and the coaches to rethink allowing Ohtani complete control. Should the catcher, or maybe the minds in the dugout, have a say in what he throws?

“We’d only consider something like that if he came to us with it,” Nevin said.

Ohtani is such a transcendent talent, and so obsessive about his craft(s), that the Angels are rightfully leery of offering even the slightest criticism. Their hopes for keeping him hinge on his comfort level, and his belief that the team has the means and the motive to become a consistent contender. Ohtani is the rare athlete who can play by his own rules and remain universally liked in a baseball clubhouse, perhaps the most insular and caustic place in sports.

“Nobody has done this, and he’s earned that trust,” Nevin says. “He’s the last guy I worry about being prepared for a game.”

Minasian is sitting on the bench in the Angels’ dugout, answering the same Ohtani and Ohtani-adjacent questions. In his third season as the Angels’ GM, Minasian inherited Ohtani and all the rules of engagement. He has maintained, publicly and privately, an air of confidence regarding the team’s ability to sign Ohtani after this season.

“We love this player, and we think he’s someone who fits,” Minasian says. “We hope he’s here for a long time, and right now we’re just trying to win games.”

Through 5½ years in Anaheim, Ohtani has been a bargain. He not only makes significantly less than his talent suggests, but his presence fills Anaheim Stadium with a dizzying number of Japanese advertisements. There are signs for Yakult probiotic drink, Bandai Namco video games, Funai/Yamada electronics. The water jug and towels in the dugouts bear the logo of Pocari Sweat, a Japanese version of Gatorade. A video spot for Churu — “Japan’s No. 1 cat treat” — runs after the top of the fifth inning at every Angels home game.

It’s all directly attributable to Ohtani, of course, but he is not in any conventional sense the face of the franchise. Trout is the guy taking batting practice on the field and signing baseballs for Little Leaguers behind home plate. Ohtani’s public offerings are on the field. Will his next employer — or the Angels — agree to the same conditions?

“Let’s say someone gives him $600 million,” I say to Minasian.

“Seven hundred,” he interrupts, laughing. “Eight hundred.” He throws his hands up. Pick a number, any number. Nothing is too outrageous at the moment; Ohtani is a $400 million hitter and a $300 million pitcher, or is it the other way around?

“Play money at this point,” Minasian says. But let’s take the Mets, I say, trying to play through. They’re desperate to win and compete with the Yankees for everything — championships, attention, star power, supremacy in the market. Wouldn’t they expect a more public version of Ohtani?

“You’d have to ask them,” Minasian says.

The inference is clear: You don’t have to ask the Angels. They’ve already answered the question.

ON A TUESDAY night in Anaheim, against the Cubs, the vision sprang to life. Ohtani and Trout were on base five times. Ohtani homered. In the fifth, the Cubs brought in left-handed reliever Brandon Hughes to face Ohtani, who walked to set up a two-out, two-run single by Trout that forever altered the game’s chemistry. A parade of Cubs relievers bounced in from the bullpen with big ideas ready to be deflated. This — this right here, on June 6, 2023 — is what it looks like when it works.

Ohtani has done what Trout did before him: provide a glossy cover to a sloppily plotted book. The Angels have made the postseason once in Trout’s time with the team, a first-round loss in 2014. Things will change, and change quickly, because change is the Angels’ specialty, but this win will be part of a stretch when the Angels win eight of nine to go eight games over .500. And on this day, a columnist at The Seattle Times wrote about the Mariners’ unexpectedly poor season under the headline, “Are the Mariners ruining any chance to sign Shohei Ohtani?” In San Francisco, a columnist outlined his version of what the Giants, suddenly viable contenders, need to do to stay in the running to sign Ohtani.

Against this backdrop — every game a referendum — Minasian set about the job of reupholstering the roster. “Everyone understands it takes more than two great players to win,” he says. His draft picks, including Neto and relievers Ben Joyce and Sam Bachman, were making an impact. Mike Moustakas and Eduardo Escobar were brought in through trades, moves that served for the moment to quiet any talk of a pending Ohtani deal. With their audience clearly identified, they desperately tried to get better, to prove they’re serious, to make the playoffs, to answer the many iterations of the one question that will dictate everything else.

Can you keep Ohtani?

For his part, Ohtani seems happy to remain lost in the many tasks that await him. He seems comfortable in his self-contained world. His talent continues to keep its promise, regardless of what swirls around him. But what about the next two weeks, and then the next two months? That’s the thing about Ohtani: Aside from all the first-evers and never-befores and what’s-nexts, he seems singularly equipped to ignore the noise of the moment, and the noise to come.

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Guardians' Arias carted off field with ankle injury

  • ESPN News Services

Jun 29, 2025, 01:24 PM ET

CLEVELAND — Guardians shortstop Gabriel Arias was taken off the field on a cart after sustaining a left ankle sprain in the third inning of Sunday’s game against the St. Louis Cardinals.

X-rays were negative, and there was no word on the severity of the sprain.

Arias went deep into the hole to field a grounder hit by Masyn Winn with one out, but caught his left spike on the grass and awkwardly rolled his ankle. The ball wound up in left field for a single.

The 6-foot-1, 200-pounder immediately grabbed his lower leg and remained prone on the field for several minutes. He was fitted with an immobilizer before being lifted onto the medical cart that drove him off the field.

Arias is batting .231 with six homers and 31 RBIs in 77 games. This is the 25-year-old Venezuelan’s first full season as a starter.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Astros’ Peña misses second game with rib injury

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June 29, 2025

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Astros' Peña misses second game with rib injury

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HOUSTON — Astros shortstop Jeremy Peña was held out of the lineup for a second straight game Sunday.

Peña continues to make progress after leaving the Astros’ win over the Chicago Cubs on Friday in the fifth inning because of rib soreness, manager Joe Espada said.

Peña was hit in the ribs by Cade Horton‘s pitch during the second inning Friday. Imaging did not reveal a fracture, and Peña has been able to swing a bat the past two days.

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Peña played in the Astros’ first 82 games of the season and batted .322 with 11 home runs and 40 RBIs.

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NHL draft grades: From the excellent (Islanders, Hurricanes) to the confusing (Maple Leafs)

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June 29, 2025

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NHL draft grades: From the excellent (Islanders, Hurricanes) to the confusing (Maple Leafs)

  • Rachel DoerrieJun 29, 2025, 08:00 AM ET

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      Rachel Doerrie is a professional data consultant specializing in data communication and modelling. She’s worked in the NHL and consulted for professional teams across North American and Europe. She hosts the Staff & Graph Podcast and discusses sports from a data-driven perspective.

The 2025 NHL draft that took far too long has mercifully finished. Any of the 26 teams that voted to hold a decentralized draft, you get a Z grade for that. Not an F, a Z. Let’s never do that again. Back to centralization, please.

Every team is getting a draft grade, regardless of how many players they selected. The grades are based upon the value each team extracted with their picks. So, a team with three first-round picks might have a lower grade than a team with three total picks because they reached on players and could’ve added significantly more talent to their organization, while the team with three picks added value and talent with each selection.

The grade is weighted against the expectation of what teams could reasonably have done with their selections based on my model and team need. Reaching on a player to address a team need while leaving a higher-value player on the board is going to lower the grade. When a team is drafting in the top 16, it is because that team wasn’t good enough for the playoffs and the organization needs talent. Ditto for teams with multiple first-round picks — those aren’t acquired unless valuable players are being traded away for purposes of rebuilding or retooling.

Trade scenarios will be considered, because it is a good strategy to accumulate value by moving down, or acquiring players that fit the organizational timeline. A team that trades back, acquiring multiple selections and extracts value with those selections will likely be graded higher than a team that traded up to select its “guy.” A team like the Montreal Canadiens, who traded multiple picks to acquire and extend a top-4 defenseman in Noah Dobson will have that factored into their grade because they entered the draft with those assets and used them to acquire an asset that aligns with their organizational goals.

Here is every team’s grade for the 2025 draft:

‘A’ grades

For Day 1 alone, the Islanders are getting an A+. If there were a higher grade possible, they’d be getting it. It’s incredible to add a franchise defenseman in Matthew Schaefer who will not only impact the organization positively through his play but is likely to become a future captain. However, it was also the trading of Noah Dobson, who was not going to re-sign, and using those selections to nab the falling Victor Eklund and potential middle-pairing defender Kashawn Aitcheson that boosted the grade.

The Isles didn’t overthink anything. You have to hit on your first-round picks, and every time they made a selection, they took quality players who confidently project to be impactful. There’s a real chance the Isles added a franchise cornerstone, a top-six forward with a blend of hard and soft skill, and a tough-to-play-against defender with raw offensive potential.

On Day 2, GM Mathieu Darche continued stockpiling projectable NHL talent. Daniil Prokhorov has the potential to become a high-end power forward, and Luca Romano should play NHL games in a middle-six role. Tomas Poletin is a reasonable bet on upside and Burke Hood in the late rounds is excellent value. This could be a franchise-changing draft for the Islanders.

The Bruins were the beneficiaries of some interesting decisions at the top of the draft, and managed to secure their top-line center for the future — and the third best player in the draft — in James Hagens. The Bruins have needed help up the middle for a few years, and Hagens is not far off from becoming an NHL star. He was one of the most valuable picks in the draft, simply because players with his talent and skill aren’t available at No. 7 very often.

Following that up by drafting Will Moore and Cooper Simpson were value picks in their range, and both have legitimate NHL upside. They will take longer to get to the NHL, but I like Boston’s accumulation of talent in the draft with those two as well as Liam Pettersson on the back end. There’s a fair chance Boston gets four NHL players from this draft, including one potential star on their top line.

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1:48

Adam Sandler announces Bruins pick at NHL draft

Adam Sandler gives a nod to his famous “Happy Gilmore” character to announce the Bruins picking Boston College’s James Hagens with the seventh pick.

I feel like we say this every year, but my goodness the Carolina Hurricanes did it, again. They got tremendous value in their trade back with the Canadiens, using those picks to draft two projectable NHL talents in Semyon Frolov and Charlie Cerrato. Frolov’s stock grew as the season progressed, and he has a real chance at becoming a 1B goaltender in a tandem. Both Ivan Ryabkin and Kurban Limatov provided a ton of value at their spots, and both have legitimate paths to becoming NHL players. Ryabkin in particular could become a real gem if he improves his consistency.

In the late rounds, I loved the Filip Ekberg and Viggo Nordlund selections as both are smaller, but highly skilled wingers with scoring potential in the NHL. There’s a boom-or-bust quality to both of them, but if they hit, there’s top-six scoring upside and those are exactly the types of players you should be swinging for in the late rounds. It’s likely the Canes have to wait a few years for these players to have an impact, but they should get at least two or three from this draft class.

Any time you add the best forward (Michael Misa) and best goalie (Joshua Ravensbergen) in the draft, you’re going to be happy. There’s a real chance the Sharks come away with a starting goalie and an elite forward who scores over a point per game. That alone, would find them graded with at least a B+. Add in Simon Wang, the highest-drafted Chinese-born player in NHL history, with elite skating ability and a 6-foot-6 frame, and the Sharks bolstered every area of their prospect pool.

I thought Blake Fiddler would have been a more sound selection at No. 33, but the Sharks like Wang’s raw ability and upside which is a decision I can get behind. If Wang hits, he’s going to be an impactful defender in the NHL that many teams wish they’d drafted.

Getting Cole McKinney at No. 53 was great value as well. McKinney’s got more offense to give and at a minimum, he’ll be a bottom-six player who is reliable defensively and on the penalty kill. When all is said and done, there’s a real chance the Sharks get four players from this draft, including a dual-threat, two-way center who is going to make the Sharks a matchup nightmare for teams over the next decade.

Getting Roger McQueen, a player with top-five talent, at No. 10 is tremendous value for the Ducks. They add another big, powerful forward to their stable of young players, and McQueen’s skill set is elite. If McQueen hits his ceiling, the Ducks have a unicorn, and someone who could dominate on both sides of the puck.

Eric Nilson in the second was another valuable selection. He’s a reasonable bet to become a bottom-six contributor whom the Ducks rely on to play secondary matchups and responsible defensive hockey. Elijah Neuenschwander is a more than reasonable bet in goal, and getting him in the late rounds adds to his value.

The Ducks likely added at least two quality NHL players to their organization and got good value all over the board, while finally trading John Gibson — the rumors can end.

Note: If there were bonus points for synergy, the Ducks would be getting an A+ for drafting McQueen, sending him to Disneyland and doing a photo op with Lightning McQueen. Here’s hoping he wears No. 95 because the fun marketing opportunities would be plentiful.

Not only did the Flames address organizational needs with this draft class, they got significant value with the Cullen Potter and Aiden Lane picks, while getting Cole Reschny and Theo Stockselius in the right range. All of those players are going to need development time, but are reasonable bets to play NHL games.

Reschny and Potter are high-end upside picks with NHL attributes who could see them make an impact in the middle six. The Flames needed centers, and there’s a decent chance that at least two of these players provide value at center for them. If Potter moves to the wing, he may flourish as a speedster with an excellent shot.

I liked the swing on Aiden Lane late in the draft, as he’s a late bloomer who has some bottom-six upside. The Flames extracted a ton of value with their selections this weekend and should be pleased with their new group of young talent.

There’s a lot to like about what the Red Wings did this weekend, and they likely nabbed at least two long-term NHL players in Carter Bear and Eddie Genborg. Bear was good value in the teens, and brings a projectable two-way game with high-end playmaking skills. As an added bonus, he has some of the coveted hard skill teams were looking for because he plays in the dirty areas, wins puck battles and creates space for his teammates. He’s two or three years away but should be a quality top-six forward when he’s ready.

I liked the Genborg selection as a good middle-six player who thrives with skill. He’ll be a good complementary player when he’s ready.

Once the top goalies were gone, I really liked the swing on Michal Pradel. The Red Wings aren’t short on goaltending prospects, and he’s another guy who has a chance to be an NHL goaltender. Count me as a fan of the Michal Svrcek pick in the fourth round because of his upside as a speedster with competitive bite. Add in the John Gibson trade — which gives the Red Wings immediate help — and they had a pretty good weekend.

The Predators were a mixed bag for me in this draft. Did they get some high-end talent? Absolutely. Did they leave some high-end talent on the board? Unequivocally.

I understand betting on Brady Martin and why so many teams liked him, but Nashville is starved for elite talent and left James Hagens and Porter Martone on the board. If Martin hits, he’s a valuable playoff player, but there are not many scenarios where he’s more valuable than Hagens or Martone.

I loved their swing on Ryker Lee, who could be an elite top-six forward if his skating improves. His offensive tool kit is one of the draft’s best. Cameron Reid in the 20s was solid value, and he’ll be a quality middle-pairing defender for years. I really liked the Jacob Rombach and Jack Ivankovic selections, too. The Preds needed a goaltender and if Ivankovic grows, he has the foundation of talent to be the best goalie of the crop.

Strap in because this one was a ride!

The Flyers needed a center, passed on Hagens, but got Porter Martone. I love Martone’s game and think he has a ton of potential, but it feels like they went with size. Having said that, I’m not going to dock them grading points because Martone at No. 6 was excellent value. If his skating improves, he’s going to be a star.

The decision to trade up to No. 13 and select Jack Nesbitt not only left a ton of value on the board from a player perspective, but the Flyers lost the pick value trade to their state rival. Nesbitt will be a solid third-line center, but I have some serious concerns about the Flyers drafting for size with a lower ceiling.

Outside of that, I loved the Carter Amico, Jack Murtagh, Shane Vansaghi and Matthew Gard picks. The Flyers clearly had a mission to get bigger and meaner, because every pick was spent on a player with some level of size and competitive meanness that Rick Tocchet is going to love. The Flyers certainly got a lot better this weekend, but there is little doubt that some talent was left on the board.

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2:00

Charles Barkley announces Porter Martone as No. 6 pick in NHL draft

NBA Hall of Famer Charles Barkley helps the Flyers select Porter Martone with the sixth pick of the NHL draft.

The Kraken got a lot better this weekend, particularly with their first two picks. Jake O’Brien projects as an offensively gifted top-six playmaking center. Seattle has a ton of quality young centers and whether they move one or two to the wing or trade one to address another need, the Kraken are well positioned because they constantly draft the best available players.

Blake Fiddler is another example of that, with the Kraken grabbing a first-round talent in the second round. He’s very likely to be a middle-pair defender who plays shutdown minutes. Not only does Seattle address an organizational need, it gets excellent value.

I liked the Will Reynolds and Maxim Agafonov picks as well. Both have some NHL-caliber traits and are worthy swings where the Kraken took them. Overall, another good draft for Seattle.

I loved what the Jets did with their draft capital. Adding Sascha Boumedienne to a prospect pool that is razor thin on defense was tidy work. He’s mobile, saw significant development in his defensive play and should become a quality middle-pairing defender and PP2 guy if his decision-making improves.

Viktor Klingsell was a high-value addition when the Jets grabbed him. He was one of the best skilled players taken in the late rounds, and that’s exactly the type of player you take in the fifth. If he fills out, there’s a middle-six player in there.

I also really liked the Owen Martin and Jacob Cloutier picks. Martin plays a pro-style game that should see him develop into a depth player, while Cloutier is a home run hack at a smaller player who is highly competitive and could be a nice addition if his skating improves. The Jets got good value with all their picks, swung on talent and improved their prospect pool.

‘B’ grades

The Blackhawks clearly had a modus operandi here, and it was “big dudes who can skate.”

I liked Anton Frondell at No. 3, but they definitely left talent on the board with Hagens to opt for Frondell’s size. He’s likely going to be a top-line forward, so you can’t be too upset with that organizational decision.

Both Vaclav Nestrasil and Mason West were a little high for my liking, but both of them are very raw, long-runway type projects with sky-high upside. Given the prospect cupboards, Chicago can afford to take those kinds of swings because both of them could end up as middle-six complementary players who are incredibly difficult to play against. At a minimum, they bet on big guys with skill, and I can get behind that.

Nathan Behm and Julius Sumpf provided good value at their respective slots, and I think there’s a chance that one of them plays NHL games. Certainly, the Blackhawks should get two or three NHL players from this crop of picks, but their development staff is going to be tested.

The Canadiens had themselves a weekend. Trading away the selections that amounted to Victor Eklund and Kashawn Aitcheson to acquire Noah Dobson fit their timeline, but that may turn out to be a hefty price.

They love Alexander Zharovsky and it is easy to see why, but gave up quite a bit of pick value to get him. Nevertheless, I like Zharovsky’s game, and he should be a quality complementary player in the middle six.

In the middle rounds, I absolutely loved the selections of Hayden Paupanekis, Bryce Pickford and personal favorite — L.J. Mooney. All of those players have legitimate NHL upside to varying degrees. Mooney is small, but his compete level and offensive abilities provided outstanding value. Paupanekis should become a bottom-6 player and Pickford is a great bet on an overage defenseman with scoring ability.

All in all, it’s hard not to be happy with the weekend, even if they parted with some very valuable assets to get their guys.

Friday night was a banner night for the Senators. Trading back two spots and acquiring the pick that allowed them to trade for Jordan Spence while extracting tremendous value with Logan Hensler at No. 23 is high-end asset management. I really like Hensler’s game and believe he has the tools to become a solid second or third defender who would complement Jake Sanderson very well. The fact that he’s right-handed and very mobile with an NHL frame makes him very valuable.

The Senators are thin in goal, and taking a swing on Lucas Beckman was a decision that made a lot of sense. Bruno Idzan is a high-upside bet, and a worthwhile one based on his USHL production. He has the potential to be a late bloomer who contributes in a depth role.

The Capitals extracted excellent value with their first two picks in the draft, and both players are solid bets to become middle-six contributors at the NHL level.

Lynden Lakovic has the potential to be a big, dual-threat producer and would be even more exciting if he learns to use his 6-4 frame to physically impose himself on opponents. The ceiling is high for Lakovic, and getting a top-15 player at No. 27 is good work.

Milton Gastrin is one of the more complete players in the draft and shouldn’t be far off from the NHL. He’s got third-line center written all over him and could provide more offense than most think.

Outside of that, I liked the selection of Maxim Schaefer, who has more skill than most of the players taken in the fourth round. Given what they had, the Caps got good value and came away with at least two players who should play impactful roles in their lineup.

The Kings had a fine draft — nothing to be overly excited about and nothing to be disappointed with, either.

They got some value with Jimmy Lombardi, who has projectable NHL play-driving ability and skill. If his speed improves, he could really pop. Petteri Rimpinen was another value-added pick in the late rounds, and worth the swing based on his development curve. Kristian Epperson provided value in the third round as an overager, and should fit nicely in a third-line role when he’s ready.

Henry Brzustewicz was a fine pick, but the Kings took him a little early considering some of the other valuable defensemen on the board at No. 31. They’re betting that his development skyrockets in London, which they’ll need if he’s going to provide value in a second-pair role. Vojtech Cihar was a bit rich for me in the second round because he lacks upside, but I don’t doubt he’ll be an NHL contributor in the bottom six.

The Wild didn’t give Judd Brackett a lot to work worth, but there was value to be had with their selections.

There’s more offense to give with Theodor Hallquisth, and next season in the SHL will go a long way to determining what his NHL projection is likely to be. At minimum, he’s a reliable puck mover who has the tools to be a depth defender if his skating improves.

The real value came from selecting Adam Benak, who is one of the best skaters and smartest players in the draft class. But he’s small, so of course he fell. He was by far the most skilled player available in the fourth round, and if he grows a couple inches, he has the special talent to be a top-six player. I liked the Justin Kipkie selection; he was one of the best overage defensemen available in the draft and a worthwhile bet.

The Devils were a mixed bag, drafting guys with good value and a few head-scratchers — including a player who didn’t play a single game this season (Sigge Holmgren).

I loved the Ben Kevan selection at the end of the second round. He’s a great skater with good offensive qualities. Conrad Fondrk was another good upside bet with good passing and shooting skill. Both could become valuable members of a third line that contributes offensively.

I liked the Mason Moe and Gustav Hillstrom selections as well. They have a longer path to becoming NHL players, but both are good bets and decent value for the draft slot. The Devils did well for what they had.

Wes Clark loves to take big swings and he did it again. I absolutely love Benjamin Kindel as a player; he has real upside as a top-six forward, but I’m not convinced he’s going to be better than some of the players they left on the board. Trading down to acquire a third first-round pick was great, but again, value was left on the board.

There is little doubt Bill Zonnon is going to be an NHL player. He was in the right range and should be a valuable middle-six asset. I thought the Penguins could’ve traded back with the Will Horcoff pick, but I understand why they like him. If he hits his ceiling, he’s going to be a solid complementary player in the middle six. Failing that, he’s likely to top out in a depth role.

On Day 2, the Pens got excellent value in Charlie Trethewey, who could blossom into a fourth or fifth defender with excellent puck movement. Peyton Kettles and Quinn Beauchesne were two other selections I liked, and both have legitimate NHL upside.

Given the Mammoth’s stated goal of adding size and tenacity up front, it was not surprising to see them draft Caleb Desnoyers. I would’ve elected for Martone if size was their goal, because he’s got higher offensive upside, but Desnoyers is a solid bet to become a second-line, two-way center. He’ll shoulder all the matchup pressure and free up the likes of Logan Cooley and Barrett Hayton to play offensively. It’s a very understandable pick for the Mammoth.

I loved the selection of Max Psenicka in the second round. I think he’s got a higher offensive upside than he’s given credit for, with potential to become a quality shutdown defender on the second pair. Their other selections don’t project to be NHL players, but the first two selections should be stalwarts in their lineup for years to come.

They didn’t have a lot to play with, but I loved the Jakob Ihs Wozniak and Mateo Nobert selections. Ihs Wozniak has one of the best shots in the draft and should score 20-25 goals per season in the NHL. Trading up to get a prospect who will have value around the league (before they inevitably trade him) is smart business. Getting a player with high-30s talent in the late stages of the second round is quality value.

Nobert is another offensive talent and could become a quality complementary player down the line. He was a more than reasonable bet in the third round. For what they had to work with, the Golden Knights should be happy with how they fared.

The Blue Jackets addressed a need and got great value by adding Jackson Smith in the middle of the first round. If Smith’s offense continues to develop, there’s a real chance the Blue Jackets drafted the second-best defender of the class much later than he should have gone.

The Pyotr Andreyanov pick was a head scratcher — not because I don’t believe in his potential, but because he wasn’t the top goalie on the board, and the Blue Jackets could have traded back to get him. Trading back would’ve been best if they wanted a goalie. They had an opportunity to grab the likes of Lakovic and Hensler, who would’ve been great organizational fits. Andreyanov is five or six years from playing in North America, which is a long time to wait for a first-round pick, but upside as a 1B starter is attractive.

I also think the Malte Vass selection provided value.

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2:50

Johnny Gaudreau’s wife announces the Blue Jackets’ draft pick

Meredith Gaudreau, Johnny Gaudreau’s widow, joins the NHL draft to announce the Blue Jackets selecting Jackson Smith with the 14th pick.

The Dallas Stars’ ability to get a top-40 player despite not selecting until pick No. 94 is very Dallas Stars of them.

Cameron Schmidt, who had more than 40 goals in the WHL, is one of the best goal scorers in the draft. But he’s short, so teams decided to draft players with lower upside and projectable talent. He’s a quality skater, and players with two separating skills are almost never available at that spot. If Schmidt hits, we’re going to be talking about how the Stars “did it again” just like they did with Logan Stankoven.

Outside of that, the Stars had nothing to write home about. The selection of Schmidt alone provided the highest value in the draft from ranking and projection to selection, something the Stars are all too familiar with. At some point, the skill and upside need to outweigh the height, because too many taken before him are far less likely to become NHLers.

For what the Blues had to work with, they got some good value. I loved the selection of Justin Carbonneau at No. 19. If he puts it all together, he could be a premier power forward in the NHL with his size, skill and ability to create scoring opportunities. He has some of the best upside in the draft and could be a quality top-six forward for the Blues.

They didn’t select until much later on Day 2, but I liked the Mikhail Fyordorov selection as a reasonable bet given his production in the MHL. He’s got a long way to go, but his offensive creativity is exactly what the Blues should be swinging for.

The Canucks’ draft was fine. They left value on the board to take Braeden Cootes, but he’s going to be a solid middle-six contributor and addresses the organization’s pressing need for centers. They tried to trade that pick for immediate help, but in the end, Cootes was right in that range.

I loved the selection of Alexei Medvedev, a pick that has Ian Clark’s fingerprints all over it. He’s big and moldable and has the mental makeup to be a tandem goalie in the NHL.

In a departure from previous years, the Canucks used most of their picks on players with scoring profiles and skill, something their prospect pipeline needs. They made reasonable bets on upside picks in the middle rounds who will test their development staff. They left value on the board with Kieren Dervin and could’ve swung on Schmidt or Mooney, but overall, it was a reasonable draft.

‘C’ grades

Buffalo had a modus operandi that was quite a bit different from previous drafts, and it showed.

Radim Mrtka is a reasonable bet to play top-four minutes in the NHL and fits the profile of big and hard to play against. That was a bit high for him and left significant talent on the board, but the Sabres clearly identified Mrtka as an organizational need.

David Bedkowski was a good selection as one of the most violent, physical defenders in the draft, and if he makes it, he will fill a depth role and be a nightmare to play against. There’s a real chance that those are the only players who play NHL games for the Sabres in this draft class, as they departed from their previous MO of drafting high-end skill.

For a team that didn’t have any high picks (or many picks at all), I liked the swings the Oilers took, particularly on Tommy Lafreniere and David Lewandowski. They don’t have strong NHL projections by any means, but betting on their upside is a smart thing to do. I had those players going earlier than they did, giving the Oilers good value with their selections. If either Lafreniere or Lewandowski hit, they should provide complementary scoring in depth roles, something the Oilers will absolutely need while their contention window is open.

I debated docking the Oilers for not outbidding the Red Wings for John Gibson and addressing a significant organizational need, because the probability of Gibson helping the Oilers out in their contention window far exceeds the probability of any draft picks doing the same. With Joel Hofer re-signing with the Blues as well, the Oilers are going to have a tough time improving an area that desperately needs immediate help.

This entire grade hinges on Malcolm Spence, who provided tremendous value for the Rangers in the second round. There is little doubt he will become a middle-six pest, and if the Rangers can sort out their development issues, he’s got the chance to be a second-line winger.

Sean Barnhill is a fine selection, but probably a little high. There’s NHL potential there with his skating, but he’ll need to improve his decision making to be a depth NHL defender. I liked the swing on Mikkel Eriksen. He could fill a depth role and at least become a quality AHL player. The Rangers left value on the board at every other selection.

There’s not a ton to write home about when it comes to the Lightning’s draft class, but I really liked the Ethan Czata selection. Lightning fans love Anthony Cirelli and Brandon Hagel, and Czata is built in that mold. He’s got good touch around the net, and if he adds speed, has all the tools to become a pesky middle-six contributor who is a nightmare to play against because of his physical nature.

I liked the swing on Benjamin Rautiainen because if he fills out, he’s a brilliant shooter with good puck skill. If he hits, he’s got the potential to be a complementary scorer in the NHL. Outside of that, he’s likely a high-end AHL player who can fill in when injuries occur.

‘D’ grades

When you win back-to-back Stanley Cups, you’re probably not going to have an elite draft because you don’t have many picks.

I’m a fan of the Shamar Moses pick: I think he provides value at that spot with an outside chance to play NHL games. The Panthers are unlikely to get NHL players from this crop of prospects, but the Moses pick bumps their grade up because he has an NHL projection in a depth role, something the Panthers will need if they intend to keep their contention window open for the next few years.

They didn’t have many picks, and I didn’t love what they did with any of them. I thought they left talent on the board with each of their selections and didn’t take any players with an NHL projection. Given their contention window and few draft picks, I would’ve liked to have seen them swing on higher upside, because contenders need to hit on those players to keep that window open longer.

Francesco Dell’Elce has a chance to be a depth defender, but as an overager, his development runway is shorter. It’s probable the Avs don’t get any NHL players from their draft, with Dell’Elce being the only one with an outside shot at bottom-pair minutes.

It seems like the Maple Leafs hired one of the best talent evaluators in hockey, but then gave him an edict instead of letting him cook. GM Brad Treliving has made it very clear that he wants size in this lineup, but the Leafs left far too much skill and upside on the board to accomplish that.

There is a very real possibility the Leafs got one depth NHL player (Tyler Hopkins) from this draft class, and that’s it. A lot of the players they selected are very raw, with size being their best attribute. When you leave players like Behm, Limatov, Thretheway, Mooney and Schmidt on the board who have legitimate NHL upside in valuable roles, it feels like a choice.

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