Travis Hunter’s rise to college football immortality
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Mark Schlabach, ESPN Senior Writer
LAWRENCEVILLE, Ga. — There are massive concrete barriers blocking what were once entrances to the Metro Extended Stay hotel. The empty and cracked parking lot has patches of overgrown weeds sprouting from the asphalt, and the ditches surrounding the property are covered in overgrown brush and littered with trash.
The hotel is gone, but a single black mailbox still stands on the large lot not far from Georgia Route 316, a lone, somber reminder of the three-story building that once housed numerous families and residents.
In high school, University of Colorado two-way star Travis Hunter lived at the hotel with his mother, stepfather and three siblings in a single room. There were two beds, a bathroom and little privacy for schoolwork or anything else.
Hunter’s coaches at nearby Collins Hill High weren’t aware of his circumstances when he showed up unannounced during the summer before his freshman year in 2018. They only knew that Hunter, who had moved to the Atlanta suburb with his family from Fort Lauderdale, Florida, was different.
“His dad said he was a day one starter on varsity,” said Collins Hill High coach Drew Swick, who was the team’s outside linebackers coach when Hunter enrolled. “We all kind of chuckled and laughed. We hear that all the time.
“When we saw him for the first time in practice, we’re like, ‘Damn, he isn’t lying. This kid is legit.'”
Hunter has been different from nearly everyone else at each stop of his football career. It’s why the 21-year-old receiver and cornerback — a rare two-way player — is a massive betting favorite to win the Heisman Trophy on Saturday (-2250 on ESPN BET) and might be a top-five pick in next year’s NFL draft.
Hunter said winning the Heisman Trophy was his dream as a kid, but the idea of hoisting the stiff-armed trophy as the best college football player in the land seemed attainable only in video games. Hunter played EA Sports NCAA Football with his cousin, filling his roster with players with 99 grades and “trying to make them win the Heisman and all the good trophies,” he said. Now Hunter is tied for the highest rating in the current version of the game.
“I never envisioned this would happen for me, but I’m so happy to be sitting right here,” Hunter said in a news conference last month.
Hunter’s path to the Heisman Trophy ceremony in New York was anything but orthodox. After becoming one of the country’s most coveted recruits at Collins Hill, he shunned college football blue bloods Alabama, Florida State, Georgia and others to sign with Jackson State, becoming the first five-star recruit to choose an HBCU program.
After one season with the Tigers, Hunter followed his coach, Deion Sanders, to Colorado, where he became one of the sport’s most electrifying players.
This season, Hunter has 92 receptions for 1,152 yards with 14 touchdowns (No. 2 in the FBS) on offense, while allowing just 22 catches, one touchdown and six first downs on defense. He logged 1,356 snaps on offense and defense in 12 games — 434 more than any other FBS player.
Hunter has already collected the Walter Camp Award as the top overall player in the FBS, along with the Chuck Bednarik Award as the top defensive player and the Biletnikoff Award for the best wide receiver.
It’s a workload that would leave most players gasping for air. “There hasn’t been a game this year or last year where I felt like I’m too tired, I need to take a break, or I’m taking two minutes now to cool out,” Hunter said. “I don’t ever feel that way.”
With his blazing speed and playmaking ability as a receiver and lockdown cover skills as a cornerback, Hunter is considered a generational talent who wants to play on both sides of the ball in the NFL.
“I’m super confident, and I believe that I can do it at the next level,” Hunter said. “I’m not going to let anyone tell me that I can’t do something that I already done. They said I couldn’t do it in college, and I ended up doing it in college.
“A lot of people tell me I can’t do it in the NFL, but I’m going to still do it in the NFL. You know, a lot of people just let other people get in their ear, so they don’t let them do it, and some people don’t have the body type to be able to go both ways full-time.”
When Hunter was asked about being described as a unicorn by a reporter, he said, “A unicorn is just different, different from everybody else. It’s just hard to do what the unicorn can do.”
SHIRLEY HUNTER, HIS paternal grandmother, who lives in Boynton Beach, Florida, isn’t surprised by her grandson’s success. She would tell anyone who would listen that “he was going to be the one” when he was 4 years old. She remembers Hunter throwing a football with both hands when he was 5; he says he can throw one 70 yards now.
“Everything about him was different,” said Shirley Hunter, who will be in New York to watch the Heisman Trophy ceremony. “His demeanor was different. When he was playing little league football and they’d take him off the field, he’d get upset. He wasn’t like the other kids. He wanted to play all the time.”
Hunter didn’t start on the Collins Hill varsity team as a freshman, but he played quite a bit in the secondary. As a sophomore, he had seven interceptions and 49 catches for 919 yards with 12 touchdowns.
The next season, Hunter exploded as a star player on both sides of the ball, finishing with eight interceptions and 51 tackles on defense and a whopping 137 catches for 1,746 yards with 24 scores on offense. He helped lead the Eagles to the 2020 Class 7A state title game.
By then, Hunter was living with Collins Hill secondary coach Frontia Fountain and his wife and daughter, Mitoya and Peyton. One weekend while Hunter’s mother was out of town, he asked Fountain if he could stay with him. Hunter lived in the Fountains’ home for more than a year until shortly before leaving for college.
Hunter’s mother, Ferrante Harris, told ESPN that she left behind a three-bedroom house in Florida in hopes of obtaining a better life for herself and her family when they moved to Georgia. For a while, they slept on the floor of a friend’s house before moving to the hotel.
“In order for you to have something, you got to actually see it,” Harris said. “So I knew that this was just us passing through, and that was something that we had to go through. We went through it. We endured it, but it also made us stronger. Not just one of us, but all of us. Sometimes the tests and the trials that you go through can make you stronger, make you wiser, and make you that much hungrier.”
Fountain, who played cornerback at Savannah State, had two rules in his house: Hunter had to wake himself up for school, and he had to finish his homework before playing video games or going fishing.
There was one drawback while living with Fountain: He was one of the first employees to arrive at Collins Hill, at around 5:20 a.m. each school day. Hunter curled up in a blanket in Fountain’s office until classes started at 7:20 a.m. He kicked off school days by hugging the administrative assistant and secretary in the front office.
“He was not only special on the football field, he was a special kid,” Fountain said. “Travis never had any discipline [problems]. He was never in trouble. The worst thing he did was watching film in class.”
Hunter could be seen walking the halls at Collins Hill with a stuffed wolf draped over his shoulders to stay warm. His diet in high school included hot (and extra wet) chicken wings, Chipotle and tons of candy. He skipped pregame meals and consumed a bag of gummy bears instead.
“The personality that you see, from the celebration dances to the onesies on his social media, I can’t think of him and not smile,” said Heather Childs, an assistant principal at Collins Hill. “Because to be around him, it was just joy.”
AFTER HUNTER INITIALLY committed to play football at Florida State in March 2020, the Seminoles asked him to graduate from high school a semester early.
Childs took on the task of helping Hunter try to do it. As a junior, Hunter took a block course, completing an entire year of language arts in one semester. He enrolled in summer school courses before his senior year, and then tackled block classes in math, science and language arts and three extra online courses that fall. Childs helped Hunter with study strategies and pacing plans.
“He worked at home,” Fountain said. “He’d come home, get a snack, and then he would sit there and work on his homework. He knew what it was going to take, and Travis is a very smart kid. He needed structure.”
As a senior, Hunter missed five games because of an ankle injury. He returned in time for the state playoffs, helping Collins Hill win its first state title with a 24-8 victory against Milton High in December 2021. Hunter had 10 catches for 153 yards and one touchdown and forced a fumble on defense. He tied a state record with 46 career touchdown receptions.
Before the early signing period opened that month, Hunter quietly took an official visit to the Jackson State campus in Mississippi. Tigers quarterback Shedeur Sanders, the head coach’s son, had been urging him to come, and they hooked up for brunch during his visit.
“He was trying to make a TikTok,” Sanders said last month. “I said, ‘Bro, if I make the TikTok, you got to commit, man.'”
One assistant coach whose Power 5 team was involved in Hunter’s recruitment until the end remembered walking out of his final visit at Collins Hill and calling his head coach.
“This kid is going to Jackson State,” the assistant told the coach.
“No f—ing way,” the coach responded.
“He talked about Deion Sanders the entire time,” the assistant said. “He knew everything about him. We’re wasting our time.”
On Dec. 15, 2021, Hunter flipped his commitment from Florida State to Jackson State. Swick didn’t know where his star player was going to go until Hunter walked into his signing ceremony wearing Nike Air Force shoes that were navy blue, one of the Tigers’ team colors.
“He was trying to kill two birds with one stone,” Swick said. “He wanted to make HBCUs popular … [and] Deion Sanders, the greatest to ever play his position, was going to be his head coach.”
During his stunning announcement, Hunter thanked Fountain for believing in him.
“Since day one, Coach Fountain, you have seen something in me that no one else has seen,” Hunter said. “Always coming to pick me up and making sure that I had something to eat and a place to stay every night. When I first got up here, we didn’t really have any friends. I came up here and it was just football, and I thank my teachers for challenging me and helping me get my grades up.”
Fountain and Childs traveled to Miami Gardens, Florida, with their families to watch Hunter play in his first college game, a 59-3 victory against Florida A&M in the Orange Blossom Classic on Sept. 5, 2022. Childs attended a game at Colorado, and Fountain watches his former student play on TV every week.
They’re especially proud that he was named an Academic All-American last year with a 3.7 grade-point average.
“When you have a child, it takes a village to help with that child,” Harris said. “It doesn’t just be the parent. It also takes other people that can reach your child just as well as you can. In some areas that you won’t be able to reach your child, there is always someone that God will place in that child’s life or your life, they’ll be able to reach that child for you. So they did exactly what I was not qualified to do. We all have different roles, and the roles they played with my son were amazing.”
Earlier this year, Hunter donated $10,000 from an NIL deal with Cheez-It to Collins Hill High to help teachers purchase supplies for their classrooms.
In July 2021, the Lawrenceville City Council unanimously agreed to purchase the Metro Extended Stay hotel for $7.2 million. It had become a crime-ridden property, and Mayor David Still told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that purchasing the hotel would save taxpayers money in the long run. The city demolished the hotel in 2022.
In March, Hunter and his fiancée, Leanna Lenee, surprised his mother with a five-bedroom home outside Savannah, Georgia, purchased with money he earned from lucrative NIL deals with United Airlines and NerdWallet, among others. He revealed the surprise in a video on his YouTube channel.
“We went through our tests and our trials for a purpose,” Harris said. “The purpose was this merry moment. Had we not gone through what we went through, how strong would he actually be? When people come at him and say crazy stuff, it doesn’t matter, because he’s been through a lot of storms. We’ve been through a lot of storms, but the outcome is so much greater than the storm that we were in.”
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Rachel Doerrie
The games are done for the top draft prospects; there is no hockey left to be played. A few players in the top 10 played until the last possible moment, making a lasting impression on scouts and executives at the Memorial Cup. With the combine taking place this week in Buffalo, New York, players will undergo physical testing and a rigorous interview process with interested teams. The combine allows teams to ask out-of-the-box questions, get a feel for the personalities of the players and, in some cases, understand the significance of injuries.
There is room for movement on the draft board because combine testing does impact model outputs. Furthermore, this list weighs scouting as 40% of the evaluation. The final ranking, which will be published June 23, will weigh scouting, projection, off-ice assessments and industry intel to varying degrees, which may see some players move up or down.
There are five parts of this set of rankings:
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The rank, which accounts for attributed value based on projection, the confidence of the projection and scouting.
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The NHL projection weighs the projection formula at 70% and scouting at 30%, and represents the most likely outcome for that player. The final edition of the rankings will include the player’s NHL ceiling.
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The NHL floor uses the same formula and represents the worst outcome, above 10% probability of occurring. If a player has a 4% chance of never playing NHL games and an 11% chance of becoming a fourth-line winger or No. 7 defenseman, then those projections will be used for NHL floor. For some players in the draft, the floor is outside of the NHL, perhaps the AHL or KHL.
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Projection confidence is based solely on the projection formula and forms two parts: confidence and volatility. The confidence has four tiers: High, fair, medium and low. This represents that confidence the model has that the player will reach the NHL projection for 200 or more NHL games. The level of confidence impacts the value of the player and, therefore, their rank. High confidence is above 80%, fair is 60% to 79%, medium is 35% to 59% and low is below 35%. The volatility has four categories: Low, slight, medium and high. Volatility relates to the range of outcomes a player has in their career. A player with a low volatility means there is a smaller range of outcomes for the NHL career, whether that is a No. 1 defenseman to top-pair defenseman, or third-line center to bottom-six forward. A player with high volatility has a wide range of outcomes, with relatively even distributions over the NHL projection. It could be related to a number of factors: the league they play in, their scoring if they changed leagues, injuries or a significant uptick/downturn in play. Many of these players are considered “raw” in their development curve.
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Strengths are each player’s standout abilities.
“Boom or bust” is an all-encompassing phrase with confidence and volatility. It means the player either hits their NHL projection or is unlikely to play 200 NHL games. The difference between a low-confidence/high-volatility projection and a boom-or-bust projection is simple: It means injuries played a role in the projection, and the sample size makes it difficult to confidently project the player’s most likely outcome; or that the league in which the player plays does not have a successful history of producing NHL players.
One other consideration is the “Russian factor,” where skilled Russians are more likely to return to Russia if they fail to hit their NHL projection.
Here is how the top 64 prospects line up according to my model:
1. Matthew Schaefer, D, Erie (OHL)
NHL projection: No. 1 defenseman
NHL floor: Top-pair defenseman
Projection confidence: High confidence, low volatility
Strengths: Mobility, puck moving, creativity, rush activation
2. Michael Misa, F, Saginaw (OHL)
NHL projection: Elite No. 1 center
NHL floor: Second-line winger
Projection confidence: High confidence, slight volatility
Strengths: Offensive instincts, explosiveness, transition offense, two-way play
3. James Hagens, F, Boston College (NCAA)
NHL projection: First-line center
NHL floor: Second-line center
Projection confidence: Fair confidence, slight volatility
Strengths: Transition play, speed, hockey sense, puck handling
4. Porter Martone, F, Brampton (OHL)
NHL projection: Second-line power forward
NHL floor: Middle-six winger
Projection confidence: High confidence, slight volatility
Strengths: Playmaking, scoring, hockey sense, size
5. Caleb Desnoyers, F, Moncton (QMJHL)
NHL projection: Top-six, two-way center
NHL floor: Third-line checking center
Projection confidence: High confidence, medium volatility
Strengths: Two-way play, quick hands, playmaking, efficient puck play
6. Anton Frondell, F, Djurgardens (Allsvenskan)
NHL projection: Second-line center
NHL floor: Third-line scoring winger
Projection confidence: Fair confidence, medium volatility
Strengths: Versatility, two-way play, elite release, forechecking
7. Roger McQueen, F, Brandon (WHL)
NHL projection: First-line scoring center
NHL floor: Injury-shortened career
Projection confidence: Low confidence, high volatility
Strengths: Speed, puck handling, quick release, size
8. Viktor Eklund, F, Djurgardens (Allsvenskan)
NHL projection: Top-six scoring forward
NHL floor: Middle-six scoring forward
Projection confidence: High confidence, medium volatility
Strengths: Motor, transition offense, two-way play, off-puck play, hard skill
9. Jake O’Brien, F, Brantford (OHL)
NHL projection: Top-six playmaking center
NHL floor: Middle-six scoring winger
Projection confidence: Fair confidence, medium volatility
Strengths: Playmaking, creativity, hockey sense
10. Jackson Smith, D, Tri-City (WHL)
NHL projection: Top-four defenseman
NHL floor: Bottom-pair defenseman
Projection confidence: Fair confidence, medium volatility
Strengths: Physicality, transition defense, mobility, puck moving
11. Brady Martin, F, Sault Ste. Marie (OHL)
NHL projection: Second-line scoring forward
NHL floor: Bottom-six power forward
Projection confidence: Medium confidence, high volatility
Strengths: Motor, wall play, physicality, hard skill, competitiveness
12. Radim Mrtka, D, Seattle (WHL)
NHL projection: Top-four shutdown defenseman
NHL floor: Bottom-pair transition defenseman
Projection confidence: Fair confidence, slight volatility
Strengths: Size, stick positioning and use, hockey sense
13. Carter Bear, F, Everett (WHL)
NHL projection: Second-line versatile forward
NHL floor: Third-line checker
Projection confidence: Fair confidence, medium volatility
Strengths: Playmaking, versatility, two-way play, motor
14. Justin Carbonneau, F, Blainville-Boisbriand (QMJHL)
NHL projection: Second-line scoring forward
NHL floor: Middle-six forward
Projection confidence: Fair confidence, medium volatility
Strengths: Powerful stride, playmaking, puck handling
15. Logan Hensler, D, Wisconsin (NCAA)
NHL projection: Second-pair transition defenseman
NHL floor: Bottom-pair defenseman
Projection confidence: High confidence, medium volatility
Strengths: Gap control, mobility, transition play
16. Lynden Lakovic, F, Moose Jaw (WHL)
NHL projection: Middle-six scoring winger
NHL floor: Bottom-six forward
Projection confidence: Fair confidence, high volatility
Strengths: Speed, finishing ability, hands, size
17. Kashawn Aitcheson, D, Barrie (OHL)
NHL projection: Second-pair defenseman
NHL floor: Bottom-pair physical defenseman
Projection confidence: Medium confidence, medium volatility
Strengths: Physicality, competitiveness, aggression, strength
18. Braeden Cootes, F, Seattle (WHL)
NHL projection: Middle-six two-way center
NHL floor: Bottom-six checking winger
Projection confidence: Fair confidence, medium volatility
Strengths: Two-way play, speed, anticipation, forechecking
19. Cameron Schmidt, F, Vancouver (WHL)
NHL projection: Second-line scoring winger
NHL floor: AHL player
Projection confidence: Boom or bust
Strengths: Speed, puck handling, offensive instincts, finishing ability
20. Cole Reschny, F, Victoria (WHL)
NHL projection: Middle-six two-way center
NHL floor: Bottom-six forward
Projection confidence: Fair confidence, medium volatility
Strengths: Two-way play, anticipation, quick hands, competitiveness
21. Cameron Reid, D, Kitchener (OHL)
NHL projection: Top-four transition defenseman
NHL floor: Bottom-pair defensive defenseman
Projection confidence: Fair confidence, high volatility
Strengths: Skating, transition play, hockey sense
22. Cullen Potter, F, Arizona State (NCAA)
NHL projection: Top-six forward
NHL floor: Bottom-six checking winger
Projection confidence: Fair confidence, high volatility
Strengths: Speed, agility, offensive play driving, elite release
23. Benjamin Kindel, F, Calgary (WHL)
NHL projection: Middle-six two-way winger
NHL floor: Bottom-six checking winger
Projection confidence: High confidence, medium volatility
Strengths: Hockey sense, transition, two-way play
24. Malcolm Spence, F, Erie (OHL)
NHL projection: Third-line two-way winger
NHL floor: Bottom-six winger
Projection confidence: High confidence, slight volatility
Strengths: High-end motor, two-way play, tenacity
25. Joshua Ravensbergen, G, Prince George (WHL)
NHL projection: No. 1 starting goaltender
NHL floor: 1B tandem goaltender
Projection confidence: High confidence, medium volatility
Strengths: Anticipation, crisp movements, competitiveness, lateral agility
26. Blake Fiddler, D, Edmonton (WHL)
NHL projection: Second-pair defenseman
NHL floor: Bottom-pair physical defenseman
Projection confidence: High confidence, medium volatility
Strengths: Transition defense, in-zone defensive play, size, mobility
27. Sascha Boumedienne, D, Boston University (NCAA)
NHL projection: Second-pair two-way defenseman
NHL floor: Bottom-pair offensive specialist
Projection confidence: Medium confidence, high volatility
Strengths: Skating, stick play, transition play, slap shot
28. Jack Murtagh, F, USNTDP (USHL)
NHL projection: Third-line power forward
NHL floor: Fourth-line forward
Projection confidence: Fair confidence, slight volatility
Strengths: Motor, shooting, hard skill, straight-line speed
29. Jack Nesbitt, F, Windsor (OHL)
NHL projection: Middle-six two-way center
NHL floor: Fourth-line defensive center
Projection confidence: Fair confidence, medium volatility
Strengths: Strength, size, competitiveness, two-way play
30. Bill Zonnon, F, Rouyn-Noranda (QMJHL)
NHL projection: Third-line two-way forward
NHL floor: AHL player
Projection confidence: Medium confidence, medium volatility
Strengths: High-end motor, raw playmaking, competitiveness, puck battles
31. William Moore, F, USNTDP (USHL)
NHL projection: Third-line forward
NHL floor: NHL depth player
Projection confidence: Medium confidence, medium volatility
Strengths: Puck protection, skating, offensive instincts, puck skill
32. Ryker Lee, F, Madison (USHL)
NHL projection: Middle-six playmaker
NHL floor: Bottom-six scoring depth
Projection confidence: Boom or bust
Strengths: Hockey sense, creativity, puck handling, one-timer
33. Nathan Behm, F, Kamploops (WHL)
NHL projection: Middle-six scoring forward
NHL floor: Bottom-six scoring depth
Projection confidence: Fair confidence, medium volatility
Strengths: Playmaking, shooting, creativity
34. Milton Gastrin, F, Modo (J20 Nationell)
NHL projection: Third-line two-way center
NHL floor: Fourth-line center
Projection confidence: Fair confidence, low volatility
Strengths: Defensive play, two-way instincts, motor
35. Shane Vansaghi, F, Michigan State (NCAA)
NHL projection: Third-line power forward
NHL floor: Bottom-six checking forward
Projection confidence: High confidence, slight volatility
Strengths: Physicality, strength, competitiveness, puck skill
36. Jakob Ihs-Wozniak, F, Lulea (J20 Nationell)
NHL projection: Middle-six scoring forward
NHL floor: Third-line scoring depth
Projection confidence: Medium confidence, medium volatility
Strengths: Playmaking, finishing ability, offensive instincts
37. Jack Ivankovic, G, Brampton (OHL)
NHL projection: Platoon starting goaltender
NHL floor: High-end NHL backup
Projection confidence: Fair confidence, medium volatility
Strengths: Positioning, controlled movements, patience in save selection
38. Henry Brzustewicz, D, London (OHL)
NHL projection: No. 4/5 transition defender
NHL floor: AHL scoring defenseman
Projection confidence: Medium confidence, high volatility
Strengths: Puck moving, gap control, creativity
39. Cole McKinney, F, USNTDP (USHL)
NHL projection: Third-line, two-way center
NHL floor: Fourth-line defensive center
Projection confidence: Fair confidence, slight volatility
Strengths: Two-way play, penalty killing, competitiveness, finishing ability
40. Eric Nilson, F, Orebro (J20 Nationell)
NHL projection: Bottom-six checking center
NHL floor: AHL top-six center
Projection confidence: Medium confidence, medium volatility
Strengths: Two-way play, forechecking, competitiveness, defensive instincts
41. Vaclav Nestrasil, F, Muskegon (USHL)
NHL projection: Top-six power forward
NHL floor: Fourth-line physical winger
Projection confidence: Medium confidence, high volatility
Strengths: Size, motor, two-way play, puck skill
42. Benjamin Kevan, F, Des Moines (USHL)
NHL projection: Middle-six two-way winger
NHL floor: Bottom-six speedster
Projection confidence: Medium confidence, high volatility
Strengths: Speed, puck handling, transition offense
43. Ivan Ryabkin, F, Muskegon (USHL)
NHL projection: Middle-six power forward
NHL floor: AHL player
Projection confidence: Boom or bust
Strengths: Quick release, creativity, physicality
44. Daniil Prokhorov, F, St. Petersburg (MHL)
NHL projection: Middle-six power forward
NHL floor: KHL player
Projection confidence: Boom or bust
Strengths: Size, strength, physicality, heavy shot
45. Carter Amico, D, USNTDP (USHL)
NHL projection: No. 4/5 transition defenseman
NHL floor: No. 7 defenseman
Projection confidence: Medium confidence, medium volatility
Strengths: Mobility, transition defense, physicality, size
46. Max Psenicka, D, Portland (WHL)
NHL projection: No. 4/5 two-way defenseman
NHL floor: No. 7 defenseman
Projection confidence: Medium confidence, medium volatility
Strengths: Instincts, mobility, gap control, puck moving
47. Luca Romano, F, Kitchener (OHL)
NHL projection: Middle-six, two-way center
NHL floor: Bottom-six checking speedster
Projection confidence: Medium confidence, medium volatility
Strengths: Speed, transition play, motor
48. Alexander Zharovsky, F, Ufa (MHL)
NHL projection: Middle-six scoring winger
NHL floor: KHL player
Projection confidence: Boom or bust
Strengths: Puck handling, instincts, creativity
49. Kurban Limatov, D, Moscow (MHL)
NHL projection: Second-pair, two-way defenseman
NHL floor: KHL player
Projection confidence: Boom or bust
Strengths: Skating, mobility, aggressiveness, physicality
50. Mason West, F, Edina (USHS)
NHL projection: Middle-six physical forward
NHL floor: Fourth-line physical forward
Projection confidence: Low confidence, high volatility
Strengths: Strength, physicality, size, mobility
51. Kristian Epperson, F, Saginaw (OHL)
NHL projection: Third-line scoring winger
NHL floor: AHL top-six forward
Projection confidence: Medium confidence, high volatility
Strengths: Two-way play, playmaking, hockey sense
52. Matthew Gard, F, Red Deer (WHL)
NHL projection: Bottom-six checking center
NHL floor: Fourth-line physical center
Projection confidence: Fair confidence, low volatility
Strengths: Strength, size, defensive play, motor
53. William Horcoff, F, Michigan (NCAA)
NHL projection: Third-line two-way center
NHL floor: Fourth-line physical presence
Projection confidence: Fair confidence, slight volatility
Strengths: Defensive play, strength, size, wall play
54. Jacob Rombach, D, Lincoln (USHL)
NHL projection: Second-pair shutdown defenseman
NHL floor: Bottom-pair physical defenseman
Projection confidence: Medium confidence, slight volatility
Strengths: Defensive play, puck retrievals, motor
55. Peyton Kettles, D, Swift Current (WHL)
NHL projection: No. 4/5 shutdown defenseman
NHL floor: Bottom-pair defenseman
Projection confidence: Medium confidence, low volatility
Strengths: Defensive play, size, physicality
56. Hayden Paupanekis, F, Kelowna (WHL)
NHL projection: Bottom-six defensive center
NHL floor: Fourth-line center
Projection confidence: Medium confidence, medium volatility
Strengths: Competitiveness, size, defensive play
57. David Bedkowski, D, Owen Sound (OHL)
NHL projection: Bottom-pair shutdown defenseman
NHL floor: No. 7 physical defenseman
Projection confidence: Medium confidence, slight volatility
Strengths: Physicality, size, strong stick, penalty killing
58. Ethan Czata, F, Niagara (OHL)
NHL projection: Bottom-six checking center
NHL floor: AHL depth
Projection confidence: Medium confidence, slight volatility
Strengths: Penalty killing, physicality, hard skill
59. Haoxi “Simon” Wang, D, Oshawa (OHL)
NHL projection: Second-pair two-way defenseman
NHL floor: AHL player
Projection confidence: Low confidence, high volatility
Strengths: Skating, mobility, size, transition defense
60. Theo Stockselius, F, Djurgardens (J20 Nationell)
NHL projection: Third-line two-way forward
NHL floor: AHL depth
Projection confidence: Low confidence, medium volatility
Strengths: Hockey sense, hard skill, playmaking
61. Eddie Genborg, F, Linkoping (SHL)
NHL projection: Bottom-six checking winger
NHL floor: Fourth-line physical winger
Projection confidence: Medium confidence, slight volatility
Strengths: Physicality, two-way play, motor
62. Charlie Trethewey, D, USNTDP (USHL)
NHL projection: No. 4/5 two-way defenseman
NHL floor: Bottom-pair defenseman
Projection confidence: Fair confidence, medium volatility
Strengths: Defensive play, physicality, heavy shot, skating
63. Alexei Medvedev, G, London (OHL)
NHL projection: 1B NHL goaltender
NHL floor: Reliable NHL backup
Projection confidence: Fair confidence, medium volatility
Strengths: Positioning, competitiveness, anticipation, athleticism
64. L.J. Mooney, F, USNTDP (USA)
NHL projection: Middle-six two-way scoring depth
NHL floor: AHL top-six scoring forward
Projection confidence: Boom or bust
Strengths: Speed, puck handling, motor
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