Welcome to PHR’s Big Hype Prospects series. Like the MLB Trade Rumors series of the same name, we’re taking a look at the performances of top prospects from across the hockey world. We’ll look at drafted prospects who are rising, others who are struggling, and prospects for the upcoming draft who are notable.
Five Big Hype Prospects
Reid Schaefer, LW, Nashville Predators (Milwaukee Admirals, AHL)
25 GP 1G 3A 4pts
For many players, the transition from playing against one’s peers at a junior hockey level to playing against seasoned pros at the professional level presents a steep learning curve. It’s an exceptional challenge, and numerous top prospects have had slow starts in pro leagues only to eventually figure things out.
There are also players who immediately find their groove at the pro level, such as 2021 first-round pick Brennan Othmann for example, who has scored 22 points in 26 games with the AHL’s Hartford Wolf Pack.
One player who fits into the former category is Schaefer, the 32nd pick of the 2022 NHL draft. Originally selected by the Edmonton Oilers, Schaefer was dealt to Nashville as part of the Mattias Ekholm trade.
He was a member of an absolutely stacked Seattle Thunderbirds team in the WHL over the last two seasons, and enjoyed an extremely favorable situation as a result. He got to play top-six minutes next to some exceptionally talented linemates, and by scoring 36 goals and 80 points in 74 combined regular-season and playoff games he looked like a burgeoning power forward prospect.
That rapid rise from last season now looks like a distant memory. Schaefer has been unable to penetrate the top-six in Milwaukee, and has typically played on the third line of an Admirals team that routinely dresses seven defensemen.
And with top Predators prospects such as Joakim Kemell, Zachary L’Heureux, and Egor Afanasyev excelling on the first two lines (with veteran Denis Gurianov occupying the last top-six winger slot) there does not appear to be much immediate room for Schaefer to slot into a more favorable on-ice situation.
Typically stapled on a line with center Cal O’Reilly, a respected veteran but hardly the dominant AHL scorer he once was, Schaefer simply does not receive the offensive opportunities many other top forward prospects are getting in the AHL.
The result has been poor production, and while he has had his moments it looks like he’s still a ways away from challenging for an NHL job.
Should Schaefer’s offensive…
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