2025 NHL Draft: Top five high-risk, high-reward prospects

Jun 16, 2025, 10:55 EDT

2025 NHL Draft: Top five high-risk, high-reward prospects

Credit: Bezzubov Vladimir

Want to hit the jackpot?

The NHL Draft is all about hitting it big, finding the top talent that’ll take your team to the next level. For the teams drafting high up, the early picks are usually the easiest. The real value comes after that, with teams using all the resources possible to find some hidden gems throughout the draft.

Each draft season, there’s always a handful of prospects for whom you love something about their game, but something else brings them down a few pegs. Whether it be one significant flaw or other factors, it happens all the time. If you’re willing to look past those issues and take a chance on a player and properly develop them, it could work out brilliantly.

Today, we’re taking a look at five high-risk, high-reward players for the 2025 NHL Draft. If you’re wondering where Roger McQueen is – don’t worry. We’ll have a bigger feature on him next week:

Adam Benák, RW (Youngstown Phantoms, USHL)

There are always a few smaller prospects who shine through, and Benák is one of the best. He is an absolute treat to watch. He owns the record for the most points in Hlinka Gretzky Cup history and has generally been downright dominant at the junior national team level. And after a slow start with Youngstown, Benák bounced back by putting up more than a point per game in the USHL while being more physically engaged, too.

I want nothing more than to see Benák make it to the NHL and show just how good he can be in open space. He’s rarely not a standout at any showcase tournament – but doing that against bigger, stronger competition in the NHL is a totally different story. Many smaller forwards can fall back on their skating to exploit defenders – Benák just isn’t there yet. Instead, all the pressure is on his puck skills, although he does work hard to retrieve pucks. From a pure skill standpoint, Benák could be a top-15 pick. But he won’t be for reasons outside his control, so we’ll see which teams make a run at him instead.

Jack Ivankovic, G (Brampton Steelheads, OHL)

If we’re basing Ivankovic’s potential on pure talent, Ivankovic is one of the best goaltenders in this draft class. He’s as calm as it gets, he doesn’t let a bad goal bother him, and he plays better if he gets a bunch of shots early to settle him in. Ivankovic has an outstanding glove hand, never gives up on a play and moves as quickly as any goaltender in this class. Heck, he even received some love for MVP at the U-18 World Championship after leading Canada to gold.

But, at 5-foot-11, Ivankovic would tie Juuse Saros as the smallest goaltender in the NHL, and teams are wary of that. Ivankovic often overcomes the lack of size by keeping his glove hand active and up high, making himself appear bigger. That’s precisely what makes Dustin Wolf so dangerous for the Calgary Flames. It’s a simple technique, in practice, but one many smaller goalies struggle with. Nevertheless, some OHL shooters have said Ivankovic is one of the hardest goalies to find an opening in. Ivankovic will take his talent to the University of Michigan, where he’ll have plenty of opportunities to bulk up and learn how to handle more dangerous shooters. If you need a goalie and are willing to bet high on talent, Ivankovic is your man.

Viktor Klingsell, LW (Skelleftea, Sweden U-20)

Klingsell is an interesting one. On one hand, you can see the obvious skill. He’s only 5-foot-9 (and a bit on the heavier side for that size), but he makes high-quality plays on the rush and can actually land some decent hits. Klingsell has as much skill as anyone you’ll find in the 50-80 range. He sees the ice well, makes great passes and is incredibly smart, too. But he can be way too slow at points and he never seems to engage himself physically. At his size, that’s not entirely surprising, but that’ll limit his NHL potential.

So what teams are debating here is if they can get him to improve his board play and his overall pace. Some scouts think he has the raw talent with the puck to make it work at higher levels. Others think his lack of size and weaker footwork will hold him back completely. Like Benak, Klingsell has as much skill as anyone in this draft class. But until he figures out how to be a burner – if that’s even possible – he’s going to have a difficult time translating his game to the NHL.

Ivan Ryabkin, C (Muskegon Lumberjacks, USHL)

Ryabkin started the season as one of the top prospects, but he quickly fell out of the conversation after a brutal start back home in Russia. He was productive once he moved to Muskegon, though, scoring at a solid rate to quickly become one of the USHL’s most dangerous draft-eligible prospects. We’ve also seen him flesh out his physical and playmaking games, with his passing and hockey sense being two of his best traits. A boost of confidence in the USHL seems to have really helped Ryabkin’s stock after falling out of the first round in the eyes of many at the halfway point of the season.

Some people think a team could take a chance on Ryabkin in the top 15. More think he’ll land later in the first. Even more think he’s a mid-to-late second-rounder. That’s a lot of variety for a player who has a ton of skills to work with, but lacks the high-end skating and hockey sense that many scouts were hoping he’d develop this year.

Alexander Zharovsky, RW (Ufa, MHL)

Zharovsky went from not even being ranked by NHL Central Scouting at the halfway point of the season to potentially becoming an early second-round pick. By all accounts, he might be the biggest riser in this draft class. He put up excellent numbers in the MHL while being so dangerous on the rush. He definitely needs to add more muscle, but if he can even add 15 pounds, he’d be significantly tougher to steal the puck off. He’s crafty, smart and dangerous in open space – he’s easily one of the top Russians this year.

So, what’s the risk? Anytime a player skyrockets through draft boards, you have to wonder how sustainable it is. He struggled early with just six points in his first 16 games, but he followed it up with 46 points over his next 29 games. Something seemed to just resonate and he started to dominate offensively. Away from the puck, Zharovsky isn’t a great skater and he can get caught trying to cheat on offensive plays and negating his defensive responsibilities. He’s not a well-rounded blueliner at this point by any means – but when it comes to generating quality scoring chances, he’s set. Zharovsky saw his first pro hockey action during the KHL playoffs with Salavat Yulaev Ufa, but it’ll be interesting to see how he adjusts to a full season. Look for Zharovsky to be off the board sometime in the second round.

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