Tony Ferrari

So those two stood out on the back end.

Up front, it was Mathis Preston, who's, in my opinion, vastly underrated because his point totals aren't necessarily what people expected this year.

And Adam Valentini, who I think has been absolutely on fire for most of the season.

He played great at Michigan this year.

He is undersized, so I get the concerns there.

But I think a lot of his...

Lack of favor with NHL scouts came from his decision to leave Kitchener right at the last second before the season and go to the NCAA.

So with those sour grapes under the bridge now, I think his draft stock is going to rise pretty good after the U18s.

Everyone looked at Verhoff as the number one defenseman, and arguably there's a lot of people talking about him as being the one guy that can truly challenge McKenna at the top of the draft.

And while things have changed, obviously, in that regard with Stenberg's rise, and like you said, Chase Reed and other guys as well, I think with Verhoff,

he had exactly the kind of season I was expecting him to have in, in the NCAA, some ups and downs.

But a lot of the flaws people have been picking apart, there were the same flaws he had last year in the WHL.

So I think a big thing with him is just growing and continuing to get better.

And I thought he did that throughout the season.

I think his, his final college game of the year wasn't necessarily the best.

He didn't look great in the frozen four.

And then he looked good at the U18.

So I think that'll help boost the stock up a little bit, but,

I think the other thing, too, is, like you said, there are so many other defensemen in this draft class that have really had good years.

And I think Verhoff came into the year as the guy that everyone was sure about, kind of, because they knew what they were going to get from him.