When front offices are evaluating a prospect, one question that’s sure to come up is, how much room is left for development? When it comes to the 2025 NHL Draft, few — if any — kids in the field have as much space left for growth than Simon Wang.
Wang, understandably, was a bit of a curiosity at the early-June NHL Scouting Combine in Buffalo. As it stands, he’s set to become just the third Chinese-born player to be selected by an NHL club. Sportsnet’s Jason Bukala has the six-foot-five, 215-pound defenceman ranked 64th among his top 80 prospects. For his hulking size, Wang is considered an excellent skater.
While he was only four years old when he first got on blades in Beijing, Wang’s hockey journey didn’t really gather steam until he made the bold decision to move to Toronto at age 12.
“I’m still learning,” acknowledged the kid who made the jump from junior-A hockey to major junior with the OHL’s Oshawa Generals partway through this past season. “I might still be behind a lot of guys in this draft, but my potential, what I can become as a player, that’s what’s really exciting about me.”
While Wang may have a lot to prove as a player — he tallied zero goals and just two assists in 32 OHL regular-season contests — there’s no question his off-ice story warrants attention. This is a person who, nearly 15 years ago, went to watch a little buddy practice hockey in Beijing and immediately fell in love with the sport.
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Ranking the NHL Draft prospects
Jason Bukala gives his take on the 80 top prospects for this year’s NHL Draft, June 27-28 in Los Angeles
Bukala’s rankings
“Right away, I told my mom I need to get out there,” Wang said. “I probably went on the ice the next day or so. I just literally fell in love with the game right away and never stopped playing.”
Wang practised steadily in China, but as his aptitude and affection for hockey grew, an inevitable dilemma became impossible to avoid. “I had a long conversation with my mom; should I stay in China or should I come to Canada?” he said. “I’m glad I made the right choice and came to Toronto.”
While it’s certainly not uncommon for kids to leave home — if not at 12, by their early teen years — in pursuit of a pro hockey dream, it’s hard to compare the plight of North Americans moving to a different part of the continent, or even Czech or Slovakian players relocating to a place like Sweden, to the jump Wang made. Put it this way; he’s surely the only kid in this draft who received a new handle — Simon is the English name Wang Haoxi got when he started school in Toronto — shortly after starting puberty.
“I learned a lot about how to be independent, how to be mature, how to handle adversity,” said Wang, who lived with a friend’s family upon landing in Canada. “That’s a great trait for me for the next step in my career.”
Of course, a transition as big as the one Wang made requires help. The 17-year-old credits his agent, John Walters, and John’s dad, Joe, with supporting him through every stride his long legs took. Additionally, Wang’s family has an international and affluent bent to it. His older brother pursued a master’s degree at Boston University and his mother, Willa Wang, purchased the Brantford 99ers Ontario Junior Hockey League team her son played for in 2023-24 and gained league approval to move the club and make them the King Rebellion. Wang played 38 games with the Rebellion this past season before joining the Generals as a regular when the calander flipped to 2025.
“It was hard,” Wang said of the jump to the OHL. “The raw talent, the hockey sense and the pace of the game wasn’t the biggest adjustment; the biggest adjustment was [to stay] confident in myself [despite my] ice time decreasing and my shorter leash. I learned a ton about myself throughout this playoff run [Oshawa lost the league final to London] and I’m really excited to move on with a bigger role and a longer leash. I can’t wait to see what I can do next year.”
The coming season will be spent with the Generals and Wang has committed to the school his brother attended, Boston University, to suit up for the Terriers in 2026-27. His backstory and profile suggest it will take those two years and them some to gain a long-term sense of what Wang’s future on the blueline could be. But the kid didn’t come this far to do anything other than pursue his pro hockey goals with everything in his prodigious frame.
“When I was 12 and first came here, I had a very naïve belief (in myself) that I’m going to make it,” he said. “Realistically, if other people saw who I was as a player they may have thought I was dreaming out of my mind. But I’m here right now, not taking any moment for granted.”
At the other end of the size spectrum…
If Wang’s build is something that snares scouts’ attention, Victor Eklund’s slight frame is basically the only question mark surrounding this talented Swede’s potential. Eklund stands five-foot-11 and weighs a tick over 160 pounds. Still, Bukala has him ranked eighth overall — right after six-foot-five centre Roger McQueen — because of Eklund’s shot and relentless approach, which has earned him comparisons to fellow winger Travis Konecny of the Philadelphia Flyers.
“I just get in there and try to win every battle,” Eklund said in Buffalo.
In addition to being the younger brother of San Jose Shark William Eklund, Victor also seems to play the junior sibling role in the brotherly relationship he shares with Anton Frondell.
High as Eklund is projected to go, Frondell is likely to be off the board before him in the first five or six picks. The day before the physical testing in Buffalo, Eklund and Frondell were side by side answering questions from reporters about, among other things, their tight relationship and history playing together in Sweden. Asked if it mattered to them who went first in the draft, Eklund did what he never does on the ice and cleared out. “No, not all,” he said. “We’re just happy for each other.”
The pregnant pause that followed — coupled with the huge grin on Frondell’s face — caused the room to burst with laughter.
“No, just kidding, just kidding,” said Frondell, who has nearly 40 pounds on his buddy. “We’ll be happy for each other.”
The close pals have known each other since they faced off playing for different clubs in Sweden around the age of 10, when Frondell was already gaining the upper hand on the ice.
“I remember playing him and he actually made a move on me, like the puck between my legs, and I just can’t forget that,” Eklund says. “He says he doesn’t remember.”
Cue big bro: “I actually do remember that move. It was really good.”
Jokes aside, there’s clear chemistry between Eklund and Frondell. They both joined Stockholm-based Djurgardens as junior players for 2023-24 and made the leap to the top club this season, where Eklund scored an impressive 19 goals in 42 contests.
“Victor is easy to play with,” said Frondell, who only got on the same line with his friend halfway through the season after they pestered their coach into submission. “I don’t think I’ve played with a player with so much energy. He wins every battle, even when we played against men, Victor wins all the puck battles. It’s easy to for me to find an open spot, most of the time I get the puck right on the blade, right on the tape. We like playing with each other.”
In all likelihood, the pair will still be on the same line together for one more year at Djurgardens beginning next fall. But whenever Eklund makes the jump to North America, he’s confident his style will translate.
“I think I’m better at the small ice,” he said. “I was really comfortable in the world juniors [in Ottawa six months ago] and I think I’m better when everything is go-with-the-flow instead of, back home in in Sweden where the ice is so big, we tend to overthink stuff. Small ice just fits me very good.”
Of course, little brothers are conditioned to keep up with the big boys and no matter how much weight Eklund is giving up, his attitude is going to keep him in the fight.
“I feel like it really doesn’t matter, your size,” he says. “It’s just how you think and what confidence you come into the battles with. I’m playing against people who weight 30 pounds more than me, but I’m always getting to the puck battles knowing ‘I’m going to win this puck.’ I just know I’m going to win the puck.”
A team sharing that view is going to be all over Eklund.
