ETHAN BELCHETZ NHL Draft Prospect

In this episode of The Draft Board Hockey Show, Linc and I talk about one of the bigger prospects of the 2026 NHL draft class, Ethan Belchetz who played for the Windsor Spitfires in the OHL, as we break down his game and some of his positive and negatives attributes. He has all the makings to be a great power forward when he makes it to the NHL!

Hosts: Mark (NHL Draft Pros) and Linc (New Wave Hockey)

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Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:01

Welcome to the Dropboard Hockey Show. My name is Mark. And as always, I am joined by my co-host Link from New Wave Hockey. How are you?

SPEAKER_00 0:10

I'm doing fantastic. All right. We're we're we're having a good week. Uh, and I'm just really zeroing in. Now that I've had time to be home, I'm really zeroing in on a lot of prospects. A lot of things have been changing. Some things have been staying the same. You know, a lot of opinions have been reinforced. But you know, uh some opinions uh Link from September would really freak himself out about, but there's some that I think he'd he'd still be very proud of. And I think uh guy we're talking about today, he'd be he'd be pretty proud of uh this opinion. Uh I like this guy, Ethan Belchez. We're gonna talk to him about him a little bit more, but man, I can't wait to get into this guy. Wow.

SPEAKER_01 0:44

Ethan Belchez is part of my home rink, so I see him a lot. And actually, I know his billet family really well, and so met him in person. Really nice kid. Gotta let you know, he's a super nice kid. So that's uh always a positive. He's very respectful when we uh meet.

SPEAKER_00 1:02

We can we can we can basically say he's a friend of the pot at this point.

SPEAKER_01 1:05

So you know what? We could get him on here, no problem. Oh, for sure. Yeah, yeah, big bet. He's healing from his uh his surgery there, had the broken clavicle, ended the season early, and it kind of affected the Windsor Spitfires in their playoff run. So uh that you know it hurts when you lose a player like that.

SPEAKER_00 1:21

Absolutely, for sure. No, he he was uh he was a dynamic player all year, and yes, the Windsor was was fantastic uh with other great forwards as well. Obviously, they had Liam Greentree, they had uh Jack Nesbitt as well, who point per game, right? Lest we forget, by the way, he had a really good season. Absolutely but uh losing him definitely did hurt one once they got to the OHL uh playoffs, um, for sure. Um, but you know what? Things are gonna get better. He's gonna be playing at Michigan State next year. Let's let's let's let's before I uh reveal too much, let's get into it. Let's let's let's fully give him an introduction.

SPEAKER_01 1:56

Let's get to the stats. So uh six foot five, 227 pound left wing forward, 59 points in 57 games, 34 goals, 34 goals in 57 games. This is a shooter.

SPEAKER_00 2:12

He's unbelievable. I I I the things that he does, uh it's an archetype that we kind of keep seeing evolving. These big power forward guys who are able to do more and more with their offensive traits. Uh, he has all of the tools to really become a very, very good point producer in the NHL level. However, there are a couple things that bring him back. There are a couple things that make me kind of hesitate when ranking him. I had him at number four in my November rankings, and I've brought him all the way outside of the top 10, and I think for good reason. I think it's good to be very conservative on a guy like this. Um, and we'll explain why. But there's a lot of factors. Number one, we have to go into uh the shot. 34 goals this year. Um, he has a very good release. He's a very smart goalscorer, and he should just get even better as he goes to Michigan State. Uh, I mean, not that I'm saying that these players are completely comparable, but in terms of kind of size and their traits and their uh overall sort of resumes and sort of uh their physicality, he is very comparable to a guy like Porter Martin. Uh obviously Porter Martin went into uh Michigan State being putting up 98 points in his OHL year. He was an excellent uh distributor, but he was a good shooter, but he lacked that real prowess as a sniper. Ethan Delchez is coming in as a really good sniper, a power forward with a great hands, but he doesn't have that sort of ability to see the rest of the ice. I really think he's gonna get uh a very good coaching from Adam Nightingale, who's really gonna round him into the a great player there. Um Michigan State, they have a fantastic player development track record. Um, I I the fact that he committed there, it already bumped him up a little uh some spots for me. Um just looking at his shot alone, he's going to put up, I think, 15 goals automatically in the NCAA. I think I think it's safe, it's safe to say it's safe to say, right? Yeah, I wanted to say 20, but that was a little ambitious, a little ambitious.

SPEAKER_01 4:12

So especially like with a program like Michigan State, like you said, that is a great development place for a lot of these future prospects or future NHL stars. And like you said, Porta Martone is a great example of that, how he flourished this year under Nightingale, and you like to see that in a in a young player, and so obviously, you know, Ethan Belchez goes, steps in and he's gonna have the same attention to detail that Nightingale's gonna, you know, instill in his players. And you know, the nice thing about Belchez, so this is a player I've seen a lot in the last two years, and he is sneaky, good in close to the net. He's got these really nice soft hands and a great shot, like I said, inside the dots. Like, if you give him the puck there and give him a millisecond, he is gonna bury it. Like I said, you know, like we said, 34 goals in 57 games, like that is some you're talking, you know, in the full season over 40 plus, maybe in the 50 range. So definitely has a finishing touch, and you like to see that, especially in a big player, six foot five, 227. Like, forget about moving him in front of the net. That ain't happening. And when he's got soft hands and a nice shot like that, quick release, there's gonna be trouble for goaltenders.

SPEAKER_00 5:15

A lot of people were expecting him to put up more points this season, but I would honestly just say, look at the Windsor Spitfires as a whole. A lot of them were down in points. Liam Greentree was down in points. Uh Jack Nesbitt, honestly, there were times where we looked like he was able to, he should have scored more. They had sort of a down year, a disappointing year, I would say, uh, losing a bunch of guys. So I would say that it's kind of right in line his level of production with what honestly he should have done. Um, of course, there were spots and spurts where he was very inconsistent. That's something we're gonna get into in terms of like his cons, the things that he needs to work on for sure, is consistency, but uh the options he has to attack the net. He is six foot five, 227 pounds, 230 pounds essentially. Um, and he's been that way since he was uh 16, since he was drafted into the OHL. He has always been a menace to score every single time, and he's gonna be that way at the NCAA level. That's big for the NCAA, even so. And he's going to be stepping into the biggest conference, uh, the Big Ten. They play big. Despite the talent that's been coming in, the influx of talent, it's not as big of a conference as it used to be. It's becoming a faster and more talented conferences. This is where all the big, uh, the big uh skill guys have been going. So it's becoming the more most skilled conference. So he's gonna definitely have to up his pace of play, uh, which is something we're also gonna have to talk to. But the ways that he has to attack the net are really special. He's got his hands, he's got his shot, he's got his body, and his body is honestly the thing that he chooses the most. That's that's very tough to defend when you've got a guy bearing down on the net like that. Uh, he can be a real crash and bang player, and a guy that, I mean, if motivated to do that, can be a player that really roughs people up at the NCAA level. Would you consider him a power forward type player? Not as of right now. He's he's showing uh frame, he's showing parts of that in his offensive game, and I definitely think that if they really emphasize him to use his size and to use his uh his big frame, that's really what's going to be the selling point here. Um, he uses it in spurts, and I wouldn't say he's an overly physical player. Like he does not try to bear down on people uh and stuff like that. Uh and sometimes he gets to the perimeter a lot, but uh in terms of in tight, this guy is as smooth as a dangler. I mean, he's got good hands. Uh this is like sort of him and Roger McQueen are sort of outliers. You don't see guys that big who have hands like that. And in tight, you rarely see a guy like that be able to freeze a goalie. I mean, it's like JP Herlbert-esque. Like JP Herlbert is great at freezing goalies in this draft class. Ethan Belchez is right up there with him. Uh they're both very good when it comes to one-on-ones or uh attacking the net. Uh, that's really his biggest strength. Um, but there is a ton of things that he doesn't need to work on that we can get into right now. It's kind of held me back from putting him into the top 10.

SPEAKER_01 8:05

Yeah, so I mean, obviously, you know, there's things that definitely need to be refined, as we said. And I think that the NCAA is going to be a nice spot for him to uh to do that. Uh, the skating is is number one in my opinion. He's a really like technically he's a good skater, got to work on the you know, explosiveness a little bit more. If he can add that layer to his skating, watch out because like right now it takes him a little bit to to get going, I guess you could say. Once he reaches that top speed, he's pretty fast, like he's pretty nimble in that regard, but takes him a little bit to get there. So the explosiveness, the acceleration, I'd like to see him work on that a little bit. Um, you know, stuff away from the from the puck needs a little bit of refinement too. He kind of at times he's a little uh hesitant for you know, we'll talk about defensive play, backtracking, and stuff like that. Uh little things, though, I mean, for the most part. Like, you know, overall, he he's got the physical attributes to kind of you know be that power forward type player, just some things that just need to be a little bit improved. Uh, I know you there's a few things that you'd like to mention too, in terms of what he needs work on.

SPEAKER_00 9:07

Yeah, specifically, I think uh a lot of these things take place in the offensive zone. Um, when you're looking at a player like Belchez and his kind of sort of archetype and what he brings to the table, you're looking for him to be more potent in the offensive zone. Obviously, a player like that with his skill set should be putting up more than 60 points, or actually in a 70 or in a 67 game season in the OHL, he should be putting up around more than 75 points. And that was what he was on target to do this year. Um, he should have been on pace for 90, maybe even 100 points with his skill set. I think a lot of the things kind of deal, uh a lot of the issues kind of break down and start with his mentality in the offensive zone. And I'll bring two examples uh in recent history for Michigan State that make me think that he's going to improve those things once he goes there. Um when I went to Michigan State and I talked to guys like Riker Lee, Porter Martone, Charlie Stramel, they all were consistently praising one guy uh for a lot of their improvement over the year, and that was their athletic trainer. The athletic training staff at Michigan State has consistently made these players bigger, stronger, better skaters, uh better attackers, uh better equipped to attack the puck, better equipped to attack the neutral zone, uh, better equipped to attack the goalie uh when you're in the offensive zone as well. That is what they do there. They train you to get stronger, and I think he's going to improve his skating stride to a point where his acceleration won't be an issue anymore. I do agree that he can get up to good speeds, but it does take him a bit. Um the other thing is too that he needs to change up his mentality in the offensive zone. I think he'd be he could become a way better playmaker if if he just improves his game. He is already so good at creating space. He brings two guys with him every time and he can still beat them on his own, but so many times I've seen him bear down in the offensive zone, go to the perimeter, and there's somebody in the middle that he could pass to, and he just doesn't. He'll go off for the for the shot. And I think those are things that he can work on. Obviously, Adam Nightingale, Michigan State, he's going to the best possible program to fix these issues, but he's gonna be with a lot of different uh guys to also help him as well. He's got gonna be with Nikita Klepov next year, Riker Lee is coming back, uh who else? Chase Reed will be feeding him from the blue line.

SPEAKER_01 11:13

Damn, this is a really it's a really good blue line, Mark. What a team, what a team. But you know what? Look, I yeah, you were saying like the the playmaking, the just distribution. He he does he kind of gets tunnel vision. And I think just because of all those years that he's played as this big six foot five, 200-pound forward, he just kind of got away with it. And I think that, you know, like you said, if he goes into Michigan State and they can add that next level of distribution, the playmaking, you know, a little bit like you said, dishing it off when he has a chance and he drags two players with him, that is gonna be unreal. That is gonna take him to the next level, like you said. If you can, because right now you know we had 34 goals, 20 something assists, but if he can do like 30 and 30 or you know, 35 and 35, that's a 70-point player in the NHL, and that is unreal.

SPEAKER_00 12:01

Yeah, I I and right now, obviously, what he does right now, this is an NHL player. This is a guy who's going to be in the NHL. If he were to make no more improvements, go to Windsor next year, uh, not really improve, he would become sort of an Anthony Mantha level player where he's a role player on a guy on a team like Pittsburgh that's very, very creative and savvy, but he can be so much more, and that's why he's making that jump to Michigan State. It's going to be a bit of a struggle in the beginning, obviously. Um, he's not going to be perfect when he makes the jump over to Michigan State, as we've seen with a lot of guys jumping immediately to the NCAA from the CHL uh case in Point Nakenna. It's going to even be it's going to be an even stronger NCAA next year that Belchest is walking into, uh especially the Big Ten. Minnesota's improved. Uh Penn State has gotten even bigger. Michigan State is still a strong, strong team. Teams like North, uh teams like Notre Dame have gotten significantly better. There's a lot of OHL talent going to Notre Dame. Ohio State is getting better. Everybody is improving. Wisconsin just went to the final, the frozen four. Every team is improved. They went to the actually they went to the championship. They lost to Denver. But every team is improving in the Big Ten. He is going to a this is going to be tougher for him. And he's going to struggle in the beginning, but I think he's going to be a better player for it. If he even plays two years in Michigan State, something that is absolutely possible, I think he that's ultimately one of the better things for his game. He needs to improve some things in the offensive zone. He's got to get better with his pace. And honestly, if he can take after some guys like Charlie Stramel and lay the body a few more times, look out. Oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_01 13:38

I'm surprised you haven't mentioned your boy, Dean Laterno. He had the a player that took a little time to to to adapt to that.

SPEAKER_00 13:46

Yes. Well, I thought for sure you were going to mention Laterno. Well, he well, Dean Laterno's in the hockey east and he's going back for a third year. It doesn't matter, but I'm saying NCAA type, you know, hockey is yeah. Well, well, yeah, for sure. And that I would say the the skill set is was uh two years ago, or this year was even different from the skill set required for uh the hockey east. But Dean Laterno, you see what happens with these bigger guys once they go to college and they make the adjustment, they become monsters. And Dean Laterno is going back for a third year. Jeez. I I'm scared, Mark. I don't know if I'm ready. I don't know if I'm I'm gonna be in the stands for some Boston College games and like be clutching my popcorn, like, oh my god. So that might be the the effect here with with Belchez, but the ceiling can be as high as you want it to be. And we really have yet to see a guy who has gone to the NCAA and been a high class prospect who has declined or been significantly worse. Uh, it really has only been able to help or elevate the game over prospect. So right now in this new age, this is kind of what the the mold is telling you to do. And yes, there are things that Ethan needs to pick up, but and and it is a bit of a project, but there is really no telling what this guy can be uh if he really, really uh puts in the work in Michigan State.

unknown 15:00

All right.

SPEAKER_01 15:00

So you know what? Let's uh let's take a look at where they have him kind of in the rankings. Um, the first one I always like to look at is NHL Central Scouting. He is ranked number nine among North American skaters. Uh Elite Prospects, they have him at seven. We got uh our McKeens. We're actually we're gonna be releasing a new one, so we'll see where he lands there. But he's at number 13 among uh for McKeon's hockey. And then TSN Craig Button has him at number 12. So he's floating in and around the you know, the 10th spot we'll say from like nine to you know 15-ish range, which I think is kind of fair. That's uh that's kind of where yeah, that's where we have him pegged. Like you said, but you know what? This could be this could turn out to be a really nice pickup by a team if they let him kind of develop a little bit longer. Like you said, that him jumping to the NCAA is automatically you know he's gonna come out a better player overall, and the you know the things that he needs to work on, especially at Michigan State, like you said, the strength and conditioning, the coaching, everything, he is gonna be a different player in a couple of years. So I think that you know what, there's gonna be a few teams that if they let him slide a little too much, they're gonna be like, wow, how did we let him slide?

SPEAKER_00 16:17

And the thing is, too, that uh he is joining a lot of people in this sort of range that have either played it, uh played at NCAA arenas already, have been rumored to be playing in the NCAA or are already committed. Like, for example, McKenna played obviously this year, as we know. Malhotra's going to Boston University, Chase Reed's going to Michigan State, Carl's is going to North Dakota, Keaton Verhoff's going back for another year, Ever Stenberg was rumored to go to Boston University uh last year, but then he shut those rumors down. Daxon Rudolph is still looking to go. Wyatt Cullen is going to Minnesota. Um, Oscar Hemming staying another year at Boston College, Maddox Dajnay, we don't know, and Ilya Morazov is at uh Miami University, along with Tynett and Lawrence is staying at BU. All these guys are going through the NCAA route. And I really think one of the best, the people who has the potential to benefit the most from it this year is Ethan Belchez. This guy has everything to gain by going to this level. So I'm very excited to see what he does.

SPEAKER_01 17:15

I think that's gonna end it for uh us with uh Ethan Belchez. So yeah, let us know what you think in the comment sections below. Um, but yeah, it's gonna be fun to see him next year at the NCAA level. And uh Link, as always, my friend, good talking to you. Always nice to talk some prospect hockey, and uh everyone else, we'll see you soon. Cheers.