OSCAR HEMMING NHL Draft Prospect

In this episode of The Draft Board Hockey Show, Linc and I talk about one of the biggest hitters of the 2026 NHL draft class, Oscar Hemming who played for Boston College in the NCAA, as we break down his game and some of his positive and negatives attributes. He was also one of the youngest hockey players in college and there's a lot of room for development in his game!

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

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Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Welcome to the draft board hockey show. My name is Mark, and as always, I'm joined by my co host, Link from New Wave Hockey. What's shaking, my friend?

SPEAKER_00 0:11

Uh, you know, a lot shaking. Uh, it's getting closer and closer to the NHL draft. We're under a month away. It's kind of crazy. We're both gonna be there, Mark, which is really, really exciting. I can't wait. I'm super, super pumped. Uh, the draft combine's going on right now. Uh, there's a little bit of hubbub about how some guys are weighing in and whatnot. For some reason, people are concerned that Ivar Sindberg is a whole inch smaller than he was registered to be. Oh my gosh, guys. Yeah, no, he's no, he's 5'11 instead of being six foot. Oh. So obviously, he's fallen down my draft board to the third round because I can't have some six-foot guy being my second overall or third overall pick.

SPEAKER_01 0:54

Come on, guys like Jack Hughes and Sidney Crosby and those guys, you know, they why would you have them that high?

SPEAKER_00 1:01

That's why why would you? Why would you? Well, good thing we're talking about a beast today, Mark. I'm fired up. I'm fired up to talk about Oscar Heming. Who are we talking about? Oscar Hemming, the Finnish. I'll say it. He's a brute. This guy's a bull. I have been waiting to talk about this guy for weeks. And uh, I will say I I uh when he first came on the scene for BC, let's add some context. Let's get some context in.

SPEAKER_01 1:32

Let's get some context. First of all, he didn't come until later on in the season, had some problems getting out of Finland. Uh, you know, was originally supposed to go to the OHL, ended up at BC Boston College. And uh, and another thing is with him is that he is a young player. Let me show this right now. He is August 13th birthday, so he's about a month away from being in the 2027 draft. He's a six foot four, 194-pound winger, and he had eight points in 19 games at the NCAA level. So yeah, hey, he's got some good size. Good, good size on us.

SPEAKER_00 2:14

No, he definitely does. That's that's impressive, especially at the 17-year-old age. Um, and you know what? He uses it, Mark. And I and I'll I'll even say it, he uses it better than anyone else in this draft class. I have been waiting for a guy who just loves to hit at the forward position. We've seen some D in the last two years who really like to throw their their uh their shoulders around, namely Carter Jakimshok, Stean Solberg. Yeah, the rest.

SPEAKER_01 2:41

But wait, wait, we're not we're not gonna include our boy from Prince George?

SPEAKER_00 2:47

You're not gonna include him as one of the best hitters in this draft class? Look, he's he's a great hitter in this draft class. Carson Carl is fantastic, but he he he the things with him is he does he does it more efficiently. He's not trying to take guys like he's not trying to take guys' like hips off their their kilter on like an Oscar Hemming guy. I don't know what they feed them in in Vasa, Finland, but it must be just straight protein from like reindeer. I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 3:15

You might be too young for the Popeye reference, but are you kidding me, Mark?

SPEAKER_00 3:19

Okay, are you kidding me? You're just a baby. Jesus. I'm five years older than Oscar Hemming, and you just call me a baby. It's crazy. Unbelievable. But no, Heming is phenomenal with uh the physical size of his game. Um he came onto the scene with BC in January. Mind you, he was going to go over to Kitchener. Um, it's a shame because they were uh Memorial Cup champions. And I think if he was in if he was in Kitchener, not only would we show we be seeing him hitting at the OHL level, he would also have a crazy amount of points. I truly believe another thing too with with Heming is that I think uh with the eight points that he's shown, I I think he could have gotten more. Uh BC, for some reason, the last two or three seasons have have not really got the points that they should. They generate a ton of chances, but they're they haven't had some great glorified finishers. Oscar Hemming is one of those guys where I feel like if he he really is going to find a way to score on other teams. But let's let's get into more of the tape. Let's get into more of what he is as a profile because we we we we've kind of just talked about physicality already, but he he just knows crash and oh yeah, he knows how to really work in offensive zone, crash and bang type player. I would be if I had that much muscle to throw around, you know, Mark, I wouldn't be that scared. But uh no, he look he he plays very well in the offensive zone. And not only can be he be a crash and bang player, he can be a player who is sort of a playmaker along the wall. A lot like he he makes some pretty impressive passes. I will say it's in spurts, a 19-game season is not a impress it's not a great sample size. I mean, it's like we're talking about Matthew Schaefer all over again. I mean, it's like it's it's it's a small sample size, any any way you slice it. So it's a little tough, but his first few games, I will say, were a lot better than his last few games. So it's you kind of have to weigh what you've seen here. Um I'm choosing to see that his skating is better than I thought it was gonna be, his playmaking is better than I thought it was gonna be, his shot is around where I thought it was gonna be, his physicality is on a whole other level. And I I think that this is a this is a middle of the this first-round player, but we we got to get into it, Mark. Because I know you're not the and you're not as big of a fan as Hemming as I am.

SPEAKER_01 5:40

Yeah, I just I don't see the offensive chops that you do. I honestly I I don't see the creative playmaking that you do. He's listen, he's good on the cycle, he's good at protecting pucks, and he I and I give him credit. He he does there's glimpses, glimpses, but it's not consistent enough. That's the only problem. You know, there's times when I he makes a really nice pass, and I'm like, whoo, that is impressive by Oscar Hemming. And then there's other times where I see open lanes and he's not using it, he's not using his vision. Uh, and and I know we talked about this off camera. I I find him more of a middle six kind of player. I don't see him, I don't I can't see him as a top line player. I mean, if you want a physical presence on a top line, if you want that, you know, that that good on the cycle kind of player on the top line, then yeah, he he fits that role, no problem. However, if you want like skill set and and you know the creative playmaking on a top line, I don't see him there. I see him more as a middle six, and even he, but I mean, he's the kind of player though that can play bottom six. So he he is gonna be a legit NHL or it just depends on where he slots in those four lines, and that's that's my only contention. I think I think more middle six is is where he should land. Uh, but listen, the the thing is that he's young, he's really young, like I said, a week away from or a month away from being in the 2027 draft. So there's a lot of room for growth there, and he missed a good chunk of hockey season and came into BC. And I mean, you got like look at Tynan Lawrence, did the same thing. He came in, they put up about the same amount of points. And Tynan Lawrence is, you know, at the beginning of the season, was you know treasured at a as a top 10, maybe even top five pick. And so he struggled coming into the NCAA, coming fresh off of the USHL. So Oscar Hemming didn't have that little, you know, prerequisite hockey, I guess, uh, before he landed at the NCAA level.

SPEAKER_00 7:28

But I would also say that um outside of carrying the puck, which I will say Oscar Hemming does not do very well. I don't think that he's a play driver in any sense of the word. Yeah, his best value comes in defending the rush, being a menace in the offensive zone, being a menace in the defensive zone. He is a support player. He connects, he connects plays. That's what he does. Um I I think there's a legitimate use for that on a second line. That is something that could an especial, and I I will say I would have agreed with you about um kind of his his offense not being a factor uh in him being drafted. Like I would have had this player 25, like two or three years ago. But just looking at the success of teams like Florida in the last two seasons, looking at teams uh the success of a team like Vegas this season, uh, and I guess generally over the past few years, players like this get significant nice time. If you can shut people down, dominate people physically. There is a profile here that I really that we saw in the first few games. He dissipated a little bit towards the end of the season for BC. We're gonna see slowly revealed throughout next season that this is a very dominant player. This is a player who loves physicality, embraces it, and it impacts every part of his game. That is something that you can't buy at the height that he's at. You look at a bunch of the players that have been 6'4 or above that have come through the draft, and everyone's always wanting more physicality out of these guys. Think about it Ryan Rubrik, Ethan Belchez, Roger McQueen, Porter Martoni, even though he's 6'3. Uh it it goes on and on. You all these guys are trying to be skill players when you've got a real true crash and bang guy, and you're seeing players like play that style, and defensively, the game has been more defensive and more emphasized on defense in the playoffs than it has in a long, long time. Look at last night. I I I see clogging lanes and you know being able to really just shut down the opponent as the new way of the game. And that's way I've that's how I've been kind of approaching players like Heming, players like Suvanto a little bit uh in this draft, which is why I would say I'm more of a fan of uh of Heming. I have him in the middle of my first round. Um, I'm still debating whether or not I'm gonna put him over some defenseman or move him back behind a guy like Ilya Morizov, who we'll eventually get to. But um, you know, I I really I I do like I do like Heming.

SPEAKER_01 9:51

No, and and like I said, I think he he has all the intangibles to be an NHL player, and I'm not denying that. However, I'm this is an NHL player for sure. No, this isn't it, yeah. But I'm just saying, like, it's how high do you go in the draft based on, and like I said, I don't see him as a play driver on the line and as a first line kind of prospect. So that's why I in terms of ranking, like I got a middle first as well. Don't get me wrong. Uh, I see some people creeping him up in like into the top 10 area, and I'm like, I don't know about that. Uh, considering you know some of the other talent out there. I I'm more of a firm believer believer in in if you have like the offense, like say, for example, White Cullen, like you know, in terms of like the offensive chops, like White Cullen, he's above Oscar Hemming in the Hermann. Yeah, uh, but Oscar Hemming, like the physicality, the way he controls the wall and in front of the net to crash it. Like, I I love that in a player, absolutely. And uh yeah, he he's a lot of fun to watch. Let me tell you something. When he's on the ice as an opposing player, you better keep your head up because and the other thing is is he tries to run you through the boards, like he's not just bumping you, he's like taking full on, you know, three, four steps, full steam ahead, and like let's let's put you through the boards here. And I love that in a player.

SPEAKER_00 11:04

No, I absolutely agree with you right there. Um, I will say that I had him closer or even inside the top 10 at parts of this year. And I like I told you, I think I the first four games that he played, I think I just send you the tape. I was texting you, I was like, Mark, you gotta check out this guy. He's he's going insane, he's taking people's heads off. Yes. I well, and I will say that reckless abandon with of just this guy is going to put people to sleep at the NHL level, and that scares the hell out of me. Um, he he is he's going to be able to do that, and I I will embrace it every step of the way. Um, I can't wait for him to be an NHL player. And he's a lot different than his older brother. I I will say that I think I would definitely value the skill set of him rather than his older brother because I believe firmly that if you can carve out a defensive game, a solid defensive game, or just a solid physicality game in your game, you can be taught uh at least a little bit how to uh generate more offense as you're capable to. I I do see a player here who's able to generate offense. He's done, he did it at Velin Kogretzky on that great line with Villa Venahalto and Oscar and Oliver Suvanto as well. He put up the same amount of points as Tynan Lawrence did in the same amount of games, and one of them is supposed to be an offensive dynamo as coming into the year. Uh, I I I really see a player, I see a player who honestly is able to drive a decent amount of offense to stay in a second or third line. And I I definitely see that as a player that you take a chance on at round like like around pick 13, 14. Look at the Panthers pick at pick nine. This is a guy who's completely in play for that for that pick.

SPEAKER_01 12:43

I mean, it all depends on what a team's need is or you know what they're looking for. So I don't, yeah, I I is that plausible that he goes nine to Florida? Possibly. I mean, that you know, especially their track record of you know what kind of players that they like on a team, he fits the mold. He's that kind of player. So, you know, I I yeah, I'm just for me, I think like I said, I he's he's a middle six, and I don't have a problem with that. I just don't know where he fits in the draft. But um, I like you said, I think it depends on a team.

SPEAKER_00 13:13

There's a lot, yeah. There's a lot we're gonna need to see from him development-wise in the next coming years. He's gonna be a little bit of a project for sure. Yeah, but again, then again, so was Dean Laterno, and look how he's looking. Oh boy, they're teammates now.

SPEAKER_01 13:27

Laterno rant we're gonna get started. Don't get me started. Oh my god, I love it, I love it, I love it. Okay, uh, let's let's uh do some rankings now. Let's see where he's ranked, and actually, a lot of new rankings just released. Elite prospects, they just dropped theirs a couple days ago, so let's see where he slots in in terms of rankings. All right, so here we got we got the uh he's number 11 for North American skater, so that's pretty good. Elite prospects, they got him at 18. We got Cam's Consensus. Is that based on uh NHL scouts and GMs he talks about, right?

SPEAKER_00 14:05

I I'll like I'll sometimes text Cam be like, hey, this guy's like where on your Cam's consensus board, but yeah, he he talks to a lot of scouts, and he I will say honestly with confidence that Cam Robinson he knows his stuff because he talks to so many scouts. So I definitely see him looking at like an 11 spot, and that is for sure in the range of where he could go. Well, then look at this.

SPEAKER_01 14:32

McKeynes, they got him at 11 as well. Um, so yeah, and then there's a few that got him like uh TSN Craig Button, he's got him at 15. The hockey news Ferrari's got him at 17. So it's looking like it's a mid, it's a mid mid-first rounder. And and I I don't have a problem with that at all.

SPEAKER_00 14:51

No, no, I don't have a problem with that at all. I might end up like putting him like 15 or 14 uh on my list, maybe even 16. Depends on how much I like rankings are different than the mock, though.

SPEAKER_01 15:02

Rankings are different than how you you see a team picking it, so he might creep up a little bit more based on that aspect.

SPEAKER_00 15:09

It's it's few and far between the guys that I would take ahead of him. Um, I actually will fully be transparent and say, uh, Daxon Rudolph committing to Denver made me made Rudolph jump hemming just because I'm like, okay, he's gonna fix his skating ones. Not to plug Rudolph out. I know I know some I know Bill from Kelowna is gonna be like, uh, again with Rudolph? We're gonna keep talking about him. But uh no, yeah, it's it's it's it's just kind of like look, commit call the college route is a proven track record. We have yet to see a massive bust come through college in this kind of recent sphere. Uh maybe Adam Fantilly, but like he's not a bust. He's he's kind of.

SPEAKER_01 15:52

Oh, come on, Adam Fantilly is a bust. Stop that right now.

SPEAKER_00 15:56

No, some I remember someone told me that. I yeah. But Oscar Hemming, look, I think though he may peak at 60 points as a player, uh, which is a very respectable peak, by the way. I with a lot of these bigger guys in this draft, I see the blueprint of them developing in college and developing more of an offensive game, coming over to the NHL earlier than expected. I think Heming could be over by the time he's like 20, and he could be in a lineup just making a physical impact, and he could just get better and better every single year. These big guys, they have, they're not like do like to give credit to kind of the the big small debate we were having, these bigger guys, they have more staying power in the NHL. Uh, they can come in earlier and adapt better to the physicality and kind of have an easier route to develop physicality from a s from just a stand from their like draftier season. So I'll give that credit with a huge caveat to five foot eleven Ben Kendell. Uh he's a string bean and somehow he played the entire season. I love you, Ben. You're you're you're making it happen for all the small guys here.

SPEAKER_01 17:03

So Benny's my boy. Benny's my boy. I got him in my dynasty. I drove drafted him in my dynasty league. Oh, what a steel.

SPEAKER_00 17:09

Oh, but but but Mark, I seem to forget who had him higher last year. I think it was I think it was me. I remember I remember you gave me you you gave me crap specifically for having him uh higher than Brayden Coots, and I still won't back down from that. Oh, but I love Brady and Coots though. Hey, I know you do. I know you do.

SPEAKER_01 17:26

Give Brady and Coots a little time. Um the other thing is and again, that's another situation where it's based on you know team you know dynamics and stuff like that. Yeah. Um, but like Oscar Hemming, the nice thing about him though, like you're saying, about him getting to the NHL, is that he can fit in in the bottom six role, no problem, and learn the game and then move his way up the lineup and you know, potentially get to that second, maybe even the first line, depending on how things develop.

SPEAKER_00 17:53

I I think it's too much to say that he could play in the NHL next year. Um, there are a couple people where like I I have I have a growing consensus that like I truly believe that seven or eight players in this draft could play in the NHL next year, and only like two or three should. Oscar Hemming is not I is not one of the it doesn't fit into either one of those categories. I just don't think he's fast enough yet to be impactful, but that's why he's at BC. And already, I would even say uh the jump from the the Holinka Gretzky tournament to when he was in BC, that was a significant gap, and his skating looked better when he was at BC, and I was astonished, I really was so.

SPEAKER_01 18:37

Before we leave, uh we have anything else to say about Oscar Hangman. I think we pretty much covered Oscar Hangman.

SPEAKER_00 18:42

I think we covered all of it, yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_01 18:44

Uh before before we leave, though, I just want to uh on X, uh, I had a Mr. Ed and he had a request. He says, How about an NHL player comps video for the top say 16-ish uh for the 2026 draft? First, you and Link uh would or you and Link would first have a consensus top 16 before the video, then each of you would pick player comps um and discuss. I like that. I like a player comp. I mean, if you want, uh you know what, Link? Let's let's uh let's add that to the list. Let's add a player comp to the list. We'll do like maybe the top 16 or top 10. I don't know, whatever. We'll you and I can discuss and we'll go back and forth as to our player comps. We'll have a little one-on-one and uh and you know give the reason why we have this comp and and what we like about the player and whatnot. I like that. It's fun. So, Mr. Ed, we're doing it for you, bud. Let's start. Maken. Oh, so you know what, everyone, Patrick Kane, right? Uh Kucharov is elite prospects. I like uh who's I I like uh I like Patrick Kane a lot. I don't mind Mitch Marner a little bit too.

SPEAKER_00 19:50

Mitchie? You know what, you know what I've always kind of like? I've I've always I I kind of like this one. Not in terms of like I obviously the Patrick Kane comparison, he's going to be a star. Obviously, this McKenna kid. But the way that he the way that he kind of moves his hands, like it's kind of in the similar, he kind of looks like a very young Nick Ealers when he was first on first onto the scene. That is a very talented player with his stick. Obviously, Gavin McKenna is going to be, I think he's going to be end up being a little bit better than Nick Ealers. But I I truly believe that McKenna can develop into a player who has the speed, the stick handling, and the requisite passing strength of a guy like that. But I'll say my my my overall comparison is uh Patrick Keane.

SPEAKER_01 20:32

Yeah, I like I like Patty King. That's a good one. All right, Link. I think that's it for this video. Uh, and that is it. We're talking about, let me pull this up. Oscar Hemming. And so, yeah, next week uh we might do some player comps, maybe a prospect discussion. We'll see how it goes, Link. We'll see how much Link's a working man. We get we got, you know, he's we'll see. Not as much of a funded time as he used to. I always was a working man. You you're just recent.

SPEAKER_00 21:01

Yeah, I gotta figure it out. So I don't know. I I'll I've also got my um I've got my top 120 coming out very soon. I'm hopefully gonna get it out uh before the draft. That's the hope. So uh, but then I'm I I I'm gonna do obviously like again, um because I haven't posted in a minute. It's the 120 that I'm doing, the draft recap, and then I have am working on a very, very big project uh before next year, uh next season. And I'll be able to talk about it once it's after the draft. But um I'll I I I think I've informed Mark. If he if I haven't, I'm gonna tell him right after this. But stay tuned. There's a lot of big things coming. So love it.

SPEAKER_01 21:40

All right, everyone. That's it for this video, and we'll see you soon. Cheers.