When the Loons were eliminated at the hands of the Norsemen there was a long boring offseason ahead as the Loons had zero draft picks over the next two years. After meeting with ownership, Czepiel was given the go ahead to do whatever he needed to do in order to change that. Over the next month and a half through a series of trades and by throwing cash at teams the Loons were able to acquire 19 picks in the 2025 draft and 2 in 2026. The problem was our scouts had done zero scouting work while and had to cram a years worth into a few short weeks. Luckily our scouting coverage focuses strictly around the United States so it was not an impossible task.
When it was all said and done the Loons drafted at 3, 38, 47, 56, 77, 100, 121, 122, 128, 132, 138, 144, 166, 188, 209, 210 and 220. Our scouts identified James Hagens, Jack Murtagh, Cole McKinney, Mason West and Teddy Mutryn as our wishlist and thought we could get get most of them if we got lucky. We knew Hagens was a definite and would be the jewel of our draft. We did not think we had a chance at Murtagh or McKinney as all the rankings we studied had them going between 25 and 32. To our amazement Murtagh fell to us at 38 and even though McKinney went at 45 we were able to swing a post draft trade to bring him home. Mason West was a player we were really high on and we felt we had the inside track due to his friendship with current Loon and fellow Minnesota football star Anders Lee. But we blew it by opening our mouths with a rival team and gave them the heads up around West and his decision to choose hockey over football. We thought we could grab West at 56 but he was selected four picks earlier. Our favorite target was local kid Teddy Mutryn. Our scouts love Teddy's game and believe it will translate well to the pros if his development continues on its current trajectory. Rankings had him going around the 120 pick but we decided we were not going to get cute and grab him at 77.
The rest of our draft saw us loading up with players that will likely fill depth roles throughout the organization or be assets in future deals. This draft ;lacked depth after the first round and finding players that held one strong skill became our priority. We hoped that a player like Everett Baldwin who we considered the best skater in the draft could possibly develop his secondary skills over the next few years and could possibly be a boom or bust prospect.
Stay tuned for out next riveting blog where we go over all 18 of our new prospects, I know you can't wait!
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