Charlie Tretheway tries to model himself after another right-handed defenseman named Charlie, and his knowledge of what to do with the puck puts him in a good position to be an NHL contributor in the future.
It is Draft Day! However, the New Jersey Devils do not have a first round pick on their hands, and I take a very “I will believe it when I see it” approach to all of the Draft-Day trade rumors. So, onward we go with early-to-mid round prospect profiles, and we have an American defenseman this early afternoon in Charlie Trethewey.
Who is Charlie Trethewey?
Charlie Trethewey was born on August 2, 2007 in Ellicott City, Maryland, and is a right-handed defenseman in this year’s NHL Draft. Standing at 6’2” and already 201 pounds before his 18th birthday, Trethewey spent the 2024-25 season with the United States National U18 Team, and will spend next year under the tutelage of Jay Pandolfo at Boston University. Considering his stature already, this should prove fruitful for giving him a more physical edge to his game.
Elite Prospects
While Trethewey did not have an amazing offensive season in the National Development Program, he did have a great showing in the recent NHL Combine. In my opinion, showing that he has such a good physical profile may entice teams to try to bet that they can course correct some of his offensive stagnation by maximizing what he gets out his athleticism. In the NHL Scouting Combine, Tretheway ranked:
- 1st in the Anaerobic Fitness: Peak Power Output test
- 2nd in the Pro Agility — Right Time test (+0.01 sec from leader, Carter Klippenstein)
- 5th in the Pro Agility — Left Time test (+0.12 sec from leader, Milton Gastrin)
- 8th in the Left Hand Grip test
- 14th in the 50% Body Weight Bench Press test
- 17th in the Right Hand Grip test
- 19th in the Anerobic Fitness: Mean Power Output test
With the kind of speed and power Tretheway has in his legs, he is the kind of player who can cover a whole blueline and blow a forward up on an entry once he works on his edgework a little bit more. As you can see in the card below, from Mitchell Brown and Lassi Alanen’s USHL and NCAA tracking data, Tretheway’s best quantified defensive skill is his ability to prevent the other team from gaining the offensive zone, while his best ability listed is his ability to get the puck out of the defensive zone more efficiently than his blueliner peers.
Mitchell Brown and Lassi Alanen
While Tretheway is most harshly dinged for his passing ability (without which I imagine his offensive score would be much higher), I am not super concerned about it because those passing scores are all for offensive zone play. If I saw red lines on Tretheway’s transition and zone exit scores, I would worry that he might be a poor breakout passer. But no — Tretheway’s problem is that he is much more of a shooter than a passer in the offensive zone, rather than being a poor passer in transition.
Where is Tretheway Ranked?
All rankings are sourced from Elite Prospects, except where linked. Tretheway is ranked:
- 46th by NHL Central Scouting (North American skaters)
- 45th by Draft Prospects Hockey
- 49th by Inside the Rink
- 51st by Recruit Scouting
- 52nd by The Hockey News — Kennedy
- 54th by Elite Prospects and TSN — Button
- 59th by Sportsnet — Bukala
- 62nd by the Daily Faceoff and TSN — McKenzie
- 66th by FCHockey
- 68th by FloHockey — Chris Peters
- 73rd by The Hockey News — Ferrari
- 80th by Dobber Prospects
- 85th by McKeen’s Hockey
What Others Have to Say About Tretheway (And What He Has to Say About Himself)
For the Daily Faceoff, Steven Ellis called Trethewey a potential diamond in the rough, writing that, before this season, many scouts saw him as a first-round prospect. Lowered scoring with the USNTDP did not help, though many teams should still be interested, as he played top pairing minutes as a 17-year old against NCAA teams. Ellis believes that his gaffes with the puck under pressure may also be an issue, but notes this is not unusual for defenders his age. In any case, the data does not really agree with that point.
Jayd Serdy profiled Trethewey for Inside the Rink, projecting him to the second round just before the Devils pick. Serdy writes that Trethewey is a physical defenseman with “solid puck-handling skills,” with the ability to stop the rush and slow plays along the boards, calling him “historically tough to play against in the defensive zone.” Again, I do notice that the report is praising Trethewey’s puck handling, but it does not really account for his poor playmaking numbers on both the scoresheet and Brown and Alanen’s tracking data. Below, you can hear Tretheway himself talk about what he needs to work on and what he thinks he is best at.
Tretheway says above that he wants to model his NHL game after Charlie McAvoy, with his great gap control and two-way play, while saying that the biggest issue he is trying to work on is being on top of plays in the defensive zone. It is good to know that, even though he already has a reputation as a good defensive player, Tretheway is not yet satisfied with his game. With that attitude, I would not be worried about Tretheway letting his game slip after he gets drafted.
A Little Video and My Thoughts
Below, we have a video from Prospect Shifts — one of Tretheway’s appearances in the USHL. I was hoping to see some of his play against NCAA teams, but those videos are unavailable out of now.
I notice that, on the power play (most of the first couple minutes or so in the video), Tretheway is willing to play anywhere on the ice, and his shot is very disruptive from the right faceoff circle. He seems to have that good eye for where to shoot through traffic. Later, on the penalty kill, Tretheway keeps a good eye on where to position himself, but relies on going to one knee to block across the crease. He later blocks a shot by going to one knee.
Back on the power play, Tretheway is interestingly lined up in one of the forward postiions, not even skating back to take the puck through the neutral zone. I would have liked to see how he manages those situations, but that is not how the USNTDP used him. Later, at even strength, Tretheway takes the puck by himself into the offensive zone and fires a low shot that is swallowed up by the Green Bay goaltender. On his next shift, he gets a secondary assist for a breakout pass after he chased a pass that got by him behind the net, which led to a scoring chance and goal.
8:10 into the video, Tretheway ends up in a footrace for a puck that got out of the USNTDP’s offensive zone. Tracking back, Tretheway was not first to the puck, but used his stick and positioning to repossess it and move it back up the ice. His teammate then chipped a pass over his stick to turn it over. A couple shifts later, Tretheway shows off his agility with the puck, sidestepping off the draw, on his off-hand, into a shot that seemed to give the goalie trouble. However, the USNTDP took another penalty, and Tretheway, again on his off-side, was on the ice for the goal against quickly after the faceoff. It was not really his passing lane to block, though.
Trethewey has a big chance on a four-on-three when the puck ends up below the goal line, but backhanded out to the slot, where Trethewey is lurking for a shot. It takes a second for the play to be blown dead, but it was another tense moment for Green Bay’s defense and their goaltender. In all, it was a decent, but unspectacular game for Trethewey. I did like his shooting instincts and his ability to move around, but he was not as involved in the game as I would have liked him to be.
Our second video is his HSD Prospects highlight package. It starts off with one of his goals on a shot past the glove and pad. These kinds of highlights remain his most impressive throughout the video, and he is capable of scoring from anywhere on the ice. Right side, left side, point: it does not matter to Charlie Trethewey — he will try to find a soft spot in the goalie’s positioning.
As of now, I am not sure I would take Charlie Trethewey with the 50th overall pick, though I would have to see the context of who is left on the Draft board at that time. It is not that I do not think he can have an NHL career, but I do not think he has found that calling card, identity skill, which may limit his ceiling. With his limited production, and without seeing how he uses his very real physical tools on the ice (I would have really liked to see an NCAA game), I think I see him more as a third round prospect. However, attending Boston University will be good for him, and I think he will end up a solid, if not very flashy, second or third pairing defenseman who can cover both fast and physical offenses. Combining that with his hockey IQ and understanding what to do with the puck up and down the ice, he may end up a solid two-way defenseman that can chip in five or ten goals a season. He is good to have around, but I think there will be higher ceiling players on the board for the New Jersey Devils at 50.
Your Thoughts
What do you think of Charlie Tretheway? Do you think he is going in the first, second, or third round? Leave your thoughts in the comments below, and thanks for reading.