A Swedish right wing and a bruising, scoring Canadian defenseman.
With their two mid-1st-round picks in the 2025 NHL draft, the New York Islanders selected Swedish right wing Victor Eklund at 16th overall and left-shooting defenseman Kashawn Aitcheson at 17th overall. This followed their big splash of the day, selecting Matthew Schaefer with the first overall pick after trading Noah Dobson.
Eklund is listed at 5’11”, 169 lbs., and is the younger brother of William Eklund of the San Jose Sharks. Some compare the younger brother to Jesper Bratt based on his style and frame. NHL Central Scouting says he “led under-20 players in Allsvenskan in goals (19) and points (31) in 42 games. The 18-year-old had the most points by a teenage forward in the league since Nikola Pasic had 35 points (eight goals, 27 assists) in 45 games for Karlskoga as a 19-year-old in 2019-20.”
Aitcheson led OHL Barrie in scoring last season and was third among OHL defensemen with 26 goals. He also likes to deliver big hits with his 6’2”, 199 lbs. frame: “He accomplished this while not sacrificing his fierceness along the back end. He can quarterback a power play and be a shutdown, in-your-face type performer,” NHL Central Scouting says.
Of course, these picks will always be judged against the remainder of the career of Dobson, whom the Islanders traded earlier in the day to Montreal to get these picks (plus Emil Heineman). There was buzz — maybe just Long Island fan hope — that the Isles were aiming to package them to move up and draft James Hagens, but if so that obviously was never happening, as the picks sequence leading up to Hagens going to the Bruins at #7 held no suprises.
The Dobson trade will be judged not just these two picks, but also whatever the Isles do in Mathieu Darche’s first summer as GM: Trading a top-four/pair defenseman in Dobson created a hole on an already aging blueline, but also cleared $9.5 million in cap space, based on the extension he agreed to as part of the trade.
But Friday night was about the young kids getting their introduction. Schaefer was the one we all expected and seems destined for a long NHL career; with a little luck, Eklund and/or Aitcheson will join him as part of a good story when we look back on this draft five, six years from now.