Welcome to our annual Meet the Steal of the NHL Draft piece. Every year, we comb through hundred’s of draft-eligible players to see if a prospect has the potential to outperform their projection in the industry.
In last year’s edition of Meet the Steal, we selected Oshawa Generals’ forward Calum Ritchie. He recorded 80 points this past season in helping the Generals win the OHL’s Eastern Conference. It seems the Avalanche have a stud on their hands.
This year though, we’re going to go much further down the list. We could make arguments for several players to be a steal closer to the top. Berkly Catton comes to mind if he goes outside the top-five. Beckett Sennecke could be a potential steal if he falls too far. Our goal this year was to identify someone who has some interesting things on their profile but has gotten little if any attention.
How to Determine Potential Steal
I want to take a moment to outline the process used to determine the steal of the draft. One of the biggest things to look for is someone’s individual circumstances on a team. Points don’t always tell the full story of a player.
This year’s steal was selected based on that. Their point total is not going to jump off the page at you. Our steal finished the season with 43 points in 65 games which included 18 goals. This requires a further examination of their situation.
Our steal didn’t record any points in nine playoff games. Again this doesn’t tell the full story of the player. When you see who they had to play behind, now you start to get a clearer picture of why the lower point total.
The top-three centers on the team were Nathan Villeneuve, Dalibor Dvorsky and Alex Pharand. The Sudbury Wolves were loaded down the middle. They ultimately won their first series against the Mississauga Steelheads before being swept in the second round by the North Bay Battalion.
Our steal played on a loaded roster. Playing out your draft year like that will lead to having to make the best of it from much further down in the lineup. He opened the OHL playoffs as his team’s fourth-line center. He also saw time on the wing but consistently played in the bottom-six. He jumped from 13 points in his rookie season to 43 points this season. That’s somewhat impressive for a bottom-six fixture.
Our steal is expected to have a much bigger role in 2024-25 for the Wolves. They could potentially get to at or over a point per game. For someone who will either go really late in the draft or even undrafted, that profile is absolutely worth the late-round pick.
What elevates this player to steal is what he can bring to the table. Would you be interested in a center who is at least 6-foot-5? Of course you would. Meet Kieron Walton, our 2024 Steal of the NHL Draft.
Why Walton Is a Steal
Walton checks in at 117th on NHL Central Scouting’s Final Rankings. While a couple other outlets have him ranked, he is not getting as much attention as he should be getting for someone who could go late in the draft.
Walton is exactly the kind of player you gamble on late in the draft. Besides already being 6-foot-5, he’s over 200 pounds and is not done growing into his frame given that he had his 18th birthday in April. He can play both center and on the wing. But for someone with his size, he can skate and is a good playmaker.
Our head of scouting Peter Baracchini wrote up Walton’s profile on the Hockey Writers. That playmaking was a central focus of the profile. Here’s what Baracchini had to say:
“Walton’s handling and puck skills stand out. He’s extremely crafty when he has the puck, as he can make swift moves in tight spaces and along with his vision can spot teammates easily. He protects the puck very well and maintains possession very easily, powering through his opponents when on the attack and driving hard towards the goal. He can read the play very well, changing the angle of his body in the process and making it difficult to knock the puck off him. Even when in double coverage, he doesn’t panic, either coming out on top with the puck or passing it off to his teammate.”
Peter Baracchini, The Hockey Writers
Being able to win battles with his long reach and knowing what to do with the puck are strength’s of Walton’s game. He can also finish as seen by his 18 goals.
Walton did drop in the final rankings from 63rd to 117th mainly because of consistency issues and lack of minutes. There is a lot of untapped potential here given his size and playmaking ability. If he can land in a situation that works out the consistency issues and taps into that potential, he has a good shot of making the NHL.
When Walton is at his best, he’s driving the play and making things happen. The game that stuck out for me about his potential was his hat-trick game in February against the Saginaw Spirit. His first goal showed how dangerous he can be.
Walton had the puck and rushed up the ice. He beat four Spirit defenders before getting in position to score. That’s a scary combo for a 6-foot-5 player to lead the rush, then have the hands to deke through the defender and then score.
Walton’s other two goals show what he does best when finishing. He drives the net and cleans up in front by finishing a pass or on a rebound. He has the potential to be a massive headache for goaltenders in front of the net.
The center position is already in high demand across the NHL. Walton has the potential to massively outperform his current projection. He was not at the NHL Combine in Buffalo so that does point to either being a late-round pick or being undrafted. Savvy teams will see the upside and take a chance.
If I’m a team in the fifth round or later looking for a pivot with size and skill, Walton is your guy. It’s his untapped potential and room for growth that make him our 2024 Steal of the NHL Draft.
Sign up for our NHL Prospects & Draft Substack newsletter
