In the 27th pick in the 2025 NHL admission draft, the Washington Capitals chose Lynden Lakovic from the Moose Paw Warriors (WHL) in the Western Hockey League (WHL).
About Lynden Lakovic
If you ask NHL general managers to build ideal prospects in the lab, they might create someone who looks a lot like Lynden Lakovic. Lakovic is a reliable winner in the 6-foot-4 game, helping to push the Moose Paw Warriors’ first WHL title in 2024. Then, in the most recent season, he scored 27 goals and 58 points in just 47 games, after cutting the season with injuries.
Not only that, Lakovic has a toolbox for top six strikers in the NHL, including strong skating, which gives him a quick figure, sharp shots and excellent vision, allowing him to see the ice and allowing the right game to help his team score.
Related: 2025 NHL Draft: Real-time Tracker
Many of Lakovic’s current drawbacks are your expectations for the 18-year-old prospect. Yes, he’s big, but he hasn’t learned how to use his size to dominate on ice physics. His skills are still very primitive as he is learning how to step on the ice every time he steps onto the consistent game.
These are solvable problems, but can be easily learned over time and with proper development. Given his intangible assets, it’s hard to imagine a team evading the minor issues of drafting him.
Excerpts of the prospective customer profile
In his own words, Rakovic is the winner. He played a big role in last season’s Moose Claw Warriors’ first Western Hockey League (WHL) title, winning three wins in overtime and scoring another throughout the playoffs. The Warriors traded a large portion of veteran cores from historic wins this season, but Lakovic remains equally effective, leading the team with 27 goals, including three championships and 58 points. If the injury didn’t put him in a month and a half, he scored 39 goals, over 80 points. There is no other draft-qualified prospect in the WHL for less talent around him.
Lakovic’s outstanding performance earned him a spot in the CHL-USA Prospects Challenge in November, where he further made the winner’s claim. Despite his role, he performed well in the first game of the series, scouting a kick-off goal on Benjamin Kindel’s stretch pass and a solid body style that many scouts weren’t used to seeing from him. For the Warriors, he often lacks physically, which has caused some concerns, but in London, Ontario, these concerns have been eliminated.
His winning mentality comes from his ability to handle games quickly. Lakovic’s perception of the game is different from many of his peers and helps create offensive opportunities. This makes him a dangerous organizer because he knows who will get there or where to get the pass and get a good goal. When he owns a hockey, he is good at protecting it, using his figure and reaching out to keep his opponent away from the stick, which gives him time to find the best pass or shooting lane. While he can still improve his consistency and scans, he showed some very strong intuitions in the draft season supporting his claim as a big game.
Lakovic is always calculating and evaluating the game, allowing him to respond quickly to changes. He is good at forcing mistakes and making charges against opponents, so they don’t have time to make better decisions that can guide the hockey to teammates, but he’s not careless. He will take a certain attitude to the player at an angle to force the puck into a specific part of the ice, and he knows his teammates can pick up the puck. Sometimes it requires him to have a physical examination and he is not afraid to do so. It just needs to be for a reason. Again, he can improve his consistency, but his intuition is already very powerful for the 18-year-old and promises great things in the future.
Continue reading the full player profile here.
How this affects the capital’s plans
It is easy to see why the capital chose Lakovic No. 27. If they can teach him to use his own size, shoot and smart guys, he can easily plug into the top six on the wings, with 20 to 30 goals and 100 hits each season. In many ways, he feels like Washington’s perfect draft pick.
Related: 2025 NHL Draft Guide
Such players rarely go into the trade market or free agency, so it makes sense for Washington to go out and develop its own power forward internally. Of course, the process will take several years, but in a draft course lacking the expected superstar talent, he is the kind of prospect that might take several years to grow, but once he meets the league, he will not only leave a bruise.
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