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Saskatoon’s Roger McQueen was all smiles when asked about what was going through his mind ahead of the 2025 NHL Draft in Los Angeles on Friday.
“It’s pretty cool, just kind of working towards it my whole life. It’s one of those achievements that you get on the way to there,” he said.
“I’m obviously super pumped and I have a lot of family around me who are super excited for me. I couldn’t tell you how happy I am and excited to have this coming up.”
There might not be a more intriguing prospect in the draft than McQueen.
Listen to McQeen on Behind the Headlines:
The 18-year-old, six-foot-five, 198-pound centre is everything scouts want to see in a hockey player: he’s big, he’s skilled, he scores goals and he’s strong.
Heading into the 2024-25 season, some scouts around the hockey world had McQueen ranked as a top-five pick – others had him going as high as third overall – some even slotted him first overall.
Players with his skill set, size and hockey IQ are rare to find, but injuries throughout his young junior career have caused some scouts to hesitate and weigh the risk and reward of drafting him early on.
Read more:
- Saskatoon’s Roger McQueen living up to high expectations in draft year
- Eight Sask. products crack NHL Central Scouting final rankings
- Regina Pats turn to franchise legend Dale Derkatch to lead next chapter
In his 17-year-old season in 2023-24, McQueen was diagnosed with a bulging disc in his back, forcing him to miss 15 games.
In his draft year this past season, the injury news got worse for McQueen. After playing the first eight games of the season, he learned he had a fracture in his L4 and L5 vertebrae, causing him to miss five months because of the injury.
“There wasn’t a whole lot of rehab. They just had me on complete rest. That was tough, especially not being able to do anything,” he said.
“I just did stretching for five months straight and tried to do everything I could. That was tough, but it worked out.”
He credits his teammates and family for helping him get through the injury, especially the mental side of it.
“I was at the rink every day in Brandon and when they were gone on road trips, I came home and had such a great supporting cast,” McQueen added.
“There wasn’t a whole lot I could do about it, so it wasn’t something I could change. Just accepting it and taking the goods out of the bad,” he said.
“I think it really helped me in the long run, just in the sense of my mental side of the game.”
McQueen insists he’s now 100 per cent healthy and is moving past the injury that sidelined him for most of his draft year.
As he gets ready for the next chapter in his hockey career, McQueen said there’s one thing he’s focusing on this off-season.
“The biggest thing is just growing into my body, just kind of gaining some weight and some muscle there. I think that was also probably a part of my back – I’m pretty tall and don’t have a lot of muscle on me – so I think that’s probably one of the bigger things,” he explained.
This past month, McQueen competed at the NHL Combine and met with 24 clubs that all had an interest in selecting the big centre.
By all accounts, McQueen did well in the fitness testing and said he enjoyed the interviews with the teams.
He said during the interviews, there was one question in particular that really stood out from the Montreal Canadiens.
“Best question was probably what animal I was on the ice and off the ice? I picked a horse just because they’re good with people. That was just one that caught me off guard,” he chuckled.
McQueen admits he has no idea where he’s going to be taken in the draft on Friday; he’s just excited to have the opportunity to hear his name called by an NHL team.
“I’m looking forward to the team that drafts me – just looking forward to going to camp and having some fun there,” he said.
“I’m excited to get back just building that muscle and being able to come back next year and play all the games – it’s probably my biggest goal,” McQueen added. “I’m just super pumped for what’s coming up here.”
