With their second pick in the sixth round, the Montreal Canadiens took another defender, Andrew MacNiel of the Kitchener Rangers of the Ontario Hockey League.
If you have followed along with our Getting to Know profiles from the 2025 draft class, there’s a common theme and MacNiel fits right in: Significant improvement as the season went on.
After playing only five games in the OHL last season, playing mostly in the Ontario Junior A league, he played 33 games this past season. After starting the year as a bubble player in and out of the lineup, he solidified a role late in the season. He played 12 of the Rangers’ 16 playoff games. The start of his season may have put him under the radar, and the Canadiens pounced on what they saw in terms of improvement.
MacNiel was a fourth round pick in the 2023 OHL Draft, which shows he was seen to have some potential. Players drafted behind him in the OHL Draft were players that went relatively early in this weekend’s NHL Draft, including Haoxi Wang and others who ended up going to the NCAA. Of course, the players going to the NCAA dropped because they were unlikely to play in the OHL. It is still a sign that he could be another late bloomer to thrive, something that Montreal has already had pretty good success with.
He’s not going to light up the scoresheet, but he is a reliable defender who is physical and doesn’t back down, as can be evidenced by the following encounter.
In truth there isn’t much else reported on him at this point as most draft guides did not see him as a viable prospect. There is a good chance that this is the most written about MacNiel as a member of the Canadiens organization, but the same could be said about any player the team drafted in this spot. That’s the reality of any organization, but especially one with as many picks over the last few years as the Canadiens.
There is enough of an upward trajectory that it makes it a swing worth taking, and it will be interesting to watch his play in the OHL next season.
