Last season in the OHL, Cole Beaudoin had 33 goals and 55 assists in 54 games and 10 goals and 19 assists in 15 playoff games.
He was the 24th overall pick in 2024.
The Hockey News Future Watch issue ranked Cole Beaudoin 5th overall for Utah prospects and 58th overall in the NHL.
The Hockey News wrote, “Utah was so impressed with Beaudoin that it traded back up into the 2024 First Round to draft him. He, Iginla and Desnoyers made strong impressions at rookie camp and all went on to play for Canada at the WJC. There, Beaudoin’s high energy player turned heads. ‘He’s going to be an NHL player, it’s just a matter of how high in the lineup. He’s a character winner, plays a 200-foot game, is hard to play against and has shutdown capabilities. He’s a versatile, big center.”
The Hockey News Yearbook for the 2025-26 season ranked Beaudoin 6th among Utah prospects and said “inspires teammates with effort. A buzzsaw in all three zones, always moving. Middle-six potential.”
McKeen’s Hockey ranked Beaudoin 5th among Utah prospects and wrote “It has been an excellent bounce back season for Beaudoin after a disappointing draft year plus one. He has emerged as one of the best players in the OHL and was solid for Canada at the World Junior Championships, helping them capture bronze. The large spike in production can primarily be explained by two improvements. Firstly, he has upgraded his overall skating profile, adding more explosiveness, but also improving his balance and edgework. This has allowed Beaudoin to play with greater pace and to utilize his size and strength to play through traffic on his way to the net. Secondly, his puck skill and ability to handle at a greater pace has improved, which has made him a better playmaker and a more consistent play driver. Even with these improvements, Beaudoin’s upside as an NHL player is not likely extremely high. He still profiles best as a potential middle six player or elite third liner. His two-way awareness, positional versatility, and physical approach make him the kind of player that coaches will love. So long as his skating continues to improve, he should have a long NHL career ahead of him.”
McKeen’s ranked him 66th overall on their top 200 prospect list.
In the 2024 McKeen’s Draft Guide, they ranked Beaudoin #1 on their “Hardest Worker” list and #1 on their “Best Defensive Forward” list.
They ranked him 35th in their overall prospect list and wrote:
- “Warrior. Workhorse. Leader. These are all terms that perfectly personify Beaudoin. He’s never going to be the leading scorer on his future NHL team. But what he brings to the table cannot be measured simply by offensive production. He is going to be the guy out there blocking shots to protect a one goal lead. He’ll be the one killing shorthanded time by pinning a puck to the wall for thirty seconds. He’ll lead by example, on and off the ice. Beaudoin’s performance at this year’s U18’s was a great example of this. Already a little thin down the middle, Team Canada lost Roger McQueen to injury. This forced Beaudoin to play heavy minutes in all situations against the best in the world and he went toe to toe with them.
- Detractors will point to Beaudoin’s skating being below par, and they’re not necessarily wrong. He’s not a pretty or efficient skater with a wide stride, reaching back to Wayne Simmonds as a comparable. However, we’d argue that for a supposed poor skater, he sure wins a lot of races to the puck and beats a lot of defenders wide to the net. He will
need to put in the work to get quicker and be better on his edges, however, it’s not quite as bad as some will lead you to believe. - Thanks to great work ethic, insane strength on/off the puck, high-end playmaking ability, and very good three-zone awareness, Beaudoin projects as a middle six workhorse at the NHL level. He can play multiple forward positions. He can kill penalties. He can play net front or the bumper on the powerplay. He can be on the ice whether you’re down a goal or up one. Beaudoin will be a coach’s dream and a fan favourite”
Adam Rotter: After reading all of this it sure seems like the Rangers traded Vincent Trocheck and acquired someone that projects very similarly to him. We saw how important Trocheck could be in his time with the Rangers and that is why he was so sought after. The Rangers are moving him but bringing in a 20-year old who may be able to step into the lineup this season or next and play a similar kind of hard working, lead by example style. Maybe he only tops out as a 55-60 point guy but he seems like the kind of player that helps you win in all other areas. We’ll see, but he seems like a pretty good get for Trocheck.