When I talk about players in the 2025 NHL Draft. It’s easy to point out the stars. The hardest part is to figure out the players who will outperform their standing in that draft. Former NTDP forward Jack Murtagh is one of those players.

Teams are always quietly looking for players who aren’t peaking and could slip in the draft. It’s an art form. Some teams are better than others for sure. The team a prospect plays on is a factor in all of this. 

“Yeah, I think overall, every day we were growing and as a team, we just kept getting better, “Murtagh remarked. “I think just as the year went on, we got a little bit better towards every game.”

Players have up and down seasons. Rankings on Murtagh went up and down as his season did. The main takeaway was that he finished the season strong and then had great interviews with teams, and that played into it. He’s a smart guy, a smart hockey player, and he has a deep sense of where his game is headed.

“Yeah, it was kind of a full roller coaster. It was super fun, super exciting,” Murtagh remarked at the NHL Draft. “There was a lot of talent on my team, so I couldn’t thank those guys enough for what they did for me.”

Heading into the NHL Combine, I had a feeling he was a target of a lot of teams. Not every team had first-round picks, but most had second-rounders, and he was expected to go somewhere in the second round. Still, the draft is hard to predict, but after the Combine, I think he had a better sense of where he might go.

It was easier to ask him which teams didn’t speak to him after he said 29 interviewed him. “It was Minnesota, Dallas, and Tampa,” he responded. 

Heading into the summer, Murtagh was excited to attend Boston University. His reasons for going there superseded what we in the media were talking about. This prospect went there for specific reasons. He didn’t care about NIL money. 

“It didn’t, actually. I think I just believed in the team and in the program,” Murtagh mentioned. 

This player knew what he wanted, and he went for it. Many news stories followed the money afterward, and he was aware that some of it was forthcoming, but this decision was about his playing future, not his financial future. He is used to playing against the best, and NCAA hockey will have just that.

“Yeah. I think it’s going to be a great shift,” Murtagh said with a smile. “I mean, it’s going to be high on talent, high in hockey talent. It’s big boy hockey, so I’m super excited.”

A player’s makeup is important. That takes time to perfect, and at times, we see young players have peaks and valleys in believing in themselves and their game. This season was a great test for Murtagh. His confidence will carry him a long way. He will need that heading into this season. 

“I think just overall I’d say I’m a confident kid, and I think just overall getting picked at whatever early second round is surreal,” Murtagh added. 

Will Murtagh be a power forward? I think so. His game is trending that way. He seems to be a player who has matured early as far as his physical prowess goes. He currently weighs 198 pounds, and that’s not what he’s going to top out at, and that’s good news for his future teams. 

“I’m looking to play between, like, 200 and 205, so probably about ten more pounds of muscle,” said Murtagh. 

He and his representatives have a clear game plan for him, and that’s important to have future success. I don’t see him changing his game because it’s working. His commitment to playing all-around hockey is there, and he must carry through with that to reach his potential. When I asked if he would continue to get into the dirty areas, he never hesitated. 

“Yeah, for sure. I have to work on the consistency down low and kind of that grip factor in my game,” Murtagh stated. “I think, just kind of being better defensively before the offensive game comes.”

Last year, he had 53 points in 56 games for the National U-18 team. At the U18s, he had six points in seven games. The offense is there, and there is more to come. Murtagh can be a potential 50–60-point guy in the NHL. As an example, 57 points got you in the top 100 in 2025. That extra skill showed at the Flyers’ development camp.

In the early going. What stood out was his passing skills and toughness on the puck. Murtagh is already strong, but being strong on the puck was evident. He went right around Jack Nesbitt on one sequence to get to the net. It’s the difference between being a more future projectable pick like Nesbitt and a player who has been through a lot of drills and games with an elite program. The team may not have been great this year, but players still get world-class training.

Murtagh was the second-best guy in the development camp. I’m not sure anybody was expecting that, but that’s how it turned out. He was skating well, with strength and purpose. He made some very difficult passes and set up Jack Nesbitt with a beauty on one of his goals.  He may be a second-line wing someday. The tools are there, but the next phase of development will tell the story.

Murtagh is a future NHLer. Nobody will fight that. Some might vacillate over what line he may play on. That’s fine, there’s time to figure that out. His time at Boston University will help identify that. He has five points in his first nine games.

Some players would be disappointed that they had to wait until the second day of the draft to hear their name called. He wasn’t. That’s mature, and that will help him weather the ups and downs of the game.

Jack Murtagh (l), Carter Amico, photo by Sportosology