Meet Cole Reschny, the hottest prospect in the 2025 NHL Draft: 'He stirs the drink'

ALLEN, Tex.

Ask Victoria Royals head coach James Patrick or general manager Jake Heisinger about Cole Reschny and theyll both say the same thing.

I will say this: I dont know if a player in our league had a better second half than him.

(And) I know theres not one player that I can think of who played better in the playoffs, Patrick said.

He put this team on his back and his playmaking and compete were elite.

Advertisement In those playoffs, Reschny registered 25 points in just 11 games, leading the Royals past the Tri-City Americans and to six games in a second-round series against the heavily favored Spokane Chiefs.

I would say in the second half of the season that he was as dominant as any player in the league, Heisinger said.

He led us all the way through and when the stakes got higher, he raised his game for the playoffs and he really showed not only where he can take his game to but just how competitive he is, how badly he wants to win.

On the year, he registered 35 goals and 117 points in 73 combined regular season and playoff games.

At years end, NHL Central Scouting listed the 5-foot-10.5, 183-pound center as their 25th-ranked North American skater in the draft.

Immediately after losing Game 6 to the Chiefs, he wasnt satisfied, either, hopping on a plane to Texas the following day to join Team Canada at U18 Worlds.

Though he joined the team late, they immediately named him an alternate captain.

In his first game of the tournament, he scored in a 5-1 win against Finland.

A day later, on a back-to-back against Norway, he scored again and added two assists to give him four points in two games.

And on Wednesdays quarterfinal against Czechia, he made it six points in three games, scoring a big late-second-period goal to tie the game 2-2 and an even bigger one to win it in overtime.

He played 21:50 in the game, tops among Canadian forwards.

COLE RESCHNY CALLS GAME IN OT The @victoriaroyals star #NHLDraft prospect sends to the semis #U18MensWorlds pic.twitter.com/OdSlJr93gD Canadian Hockey League (@CHLHockey) April 30, 2025 Its already his third time performing for Hockey Canada, after winning gold at the 2024 Hlinka Gretzky Cup, where he registered seven points in five games, and co-leading Canada Red in scoring with eight points in seven games at the 2023 World U17 Hockey Challenge before that.

After chasing a second gold medal, itll be onto the next thing, and then the next, and the next.

The draft.

Development camp.

Skating and training with his skills coach and strength and conditioning coach, Adam Huxley, and daily hour-long drives from his small Saskatchewan town of Macklin and across the provincial border into Wainwright, Alta., to get to work.

Advertisement Thats the Reschny way.

When he had his exit meeting with Patrick and Heisinger before departing for Texas, they didnt even have to tell him what they expected of him in the offseason, like they do for their other players.

Hes not a guy that you need to lay out what he needs to work on, Heisinger said.

He knows hes got to keep putting the work in on and off the ice and hes someone thats very driven and very motivated.

As soon as the U18s are done, hell be getting right to it.

There are about 1,200 people who live in Macklin.

Just enough for a church, a school, a couple of inns, a couple of restaurants, a couple of car repair shops, and a hockey arena.

Its a very small town, Reschny said of his home.

Just growing up there, its tough.

You have to drive a lot to get anywhere.

Its fun though.

Its a lot of driving but its fun.

(And) its a pretty good rink in town.

Were pretty lucky to have what we have there.

The Reschnys account for five of those people.

Coles dad, Clinton, works as an oil field services sales manager.

His mother, Allison, is an educational assistant at the school, working with special needs students.

Cole is the middle of three boys.

His older brother, Austin, who he says has been the most influential person in his hockey career, is a 21-year-old forward at the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology.

His younger brother, Anderson, is a 14-year-old defenseman at OHA Prep.

His uncle, Trevor Reschny, also played at Northeastern University, where he served as the Huskies captain in his senior year.

Cole spends his free time fishing, snowmobiling and helping Clinton farm goats.

The closest real hub, according to Reschny, is Lloydminster, a town of about 30,000 more than 100 kilometres north.

Wainwright is only home to 6,000 people, but Huxleys group in the gym and on the ice is 25-30 pro and junior players, and they take pride in their offseason training group being equivalent to the ones at the top gyms and rinks in major cities like Calgary and Edmonton.

Advertisement Huxley has been working with Reschny since he was 8 or 9 years old.

His other clients include players such as Carson Soucy, Bobby McMann, Mason Shaw, Scott Ratzlaff and Jagger Firkus.

Huxley, who played more than a decade in the AHL and ECHL and is the western head of player development for the skills development and technology firm Power Edge Pro, put Reschny in their group in the gym and on the ice when he was 15.

When he first started skating and working out with them, they were shocked by his age because of how mature he is.

I dont think Ive met a more professional, driven kid at 15-17 in my time doing this, Huxley said.

The older pro guys look up to him, Im not kidding.

You wont find a better kid.

First and foremost hes an amazing kid, secondly hes a really good hockey player.

Thats true of all three Reschny boys, plus Clinton and Allison.

Huxley called Allison an amazing lady and said Clinton just tells them how it is.

I dont think youve met a more respectful group of kids, a more polite group of kids.

Theyre very, very well parented and you can tell when you talk to Cole his respect level for adults and older guys in the gym and on the ice, his coaches, is something you dont see much anymore, Huxley said.

Hes an old soul and its just a pleasure to be around all of the Reschnys.

His parents are model hockey parents.

This summer, when the U18s wrap up and Reschny returns home to Macklin to start his offseason training with Huxley, his focus will be on adding a step, which scouts have asked about.

Both Heisinger and Huxley said hes faster than people give him credit for.

Ive had a couple of people ask me and theyre not worried about his speed, but theyve asked about it, and I have four or five clips where I say, Well, this is what youre getting.

Hes toasting defenders because his hands, feet and head move in sync,' Huxley said.

And hes continually working on his first three steps, which is their question mark.

But when you look at his game as a whole, his brain and everything else works together so well.

Sometimes I watch him and Im like Go, go, go, youre the best player out there but then I watch and hell make the right play almost every time.

Hes a thinker.

Advertisement Despite his 5-foot-10.5 listing, Huxley also says Reschnys a beast in the gym.

Heisinger called him a powerful kid (who) gets to pucks because of how motivated and driven he is.

People look at size and to the naked eye they always look at height.

And you know what, wingspan and length and reach is one way of looking at size and its awesome to have, but Cole is built like Sid (Sidney Crosby), Huxley said.

Hes low to the ice.

His legs are super strong and going to be super explosive.

And if you watch him down low, he isnt getting beat off pucks very often and thats because hes very, very strong.

Huxley thinks he could grow a couple of inches and get to six feet, too, and compares him to how thick and strong Logan Stankoven was at the same age (though Stankoven was 2 1/2 inches shorter).

When you think of size, do you really think about height anymore? I think you think of, If I have the puck, how am I going to keep it? And I think Cole is a very strong player.

Hes very strong for his age, Huxley said.

On the ice, that strength shows up in his ability to win and hold pucks, too.

Hes a battler, Heisinger said.

He wants to win puck battles.

Hes a guy thats in the fight to win the fight.

Hes going to do whatever it takes to win a game, to win a battle.

Hes the ultimate team guy, ultimate competitor, and someone that when the chips are down you want him on your side.

Patrick said the only player he has ever coached in the WHL who entered the league as strong as Reschny did at 16 was Minnesota Wild first-rounder Carson Lambos.

Probably Coles biggest strength is how strong he is on his feet, how strong he is on the puck, Patrick said.

That first season, Patrick said he didnt think there was a player in the CHL who had to play as much and as big a role as Reschny did.

After first-line center Robin Sapousek got injured at the World Juniors, Reschny became Victorias 1C at 16.

In a perfect world, Patrick would have preferred his rookie season in the WHL to be in third-line matchups and minutes.

Advertisement Instead, Reschny registered 59 points in 61 games, second on the team in scoring and fifth among WHL rookies.

He stirs the drink.

He makes players around him better.

Two years in a row, as a 16- and 17-year-old, that team just has no success without him and its very evident.

Look at the players this year who played with him, look at the players last year who played with him, they both had career years, Huxley said, pointing specifically to linemate Teydon Trembeckys jump from 10 goals and 20 points a year ago to 46 goals and 88 points this season.

He actually had a really tough first couple of months to start this season, according to Patrick, and didnt play particularly well at Novembers CHL USA Prospects Challenge (where he scored the game-winner in the second game of the event, his lone point in its two games).

But he got better, and better, and better as the season went on.

In the second half, Patrick said he was outplaying the opposing teams 19- and 20-year-old first-line centers head-to-head as a 17-year-old.

When theyd go into Prince George it was Wild 2023 second-rounder Riley Heidt, then 19.

When theyd go into Vancouver, it was 20-year-old drafted prospects Connor Levis and Jaden Lipinski.

He was playing these players head-to-head or outplaying them, Patrick said, and coming away with two, three, four points, and playing in every situation, and playing the game the right way.

But not only that, just how he led by example was pretty impressive.

We hadnt seen too many instances like this and I certainly havent.

I dont think Ive seen a 17-year-old play better in the playoffs in my time coaching in the league.

In the playoffs, it was Kraken 2024 top-10 pick Berkly Catton in Spokane.

I think he showed here playing against a pretty potent top line in Spokane that his skating was more than fine, Heisinger said.

Advertisement All year, even when he got off to a slower start offensively, he was also Patricks best defensive center and top penalty killer and top faceoff guy.

From the time I got here, he has played a real responsible two-way game, Patrick said.

And for me coming from the NHL to coaching junior, it was way more pronounced to have some young players who have no clue how to play the game defensively or no desire to play in the D-zone.

And in saying that, its never even been an issue for him.

He feels a responsibility, hes aware of it, he knows how to play in the D-zone, hes good at taking away passing lanes, hes good at ending plays and he will get in the shot lanes.

Its something that he has been willing to do and takes pride in from the time that I got here.

Huxley went a step further.

Ive been around a lot of the kids in the draft and Im not a scout, but I dont think theres a better 200-foot player in the draft.

Theres not a chance, Huxley said.

(Top photo: Chris Young / CHL).

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