Eiserman 'trying to round out my game' defensively ahead of NHL Draft

The 2024 Upper Deck NHL Draft will be held June 28-29 at Sphere in Las Vegas. The first round will be June 28 (7 p.m. ET; ESPN, ESPN+, SN, TVAS) and rounds 2-7 are June 29 (11:30 ET; ESPN+, NHLN, SN, SN1). NHL.com is counting down to the draft with in-depth profiles on top prospects, podcasts and other features. Today, a profile on left wing Cole Eiserman of USA Hockey's National Team Development Program in the United States Hockey League. NHL.com's full draft coverage can be found here.

Cole Eiserman had a very specific vision when he started playing hockey and, to his credit, has checked that box on the road to what he hopes will be a successful career in the game he loves.

"I wanted to shoot the puck like Alex Ovechkin," the left wing with USA Hockey's National Team Development Program Under-18 team told NHL.com.

"The goalie even knew where the puck was going and Ovi still scored," Eiserman continued. "And to me that's unbelievable."

Eiserman actually tied Ovechkin's 2001 record for most goals at the Under-17 World Hockey Challenge when he scored 12 in seven games during a gold medal-winning performance with the United States in 2022.

There's no denying the fact Eiserman's shot is what gives him an edge over every prospect available in the 2024 Upper Deck NHL Draft. It's deceptive, it's hard and it's nearly impossible to stop, especially when he's teeing it up in his office from the right face-off circle.

"I think Cole Eiserman is the best goal-scorer of this draft; it's an elite quality," said Craig Button, TSN resident director of scouting, NHL analyst and former NHL general manager.

Still, Eiserman knows there's more to hockey than just shooting the puck and that's the area in which he wants to set the record straight.

"I mean, if you want the puck, you got to be able to defend and that's something I'm adding to my game even more to become an overall 200-foot player," Eiserman said. "Obviously, I'm trying to round out my game to help us win. If I do that, I know I can be on the ice in any situation."

NTDP coach Nick Fohr has probably had more heart-to-heart conversations with Eiserman on this very topic than he can count on both hands.

"I remember in a video session with him, watching him in the defensive zone, he was just cheating all over the rink and not doing things the way I wanted him to do it," Fohr said. "I forget how many goals he had at the time; it was in the 30 range. I'm like, 'If you just stopped like you know you should have done in this clip, that puck comes to you.' He might have 10 more goals instead of 30, but he was missing offensive opportunities because he wasn't doing things right, defensively.

"From that moment on, he really focused on trying to get better in those areas. He's not perfect with it yet and it's not where it needs to be ... he knows that. But I thought he made major strides with his play away from the puck."

Fohr was determined to have Eiserman understand and relish the importance of defending.

"The NTDP is a place where you go to get better and that means you have to have some heart-to-heart conversations just because that's how bad I and others want it," Eiserman said. "You got to have those talks to kind of get out of your comfort zone and take the next step."

The 17-year-old from Newburyport, Massachusetts, is No. 12 on NHL Central Scouting's final ranking of North American skaters. Cole (6-foot, 195 pounds) has four brothers, who all played hockey at various levels, including a fraternal twin, Caden, who is three minutes younger than Cole. His oldest brother, Shane, 28, played with the NTDP in 2012-13 and was selected by the Ottawa Senators in the fourth round (No. 100) of the 2014 NHL Draft. He never played in the NHL.

His father, a retired Massachusetts state trooper, played for UMass Lowell in 1986-87.

There was talk after Cole scored 69 goals and 104 points in his NTDP U-17 season that he might be chosen among the top-3 in the 2024 draft.

"He was preseason No. 2, he's dropped, and people are writing negative things and negative reports on him," Fohr said. "It was hard on him. Those are hard things to see and to read and to go through. We had a meeting in my office this year where we talked about that, and it got emotional for both of us. I know how much it means to him and he's also learned from me that I know what he's going through from a standpoint of I've seen other players go through this."

Eiserman led the NTDP with 58 goals and 25 power-play goals in 57 games this season. He scored 17 points (10 goals, seven assists) in 12 games against NCAA Division I competition and 37 points (26 goals, 11 assists) in 26 games against teams in the United States Hockey League.

Button believes Eiserman is a top-10 talent in this draft.

"I'm going to take you back to the 1977 NHL Draft when my father, Jack Button, was running NHL Central Scouting and Bill Torrey was general manager of the New York Islanders," Button said. "Mike Bossy was playing for Laval of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League; all he did was score 70-plus goals every year. But there was all this talk about how all he did was score, and he couldn't play defense. He wasn't tough. The draft begins and Bossy is falling, falling, falling. It comes to the No. 15 pick. Torrey walks over to my dad, who knew the Bossy family well, and asked him, 'Is there anything wrong with Mike Bossy?' My dad said, 'Not a damn thing.'

"Bill then went back to (Islanders coach) Al Arbour and said, 'We're debating between two players. We've got this big, strong, powerful wing who might be a 20-goal scorer in the NHL and then we got Mike Bossy, who all he does is fill the net, but his defense isn't very good.' Arbor said, 'I can teach the goal scorer how to play defense. I can't teach the other guy how to score.'"

Button said every time he's asked about Eiserman, he's reminded of Bossy and how 14 teams passed on one of the NHL's legendary and most revered goal scorers. The right wing scored 573 goals in 752 NHL games spanning 10 seasons and is in the Hockey Hall of Fame and was named one of the 100 Greatest NHL Players in history during the League's centennial celebration in 2017.

Eiserman ranks first in NTDP history with 127 goals and 52 power-play goals in 119 games. He became the all-time NTDP goals leader when he scored 13:04 into the second period for the United States in a 6-4 loss to Canada in the gold medal game of the 2024 IIHF World Under-18 Championship on May 5. Cole Caufield held the previous mark (126 goals in 2017-19).

He scored 11 points (nine goals, two assists) in seven games at U-18 Worlds when the United States won a silver medal.

"I was really happy for him on a personal level because it was a goal he had set for himself in advance, probably before he even came here," Fohr said. "I remember a year ago sitting in my office having a conversation with him that, 'Hey, we're not chasing records next year. I just want you to be aware that I'm not playing you extra and not making sure that you get this or that so you're in situations to score some extra goals. We're going to do this the right way. We're going to do this with team-first mentality and as a byproduct of that I hope you break the record, but we're not chasing it.' He knew ahead of time that's how we do things."

Eiserman looks forward to continuing his career at Boston University in 2024-25. NTDP assistant coach Matt Gilroy spent four seasons with the Terriers (2005-09), winning the 2009 Hobey Baker Award, presented annually to the top NCAA men's hockey player. Center Macklin Celebrini, the projected No. 1 pick in the 2024 draft, won the award as a freshman with BU this season.

"I think everyone knows Cole's a goal scorer and I've never seen a kid obsessed with scoring goals like he does and the work he puts into it," Gilroy said. "But what a lot of people don't see is his work ethic from day to day, in the gym and in practice. I think he's got a lot to learn still, but his work ethic on and off the ice is going to take him pretty far, and not just his shot."

Eiserman had 153 goals and 240 points in 103 games over two seasons at Shattuck-St. Mary's in Minnesota (2020-22). In contrast, Celebrini, his linemate at Shattuck for two seasons and who is considered by many to be the best two-way player of this draft class, had 101 goals and 258 points in 102 games.

"I don't know if there's any bigger compliment a former player can get from a former coach who says, 'I'd take him again on my team instantaneously,'" longtime Shattuck coach Tom Ward said of Eiserman. "He played a certain way for us, and he let his teammates know that he cared about them. He wasn't a selfish player. He was an immature player when he was here, though, but I didn't hold that against him. He has some maturing to do, and he should have every opportunity to deal with that. It's similar to when Nathan MacKinnon was here (2009-11) ... Cole has a lot of those same attributes.

"He's a scorer. He's Ovechkin. Every player I coached wanted to score; Zach Parise, Sidney Crosby, Jonathan Toews, Derek Stepan, Clayton Keller. But there was a different level of that with Cole. He's absolutely driven to score, and he would literally score 500 goals a day (practicing his shot). He's an absolute machine."

Eiserman said his favorite release is a slap shot off a one-timer, something he feels is important in today's game.

"It's all just consistency and wanting to do it, wanting to get better at it, wanting to be in the shooting room and on the ice, and talking to goalies to gain any type of edge," he said. "I love talking with my goalie coach and goalies, asking them what they see and how they feel in certain situations on a breakaway or the power play. Obviously, I've never been a goalie so I can't really tell.

"I ask them because it's just really huge for kind of knowing what to do."

Despite having a slight bend in his stick on every shot since he uses a 72 flex, Eiserman believes he has a heavy release.

"It's just nice to be able to kind of barely push it and have the thing fly," he said. "I always know where it's going but I try to catch the goalie off guard and put pucks in spots where they can't get to it. Knowing the game and knowing who you're playing is important when it comes to shot selection. My shot is mostly heavy, but accuracy is huge."

Based on what he saw over the second half of the season, Fohr knows Eiserman is ready to take the next step in his career at Boston University in 2024-25.

"I asked Cole to make a decision on what we wanted for the rest of the year (when questions were being raised about his defensive game)," Fohr said. "He looked at me and said, 'Coach, I want to become a better player' and that tells me a lot about the kid.

"He's not 100 percent perfect with his play away from the puck yet, but he's way better than he was two years ago at it. It's something that he is aware of, that he's going to continue to work on and knows has to continue to get better."

That's what director of NHL Central Scouting Dan Marr sees when he watches Eiserman.

"Whether it's fair or not, he's been labeled as a one-dimensional player but it's a very important dimension," he said. "In the National Hockey League, scoring is one of the best parts of the game. That's what he's going to bring to the table with the team. When I look down the road, I can see him impacting an NHL club like a Chris Kreider (New York Rangers). A guy that can score goals on a consistent basis, score timely goals, help teams win games. I think he just needs to be coached up a bit and he'll get that in college hockey. That just comes with experience and maturity."

How did Eiserman rate his season on a scale of 1-to-10?

"Honestly, probably a nine," he said. "I think as a player, I had more of a complete game. I saw it and the coaches saw that I was able to go out there late in situations on defense, and that made me feel pretty good. I'm pretty confident with my defensive game now and, seeing where I was two years ago, to where my game is now, I think the progression is pretty good and I'm really excited to kind of keep going with it."

NHL.com deputy managing editor Adam Kimelman contributed to this report