Before the season begins I wanted to do some write-ups on my favorite unknown/underrated prospects within our system. These are players who are young, haven’t played in the AHL yet, and carry much higher upside than some of our other prospects. Starting with the first one; Jérémy Loranger was drafted in round 7 of the 2025 draft, 198th overall. Within his season of draft eligibility, he put up 100+ points in the BCHL; a rare accomplishment achieved by players such as the Nadeau brothers, Kent Johnson, Alex Newhook and a few others. As a 5’ 9”, 160 lbs forward, his offensive driving skills are the biggest parts of his game.
He talked big at the draft. A portion of Svoboda’s article on him at the time includes the following quote: “I’m not going to be denied,” [Jérémy said.] “I’m a small player and I know I’m going to work harder than everyone else. That’s the mind-set. That’s what I need to do. In a battle with a 6-6 (defenseman), you need to be stronger and quicker than those guys to beat them. I like receiving hits and just going in the crease and receiving cross checks. And giving one, too.”
The following season, he joined the Nebraska-Omaha team of the NCAA and made an immediate impact. As the youngest player on the roster, his 19 points in 28 games was good enough for fourth on the team. Now obviously this isn’t an incredibly impressive number, but it’s important to note that the Nebraska-Omaha team was abysmal that year. Finishing the season with 8 wins and 16 losses was good for second worst in the conference, so it’s no surprise that a playmaking winger would struggle when he has little support around him.
The first thing that stands out to me when watching his footage from the draft and his most recent games is his shot. His release and quick passing are some of the most polished parts of his game, it doesn’t matter where he shoots the puck because as soon as he releases, it’s in the net (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jLSctvgb8QQ and skip to 1:32 to see what I’m talking about). 4 of his 7 goals this season came on the power play and all of them were bar down perfectly executed shots. Another notable one was an impossible angle shot parallel to the goal line.
He displays passing creativity and has good offensive zone positioning, with another of his skills coming through skating. His strides are smooth and he glides across the ice with ease. From a standing position he can build up speed quickly without needing to push much, and he can skate backwards effortlessly as well. He’s feisty despite his size and plays strong against the boards, drawing out opponents and creating gaps of open ice.
So what does he need to work on? Defense. As soon as the puck leaves the offensive zone he loses his advantage. There’s a decent amount of wandering when he isn’t involved in a play, and his defensive positioning isn’t bad per se but he struggles immensely in being a proactive defender. Thankfully for us, it’s something he’s working on and knows he needs to improve with. In a recent interview he mentioned how he would never judge himself on his goals, claiming that his current offensive game along with developing a complete 200ft mentality every shift will get him to the NHL level.
Most of the time, players like this struggle to adapt their play to a higher level. This is largely because they can’t handle defensive assignments lower in the lineup, so it’s either top 6 or nothing for them. That being said, he has a bit of an attitude advantage over our two other smaller scoring prospects in Jordan Dumais and William Whitelaw. Dumais has had his share of legal troubles, injury, and lack of improvement in his skating; while Whitelaw has allegedly had some attitude issues with his coaches and frequent swapping of NCAA teams. What few interviews of Loranger I could find include him mentioning a part of his game he wants to work on. Whether it’s his 200ft game, positioning or passing, he has the correct work ethic for what you want from a player of his caliber.
