The BC Hockey League continues to thrive as a prime source of National Hockey League-calibre talent, even as it operates outside the Hockey Canada system. Seven players drafted in the NHL appeared in the league during the 2024-25 season, with five of them on BCHL rosters at the end of the year.
Ben Merrill (F, Penticton Vees)
Merrill was a solid contributor for the powerhouse Penticton Vees in 2024–25. A big body at 6-foot-4 with a wicked wrist shot, he finished the season tied for fourth on Penticton with 15 goals. The Hingham, Massachusetts product was also 12th on the Vees in points with 23.
The Montréal Canadiens added Merrill to their depth chart in the sixth round, 166th overall, at last year’s NHL Draft. According to Elite Prospects, the 2005-born forward is 21st on the Habs’ depth chart. He is committed to Boston University to start his NCAA Division I career this fall.
Sebastian Bradshaw (F, Coquitlam Express/Langley Rivermen)
Bradshaw had a bit of an up-and-down 2024-25 season in the BCHL. He started the season in Coquitlam and put up a goal and two assists in 14 games before being traded to Langley on Nov. 2. Bradshaw, who’s committed to the University of New Hampshire for this September, finished the season with seven goals and 10 assists in 52 games.
The Dallas Stars selected Bradshaw in the seventh round of the 2023 NHL Draft. At the time, the Newtonville, Ontario product was coming off a 36-goal, 71-point season in 2022-23 while playing at the 18U AAA level with the Elite Hockey Academy based out of Northford, Connecticut. He also posted 102 penalty minutes in his 73 games that season.
Michael Fisher (D, Penticton Vees)
Fisher returned to the junior hockey ranks with the Vees in 2024-25 after spending the previous season in the NCAA at Northeastern University. The 2004-born Fisher was fourth in blueline scoring on Penticton with two goals and 14 assists, but his points-per-game was second on the Vees D-core.
He only got into 35 games after breaking a hand during a game in Sherwood Park in October. The injury caused him to miss more than two months of the season.
The San Jose Sharks drafted the Westborough, Massachusetts product in the third round, 76th overall in 2022, after he put up 50 points in 28 U.S. prep hockey games at St. Mark’s School. Fisher committed to Cornell University this past April and will head back to the NCAA in September.
Embed from Getty ImagesVladimir Nikitin (G, Nanaimo Clippers)
Nikitin started the 2024-25 season with Snezhnye Barsy Astana in Molodyozhnaya Hokkeinaya Liga, a major junior league with teams in Russia and Kazakhstan. The 2005-born Kazakh netminder was 4-8-0 with a 4.61 goals-against average and an .884 save percentage in 12 games with Snezhnye Barsy.
He travelled to Ottawa to represent Kazakhstan at the 2025 IIHF World Junior Championship, where he finished the tournament with a 6.07 goals-against average and an .836 save percentage. On Jan. 7, the Chilliwack Chiefs moved Nikitin’s BCHL playing rights to the Nanaimo Clippers for future considerations.
In Nanaimo, he wrapped the season with a sparkling 11-2-0 record to go along with two shutouts, a .924 save percentage, and a 2.35 goals-against average. The Ottawa Senators used a seventh-round pick, 207th overall, to select Nikitin in the 2023 NHL Draft.
Embed from Getty ImagesQuentin Miller (G, Chilliwack Chiefs)
A two-year major junior veteran, Miller joined the Chiefs on Jan. 6 after missing all of the season to that point with a shoulder injury suffered during a Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League pre-season game with the Rimouski Océanic.
The 2004-born netminder from Montréal was stellar for Chilliwack, going 8-2-0 with a 2.29 goals-against average and a .923 save percentage. He piled up 14 wins in the BCHL playoffs as the Chiefs were the runners-up to Brooks in the Fred Page Cup championship series.
The Montréal Canadiens used a fourth-round pick, 128th overall, on Miller in 2023, after he led the QMJHL in goals-against average (2.11) and save percentage (.911) with the Québec Remparts. He also won a QMJHL championship and Memorial Cup that year. His NCAA development at the University of Denver starting this fall will be worth watching.
The two other drafted players to appear in the BCHL this past season were 2005-born forward Jack Pridham and 2006-born goaltender Mikus Vecvanags. Pridham, who’s a Chicago Blackhawks draft pick, left the West Kelowna Warriors after a dozen games to sign with the Kitchener Rangers of the Ontario Hockey League. Vecvanags, drafted by the Habs, joined the QMJHL’s Acadie-Bathurst Titan in December after starting the year with Brooks.
Image credit: Island Images Photography
