Brady Ondrus, the son of former NHLer Ben Ondrus, has been positioning himself as a potential high pick for next year's 2028 NHL Draft.
The elder Ondrus, who spent parts of four seasons with the Toronto Maple Leafs, earned his stripes as a high-effort forward who played a responsible energy game. His effort level was passed down to his son, but with Brady having a higher offensive upside.
A second round pick of the Kamloops Blazers in the 2025 WHL Prospects Draft Brady Ondrus has started his WHL career off strong with five goals and seven points in his first 12 games, while displaying strong defensive maturity for a 16-year-old forward.
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Ondrus grew up playing in his hometown Alberta, having spent last season in the CSSHL on a deep Northern Alberta Xtreme team that includes current Blazers teammate Teagen Bouchard, another highly regarded WHL prospect. Ondrus had nine goals and 36 points in 30 games last season for the club.
Although currently not on the same level of prospect, it is a similar situation as 2026 third overall pick Caleb Malhotra, who showed the same responsible game as his father, Manny, but with an expanded high-end offensive upside.
Ondrus has been invited to the World U17 Challenge, one of the top tournaments of the U17 age group, to represent Canada Red, one of two Canadian teams in the tournament.
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Also invited to the tournament is fellow Blazers teammate, 2029 draft eligible defenseman Matteo Ferreira, with defenseman Cruz Jim on the other Canadian team, Canada White.
Brady Ondrus Scouting Report
Having been one of the WHL's most projectable young players to start the year, how quickly Ondrus has adapted to the pace of the junior level is legitimately impressive.
Ondrus doesn't present any dynamic skating, but moves well and has good speed in his game, with a quick first step. What Ondrus lacks in blazing speed he makes up for in his high level of energy and mobility.
As mentioned, Ondrus has a likable offensive layer to his game. Having been more of a playmaker last season in the CSSHL, Ondrus already has five goals in his first 12 WHL games, tied for third in points among Blazers players.
Ondrus can be crafty when he wants to be, but can unlock more out of his offensive game with greater mobility in his hands, allowing him further deceptiveness to trick opponents. He should be able to, if he makes it to the NHL level, outplay his dad's total of two points in 52 games.
Despite just nine goals last season, Ondrus actually showed he could be a very competent goalscorer, with most of his scoring chances having been self-created chances with strong accuracy and able to find open spots in net.
It's little surprise that Ondrus has popped off as a scorer this season.
One area of need for improvement with Ondrus is adding more creativity to his game. When you look at a player like Caleb Malhotra, one thing that skyrocketed his value late in the season was how much deceptiveness he added to his skating, making him a much harder player to contain as he added greater edgework with the puck.
Ondrus currently projects as a potential top-100 pick for next year's draft, and someone who has the maturity and offensive flash to succeed in a bottom-six role on the wing.
Although too early to say, it would be exciting the idea of Brady Ondrus being selected by Toronto, the same team that gave his father an NHL career.
This is a guest article by Austin Kelly, who covers the Western Hockey League for Recruit Scouting
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