NHL draft prospects Cole McKinney, Asher Barnett have come a long way since Chicago youth hockey

When Chicago native Cole McKinney and Wilmette native Asher Barnett take the ice as freshmen at the University of Michigan this coming fall, it’ll mark their 10th consecutive year playing hockey together.

That’s more than half their lifetimes so far.

“It's incredible,” McKinney said. “We've been together forever. He's such a great player and such a great person, so it's been fun to go on this journey with him. Everything we've gone through together has been super cool.”

Before arriving at Michigan, however, they’ll lean on each other through the stresses and eventual joys of their one and only NHL draft experience.

McKinney, a center, is a projected second-round pick during the league’s first-ever decentralized draft, scheduled for June 26-27. Barnett, a defenseman, will likely get selected a bit later.

They’re two of five Chicago-area kids listed in the Central Scouting Service’s final draft rankings this year. McKinney is ranked 32nd and Barnett 96th among North American skaters. Headlining the group of Chicagoans is Ryker Lee, a right wing from Wilmette ranked 28th.

Friendship through hockey

McKinney and Barnett first crossed paths with the Highland Park Falcons before playing for the Chicago Mission for seven years.

Like thousands of kids in the area, the Blackhawks’ success through the 2010s inspired their love for the sport. McKinney idolized Patrick Kane while Barnett admired Brent Seabrook.

“It's been a good support system…[because] we've always been dealing with the same stuff,” Barnett said. “It's good to have a buddy to go through that with you.”

In 2022, they helped the Mission’s under-14 team win the national championship, which was coincidentally hosted at Fifth Third Arena. That was an obvious sign to both of them that they might be able to go pretty far in hockey.

“The reason for that is we're both very competitive,” Barnett said. “We're always around each other and really push each other to be the best.”

They were both invited in 2023 to the U.S. national team development program, based outside Detroit, and ascended into starring roles on the U.S. under-18 team this past season.

McKinney led the group with 61 points in 60 games, while Barnett served as team captain and chipped in 22 points (in 58 games) from the blue line.

“With how close we've been, it's been really nice to have someone there to lean on — someone you know super well,” McKinney said. “Being thrown into the NTDP, it's a very uncomfortable situation, so we've been very grateful to have each other throughout this whole process.”

Their college commitments to Michigan weren’t outright coordinated, but McKinney’s decision did influence Barnett, who has a lengthy family lineage at the school.

“Once he committed, I was like, 'That's where I want to go, too,’” Barnett said.

Prospect profiles

It’s understandable why McKinney idolized Kane as a kid. But as he has matured, he has focused on Kraken forward Matty Beniers — another Michigan product — as the most accurate NHL model for him.

“[Beniers and I] play very similarly,” McKinney said. “He's got a super high motor, contributes offensively and defensively and has a really high hockey IQ.”

McKinney’s biggest appeal in the draft will be his well-roundedness. He’s 6-0, 198 pounds with impressive strength for an 18-year-old. He excels on the penalty kill and in the faceoff circle. Offensively, he’s a good skater and puck protector.

His upside might be lower than an average second-round pick, but he’s also probably more likely to reach the NHL than an average second-rounder. He has already interviewed once with the Hawks, with a second interview likely coming at the NHL combine in Buffalo this coming week.

“He's physical, he's thick and he's a complete player,” Barnett said. “He can really play in any moment of the game.”

Barnett, at 6-0 and 194 pounds, has a similar frame to McKinney, although that's less notable for a defenseman.

He leans toward being a defensive defenseman, although he chip in some offense at the under-18 world championships this spring. He consistently wins puck battles and plays a simple, north-south game after doing so.

McKinney raved about Barnett’s work ethic, and it sounds like much of that work has been concentrated on improving his skating in recent years.

“Skating has always been…something I've been good at,” Barnett said. “It was just about taking it to another level. One thing I worked on a lot was having quieter feet, less crossovers and [more] mobility.

“The area I see the biggest difference is it's so much easier to defend the rush against when you have the ability to open up and pivot easily.”

Another Wilmette kid

Lee, the top-ranked Chicago native this year, never played together with McKinney or Barnett. But he and Barnett have trained together before during summers at home in Wilmette.

Most of Lee’s teenage development took place not in Illinois but rather at hockey factory Shattuck-St. Mary’s School in Minnesota. This past season, he starred for the Madison Capitols in the USHL, leading the team with 68 points in 58 games.

To NHL teams, which will likely eye him in the second round (if not the late first round), he offers a higher-risk, higher-reward profile than McKinney.

“I'm a skilled playmaker who makes my teammates better around me, is highly competitive and scores goals,” Lee said.

His creativity and elusiveness are his strongest traits, leading to some highlight-reel plays.

His subpar skating is a question mark, but he's working on making it more efficient by getting lower in his stride and activating his glute muscles.

A late growth spurt elevated him from 5-7 to 6-0, which makes a massive difference for his draft stock. He admitted he was always a “smaller guy,” and even now, adding more strength and weight is a priority for him. He’ll work on that next season at Michigan State.

“All the stuff this year — with the All-American game and everything that comes with your draft year — is really exciting,” Lee said. “You only get to do it once, so I'm just trying to enjoy it. Hopefully it'll go well.”

Beyond Lee, McKinney and Barnett, two other Chicago-area natives also made this year’s CSS rankings. Edison Engle, a defenseman from Arlington Heights committed to Ohio State, is 78th among North American skaters. And Bjorn Bronas, a goaltender from the city committed to Minnesota State, is 23rd among North American goalies.

This comes after four Chicago-area natives were selected in the 2024 draft: defenseman Cole Hutson from Barrington (by the Capitals in the second round), forward Kamil Bednarik from Elmhurst (by the Islanders in the second round), goalie Nicholas Kempf from Morton Grove (by the Capitals in the fourth round) and forward James Reeder from Glenview (by the Kings in the seventh round).