Calgary drafts Youngstown Phantoms standout Jack Hextall at No. 30

Calgary used the No. 30 pick on Jack Hextall, turning two seasons with the Youngstown Phantoms into a first-round NHL selection. The move gave Youngstown another draft-night headline and rewarded a player whose game kept climbing in bigger minutes.

Hextall’s second year in Youngstown was the one that changed the conversation. After putting up 34 points in 54 games in his first season with the Phantoms, the center broke out for 20 goals and 38 assists in 59 games the next year. That 58-point finish put him among the most productive players on the roster and showed the kind of year-over-year leap NHL teams want to see from a draft-eligible junior forward.

The numbers mattered because they came with a larger role and more responsibility. Hextall did not just pad a stat line on a bad team or in limited minutes. He handled top-end usage, drove offense from the middle of the ice and looked more polished as the season went on, the kind of progression that signals a player who can absorb coaching and keep scaling up against older competition. For Calgary, that blend of production, hockey sense and two-way impact was enough to justify a first-round call.

His international work added another layer. Hextall made Team USA’s U-18 group for the Hlinka Gretzky Cup and played a meaningful part in the gold-medal run, finishing with five points in five games and helping deliver in the title game as well. That track record gave scouts another look at how his game translated beyond the USHL, and it backed up the idea that his Youngstown surge was not a one-off.

Hextall is headed to Michigan State next, where Flames first-rounder Cullen Potter will also arrive, tying his path into a stronger USHL-to-NCAA pipeline. The family connection is there too: Hextall is related through his father to former NHL goaltender and executive Ron Hextall. But the draft slot was earned in Youngstown, where two seasons with the Phantoms turned a steady junior forward into a player Calgary was willing to take in the first round.