Anaheim Ducks Select Noah Warren with the 42nd Overall Pick

With their 2nd round selection of the 2022 NHL Draft at #42 overall, the Anaheim Ducks selected right-handed defenseman Noah Warren from the Gatineau Olympiques.

Elite Prospects had him ranked 56th and had the following to say about him:

“There are three components of Noah Warren’s game that
will doubtless make him enticing to NHL teams in this July’s
draft: his size, skating, and age.
Warren may tower over opponents with his 6-foot-5 frame,
but he moves like many of his smaller, shiftier peers. He has
no problem flexing his limbs to get into an explosive posture.
His above-average mobility and length give him one of the
biggest defensive ranges in the entire draft; attackers simply
can’t speed away from him.
The next step in Warren’s defensive development is learning
to resist the deception of the QMJHL’s top forwards. His
above-average tools should allow the defenceman to take in
more information before he reacts to a defensive situation
and to wait out the fakes before reacting. He has the jump
and the recovery ability to quickly close out on attackers, so
he may as well use those skills, right?
“I underestimated Warren’s shot, both his wrister and slapshot,” Elite Prospects QMJHL scout David St-Louis wrote in
a March report. “He had a goal taken away from him. The
puck shot so fast and so hard off his stick and off the post
that many, including him and the refs, thought that it went
in. It didn’t. He’s heavy on his release. Every slap shot he fired
from the point looked like a dangerous scoring chance, as the
goalie struggled to absorb them. This is another projectable
element of his game.”

Scott Wheeler of the Athletic had him ranked 77th and had the following to say about him:

“Warren’s size, strength, power, skating combination and rapid progression this season made him a talked-about player as the year went on and caught my eye in trips to Gatineau for an Olympiques game and Kitchener for the CHL/NHL Top Prospects Game. He plays within himself and skates quite well (as evidenced by his strong combine results in Kitchener and the impact his mobility had to funnel play to the exterior in Gatineau). He defends at a very high level and has started to come out of his shell with the puck, even if the latter is never going to be a hallmark of his game. After spending more time watching him on tape than most as I put the finishing touches on this piece, I was also impressed by his stick and the job he does reiterating with opposing carriers. He can step up and play the body but there’s also a quiet calm to the way he matches and keeps opposing players to the outside. If he can develop a little more confidence carrying the puck (which came as the year progressed) in transition and atop the point, the rest of his game should translate.

Here’s Olympiques head coach and general manager Louis Robitaille on Warren: “He’s outstanding. He’s on the rise and the credit goes to him. The priority was to really establish who he was going to be at the next level and where he could be used. And it’s quality over quantity. He became a physical, steady-Eddie defenceman on a daily basis. And that’s why his stock is on the rise. Because now his assets are so strong and powerful that now you see the strength of the athlete instead of the weaknesses.””

Pat Verbeek is continuing to add depth on the blueline for one of the best prospect pools in hockey.