Film Room: Malcolm Spence’s slide might just be a setup for NHL success

One of the best 17-year-olds in the league last year, Malcolm Spence closed in on the point-per-game mark with the Erie Otters, scoring at a similar rate to other forwards like Porter Martone, Jake O’Brien, and Michael Misa and clearly ahead of others like Brady Martin. 

With this productive draft-minus-one season, Spence looked like a top prospect not only in the region but in the 2025 NHL Draft class as a whole.

He started at No. 6 overall on our October board.

A few months later, he finished the draft cycle at 21st overall, behind all of the names mentioned above.

What happened?

Spence remained the same valuable player he was in his sophomore OHL season, with the same potential to become an impactful NHLer. But his lack of progress introduced some uncertainty into his projection, causing him