“I think I’m in love with this sport”: Haoxi Wang fell for ice hockey when he was 4, and now at 17, he’s a 2025 NHL Draft prospect | NHL News
Haoxi Wang, who goes by the name “Simon” in North America, was only four and a half years old when he followed his friend to watch his first ice hockey practice on an ice hockey rink in Beijing. The players looked like superheroes in their uniforms and gear, flying across the ice hockey rink. Wang shared with Adam Kimelman of NHL.com, “He(Wang’s friend) started playing, and he told me this upcoming sport is extremely cool. I went to watch one of his practices, and then I told my mom, I think I’m in love with this sport. I was four and a half at the time.” Thereafter, his love for the sport led him to the 2025 NHL Draft! What happened in between? Let’s find out.
Haoxi Wang’s mother, Willa Wang, built an ice hockey rink for him
When Simon’s mother found out about his love for hockey, she built an ice hockey rink for him; in fact, that’s how her rink-building company started. That is not all – she went on to purchase the Ontario Junior Hockey League team where Haoxi Wang played. Wang played ice hockey defenseman for King Rebellion of the Ontario Junior Hockey League. Wang shared with Kimelman, “When I was 10, she(Willa Wang) saw this upcoming market of hockey and the Winter Olympics in China for 2022 at the time. She gathered a few partners of her and built a new rink in Beijing. And started to own the hockey club and the figure skating club. And that’s when I have all these amazing facilities to train at, when I was a kid, and build a lot of fundamentals and fundamental skills for me when I moved to Canada.”
Ontario Hockey League’s Oshawa coach Brad Malone says Haoxi Wang’s hockey IQ with or without the puck is very high
In Canada, Haoxi Wang played for the Oshawa of the Ontario Hockey League. Brad Malone, coach at Oshawa, could not stop praising Wang. He shared with Kimelman, “You can’t teach size. You can’t teach his natural ability, his skating ability. I think his hockey IQ, both with and without the puck, is very high. He makes a lot of good decisions and a lot of really good reads. He’s a tough defender to beat. He understands the defensive side of the game.” Wang took a while to adjust to OHL, but his coach, Malone, did not see that. “For me, it was right away. You saw so many good intangibles as a hockey player: his skating, his size, his stick detail, his physicality, his confidence with the puck. Just the way he carried himself.”
Central Scouting’s Nick Smith calls Haoxi Wang an intriguing kid for the NHL clubs
17-year-old Haoxi “Simon” Wang is on the roster of 2025-2026 Boston University of the NCAA Division 1. Wang received a “B” rating on NHL Central Scouting’s Preliminary Players to Watch in October 2025. He is projected to be a second-round or third-round 2025 NHL Draft pick. Nick Smith, NHL Central Scouting, shared with Mike G. Morreale of NHL.com, “We first noticed him last year as this tall, lanky kid who was physical and full of compete. In my first viewing this year, I couldn’t believe how smooth he was. He’s right up there with the best skaters in the draft, and at 6-foot-5, that’s remarkable. You throw in the physicality and compete, and you have a kid who’s very intriguing to the NHL clubs. His puck game is improving, and he’s putting up some decent numbers.”Back in October 2024, OJHL’s King Rebellion head coach Mark Joslin shared with Jim Mason of OJHL Communications, “It’s been crazy. We’ve had at least 15 to 20 NHL scouts at each of our home games this fall. And Simon had already been interviewed by some of those NHL teams.”Also Read: NHL Hall of Fame 2025: Carey Price, Joe Thornton, P.K. Subban lead a star-studded first-ballot lineup | NHL News – Times of India
