Sawchyn wrapped up his CHL career with the Edmonton Oil Kings, posting an impressive 30 goals and 78 points in 54 games. He was one of two point-per-game players on the Oil Kings and was far and away their best player. With the puck on his stick, Sawchyn can beat almost any WHL defender one-on-one. He is expected to make the jump to professional hockey this coming year with the Charlotte Checkers, where he will hope to have an excellent rookie campaign, proving to be the Panthers’ top prospect with Mackie Samoskevich’s graduation. Sawchyn’s individual skill and playmaking stood out versus WHL competition last year, and he will look to prove it can translate against tougher competition. To make the NHL, Sawchyn will certainly need to get stronger. February 2025 – Sawchyn has been one of the few bright spots on an otherwise underwhelming Edmonton Oil Kings team. After missing nearly a month of action from the back half of January to the midpoint of February, Sawchyn has picked up right where he left off with five points in three games. Over the course of a full 68-game WHL season, Sawchyn is on pace for 104 points. His scoring is top-ten in the WHL in terms of points-per-game at 1.524, which is tied with 2024 6th overall pick Tij Iginla (UTA) for 10th in the WHL. The most impressive part of this is how he is doing it away from other elite WHL talent. His next most productive teammate is Gavin Hodnett who is 48th in points-per-game while other players ahead of him are playing with other elite talents (the top 10 has two Calgary Hitmen players and three Spokane Chiefs players). Despite Sawchyn’s impressive production, he is still a victim of bad habits that could hinder him at the next level. For example, he feels so responsible for much of his team’s offense that he oftentimes forces plays that should not be forced. While he has the talents to play in the NHL as soon as the end of this season, he will likely need to marinate in the AHL next year unless he impresses majorly over the summer. James Connelly

Through six games this year, Sawchyn has been far and away the Edmonton Oil Kings’ best player. Leading the team in goals and points-per-game, Sawchyn looks primed for a 100-point WHL campaign. The Oil Kings’ offense runs through Sawchyn, and his stick-handling capabilities allow him to make plays his teammates cannot. He plays a style that thrives alongside a sniper, and unfortunately, the Oil Kings do not have a true sniper whom Sawchyn can set up. However, Sawchyn will likely play alongside a sniper at some point in the season as the Oil Kings may move for one, or Sawchyn could be traded to a team with one. One of the Panthers’ most skilled prospects, Sawchyn will have a chance to play NHL games as soon as this year as he could play a game or two at the end of the year. He is a player Panthers fans should be excited about, and it will not be too long till we see him in the NHL.

Sawchyn is probably the most skilled prospect within the Panthers’ system, rivaled only by Mackie Samoskevich. Sawchyn’s stick handling is among the best for NHL prospects and will be a large part of why he becomes an NHLer. His playmaking also is quite impressive and shows best following Sawchyn dangling a defender and finding a teammate with a pass that has pace that tends to hit his teammates’ tape. His 2023-24 season was split between the Seattle Thunderbirds and Edmonton Oil Kings where he managed to score at over a point-per-game rate with both clubs. He found time in every situation for Edmonton which shows how much faith the coaches have in his defensive game. Currently, his largest limiting factor is his skating as Sawchyn lacks good top-end speed but his edge work is one of his better traits. Sawchyn’s shot, while good, is not a particularly strong aspect of his game either, leading to him passing up opportunities in the slot and making that extra pass. He will need to play less individualistically moving forward but this should be ironed out by the Panthers’ development staff. Sawchyn has the talent to make some NHL rosters this fall but likely not the Stanley Cup-winning Florida Panthers’ roster. He should be an NHLer by 2025 at the latest.

Sawchyn was ranked as high as 13th (Elite Prospects) and low as 90th (Hockey News), so perhaps it is not surprising that he slipped on draft day. Most outlets viewed him as a late-first or early-second round pick—the consensus was 32nd overall—however, so Florida definitely lucked out snagging Sawchyn down at 63rd. Part of what made him a difficult read was that he played for a stacked Seattle Thunderbirds team that featured a whopping 14 NHL prospects, including Dylan Guenther (ARI), Brad Lambert (WPG), and Kevin Korchinski (CHI), and finished the year as the WHL champions. His point-per-game performance (58 points in 58 games) was solid but not as eye-catching as many other players drafted in the first round. He will return to Seattle next year while those big three and likely some others will depart, so pencil him in for a more prominent role and imminent production spike in 2023-24. Sawchyn has a Samoskevich-like skill-set that features high-end puckhandling (Elite Prospects score: 7), passing (6.5), and hockey sense (6.5), as well as competent skating (5), shot (5), and above-average physicality (6). For reference, a score of 5 indicates NHL average, so Sawchyn boasts excellent tools across the board without the typical gaps and question marks that accompany later picks. While not a huge guy (5-11, 165lbs), he is constantly hounding the puck, harassing opponents, and battling in the corners. With possession, he is poised and deceptive, routinely battling and squirting out of pressure just in time to fire a quick pass to an open teammate. He will need to bulk up to handle the intensity of the NHL, but a couple years from now he could become a middle-six playmaker who elevates his linemates, provides some scoring punch, and fills any role required of him.

Sawchyn, who surprisingly dropped, was selected 63rd overall by the Panthers.