WHL draft prospect Nathan Behm had a breakout season in 2024-25

In hockey, as in life, timing is often everything. Sometimes players are late-bloomers and don’t really emerge until later on, but sometimes players have strong draft seasons that push them up the rankings.

One such player is Kamloops Blazers winger Nathan Behm, who’s really barrelled his way into the conversation in the 2025 NHL Draft class.

Scouting report

A Calgary kid, Behm was born in April 2007. He’s a right shot winger listed at 6’2″ and 198 pounds.

Behm came up through the Calgary Royals and the Edge School. He was selected 13th overall by the Blazers in the 2022 WHL Prospects draft and moved to the WHL full-time in 2023-24. He’s played two full campaigns in the WHL so far, both with Kamloops.

Over at the Neutral Zone, here’s their assessment of Behm’s game

Nathan Behm is a power forward prospect with an NHL-ready frame and a versatile offensive toolkit. Behm demonstrates strong puck-protection skills, a quick release, and an ability to create offensive opportunities for himself and his linemates from below the goal line. His blend of size, skating, and skill gives him potential at the professional level, but his consistency, defensive effort, details and willingness to engage physically are areas that need to be there every shift for him to maximize his impact.

Our pal Steven Ellis of Daily Faceoff provided this scouting report in his recent draft rankings:

Behm had a breakout season with the Blazers, which saw him finish with more than 30 goals and more than 60 points. He has always been a decent goal scorer at every level, but he has found a way to put more muscle behind his shot while being better defensively, too. His skating is still a work in progress – he’s not particularly quick and can be beaten by mid-range skaters. But his play with the puck has been incredible this year and I think there’s some serious potential as a secondary scorer.

The good news is that Behm has skill and good offensive instincts. The bad news is his skating and two-way play are seemingly his weak spots. Perhaps those can be improved, though.

The numbers

In 59 games with Kamloops this season, Behm had 31 goals and 66 points, more than doubling his rookie production. League-wide, he was tied for 41st in points and tied for 29th in goals. Among his age group, players eligible for the NHL Draft for the first time, he was fifth in points and fourth in goals.

It’s also worth noting that Kamloops had a down year and were one of the lower-scoring teams in the league, so Behm didn’t have the benefit of a ton of high-end linemates. Heck, among the top draft eligible WHLers he scored among the least power play points, so his offensive output is skewed heavily towards even-strength production. That may bode well.

Availability and fit

Behm has appeared primarily in the second round on most public rankings, usually somewhere in the 30s or 40s. He’s someone that would probably be a bit of a reach (e.g., taken too early) if the Flames looked to use their 18th overall pick, but would probably be gone by their second-rounder (54th overall), so if they’re considering him, it might need to be with their 32nd pick (from Florida).

In terms of fit, the Flames could always use more right shot offensive forwards, since the majority of the offensive-minded prospects they have in their system are left shots like Jacob Battaglia, Aydar Suniev and Andrew Basha. They could probably use centres more than wingers, but they’re not at a point in their system’s progression where they can afford to thumb their noses at anybody that can consistently put up points. If they think they can smooth out the rough spots in Behm’s skating and two-way game, he might be worth selecting.