Every year at the end of June, Brian McFadden and his family vacation in Gloucester, Mass.
The trip is centered on the Greasy Pole, a competition in which competitors attempt to walk the length of a telephone pole slathered with slippery substances — all while suspended over the Atlantic Ocean.
This year, McFadden had something else on his mind. The NHL Draft also falls in late June, and McFadden and his family had a reason to care — he’d been ranked as the 115th-best North American skater by NHL Central Scouting in its final draft rankings.
He knew if he got picked, it’d be on Day 2, June 27. McFadden’s parents, Luke and Paula, invited their extended family to watch with them.
The entire party was glued to the television in the living room, but McFadden was tucked away in a separate room by the kitchen.
“I was too stressed to watch it,” he said.
To pass the time, McFadden tossed a red bouncy ball from his right hand to his left hand, over and over again, until he heard his Aunt Julianne scream.
The Washington Capitals selected the defenseman in the fifth round, 144th overall.
“We were just watching and waiting, and when his name popped up, the place went wild,” McFadden’s father, Luke, said. “It was unbelievable, once in a lifetime.”
David Hymovitz, McFadden’s head coach at Thayer for the past two seasons, first knew of McFadden through the Boston Junior Eagles. He didn’t really get to know him, though, until McFadden was a freshman at Catholic Memorial — back then, a tall, lanky underclassman.
Hymovitz always remembers him as a strong skater with good hockey IQ, and since then, McFadden has grown on and off the ice — now standing at 6-foot-5 and upwards of 195 pounds.
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“The maturity he had, both on the ice and off the ice, is one of the biggest jumps I’ve seen in any player I’ve coached,” Hymovitz said.
Part of that maturity is realizing what works and what doesn’t at each level. McFadden knows when to make the play and when to rein it in.
In 29 games last season for Thayer, McFadden recorded two goals and 17 points, while playing in all situations. Hymovitz spoke with nearly 20 NHL organizations about McFadden in the lead-up to the draft.
A.J. Toews, a scout for the Capitals, went to Thayer several times to watch McFadden. Toews was intrigued, as McFadden is a big right-shot defenseman.
“Our staff has really liked his ability to move the puck,” Toews said in an interview with New England Hockey Journal. “His natural instincts to both evade players and to create passing lanes and get the puck — it’s such a big part of being a defenseman.”
As McFadden progresses in his development — adding weight and strength to his game — Washington wants to see “consistent, incremental improvement,” Toews said, as he moves from level to level.
“If I want to keep playing at the next level and keep moving up, I have to put on a lot of muscle mass and really focus on my healthy habits,” McFadden said.
McFadden’s next steps are already mapped out. In late August, he’ll join the Chicago Steel in the USHL. McFadden, his family, and the Capitals will take it year by year from there. But once he’s ready to move on from juniors, he’ll skate at Northeastern, where he committed last August.
Staying unbothered by pre-draft rankings and hype isn’t always easy for a teenager who grew up on social media — but McFadden learned that lesson early, after he wasn’t selected in the 2024 USHL Phase 1 Draft.
“Ever since then, I was just like, ‘I hate drafts,’” he said. “I just tried to stay very focused on the main goal and not let it distract me.”
For those around McFadden, his attitude stands out most. In his first year at Thayer as a sophomore, McFadden, a “total rink rat,” according to his father, missed six weeks with an injury. He found other ways to step up.
“I’m gonna be good in the locker room, I’m gonna hold guys accountable, I’m gonna work guys, I’m gonna cheer guys on — he did everything,” Hymovitz said.
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Hymovitz received a text from McFadden at Capitals development camp, asking for a head shot from his time at Thayer.
Hymovitz had two photos to choose from: one where McFadden was smiling and one where he was clearly trying hard not to smile, playing it serious.
“The biggest thing for him is how much he loves the game, how much he loves practice,” Hymovitz said. “How much he loves to play, just with a smile on his face.”
