'Teams are dying for a guy like this': Meet Kashawn Aitcheson, throwback D-man

Sudbury Wolves forward Nathan Villeneuve chipped the puck out of the defensive zone on a routine play late in an OHL game on Jan. 18, 2024.

He was quickly met by a prowling Barrie Colts defenseman, who slammed Villeneuve's 6-foot, 195-pound body to the ice. It was the kind of punishing open-ice hit that 30 years ago would make the latest Don Cherry "Rock'em Sock'em" highlight tape - a thunderous yet legal body check. A teammate immediately came to Villeneuve's defense and engaged in a spirited 30-second fight with the deliverer of pain, Barrie blue-liner Kashawn Aitcheson.

Over the next day or two, the Wolves' team group chat lit up with a proposal straight out of a Hollywood movie script: $500, a Wolves player wrote, to the teammate who seriously injures Aitcheson in the next Sudbury-Barrie game.

"Put a bounty on a kid's head? In today's environment, you just can't do stuff like that," Colts general manager Marty Williamson, then also the team's head coach, said of a potentially explosive situation he managed to diffuse by sitting Aitcheson for Sudbury games until the OHL concluded an investigation.

Villeneuve and forward Evan Konyen received 15- and 10-game suspensions, respectively. A March 2024 press release noted that the players violated the OHL's social media policy "in a manner detrimental to the welfare of the League, one that would greatly compromise player safety and the overall integrity of the game."

Aitcheson, a top prospect in the 2025 NHL Draft, which goes Friday and Saturday in Los Angeles, shrugged off the bizarre saga in a recent interview with theScore. At the time, he didn't think any Wolves would go through with the injury attempt. Still, Aitcheson said, it's comforting to know he can get into people's heads. "If that's what other teams are doing - thinking about me after games - I'm doing something right," he laughed.

That's Aitcheson: he'll kill you with physicality on the ice and kindness off it.

Aitcheson, listed at 6-foot-2 and 199 pounds, brings a lot to the table. He tallied the third-most goals among OHL defensemen, scoring 26 in 64 regular-season games this past campaign and four more in the playoffs. He's the ninth-ranked North American skater on NHL Central Scouting's final list and sits 13th overall on Bob McKenzie's TSN list, which relies on a scout survey.

The 18-year-old is projected to be drafted in the first half of Round 1, likely in the 10-16 range. There's a slight chance he sneaks into the top 10 thanks to a few factors: a lack of elite defensemen available, his skill set, and his swagger.

"I'll block a shot with my teeth to win a game," Aitcheson said in his scouting combine interview with decision-makers from the Pittsburgh Penguins, who own the No. 11 pick. "All I want to do is win. That's all I ever think about."

"The biggest strength," a former director of amateur scouting said of Aitcheson's top-10 case, "is the fact that he's a throwback type of player."

Aitcheson's brief stint as a football running back shows in his fearless nature. He embraces all contact, wills pucks past the goal line with his wicked one-time shot, and celebrates goals like they're 90-yard touchdowns.

In January, Aitcheson recorded a Gordie Howe hat trick (goal, assist, fight) against the Owen Sound Attack, the fisticuffs following a devastating open-ice hit. In February, he sniped in overtime against the Saginaw Spirit before bowing at center ice in celebration. In March, No. 77 for Barrie again answered the bell in a playoff game versus the Niagara IceDogs after yet another monster collision.

Those are just a few examples of the game-shifting abilities of a Toronto teenager who dropped the gloves nine times and bagged eight overtime goals from the preseason to the end of the playoffs. "Kash," as he's known to family and friends, also flashed his physicality and offensive touch at showcase events like the CHL USA Prospects Challenge and OHL Top Prospects Game.

"I notice guys are careful when Kash is on the ice. You have to keep your head up," Brampton Steelheads goalie and friend Jack Ivankovic said. "He's a player who plays hard every single shift and likes getting under your skin. I've definitely heard a few chirps from him throughout the past couple of years."

Tristan Bertucci, Aitcheson's most common defense partner in 2024-25, has learned to steer opposing forwards toward Aitcheson's side of the ice.

"Kash's physicality almost scares forwards from coming to the middle and making space for themselves," Bertucci said. "He takes away that option, which is really what you're trying to do all the time as a defenseman. You want to force the other team's forwards to be less creative and dump pucks in. If that happens, they lose possession. That's a really valuable skill to have."

Aitcheson watches opponents' feet, chest, and shoulders for tells.

"As soon as a forward shows he's going to cut into the middle, the game slows down for me. You feel yourself meeting them for a hit, and you know it's going to be a big one," said Aitcheson, who models his game after Boston's Charlie McAvoy but is a closer stylistic match to Anaheim's Jacob Trouba.

Aitcheson will be an instant fan favorite in whichever market he's drafted into. If all goes well, he'll one day land on the second pair during even-strength action and the first pair shorthanded. But there's work to do before turning pro. His skating, for one, lacks explosiveness. Some scouts aren't sold on his hockey sense, or if he'll be able to rack up goals and assists at higher levels.

"There are some moments where he gets a bit too excited about jumping at the body check," the former director of scouting said of another minor concern.

Here's what swings the evaluation back to positivity: Scouts wanted Aitcheson to level up offensively as a draft-eligible player, and he did. His passing chops, movement in the offensive zone, and shooting accuracy have all improved.

"I just think he's so coachable," Williamson said. "When he walks out of video sessions, I look at my coaches and go, 'Wouldn't you love 20 of those guys?' A lot of kids come in and are like, 'Yeah, coach. Yeah, coach. Yeah, coach.' With Kash, it's always a really good discussion about what he was thinking. He wants to talk it out. Understand. Improve. Get into the details."

Aitcheson gets his aggressive playing style from his uncle Chris, a former Division III forward at now-defunct Becker College in Massachusetts. He still remembers cheering Chris on during his many fights in Ontario Junior A.

Aitcheson's leadership skills - ranging from sticking up for his teammates on the ice to having a special handshake with each off it - formed at an early age, too. His parents divorced while he was young, which meant a lot of uncertainty, bouncing from house to house, and extra care for his younger brother, King.

"I'd get my brother up for school while my mom's at work, make him lunch, and be that older brother role model for him," Aitcheson recalled. "I'd make sure King needs to be where he needs to be - on time and everything. It helped me mature quickly and set me up to be a protective teammate."

Aitcheson wore an assistant captain's "A" for Barrie this past season. Williamson said he'll be captain or co-captain (with Utah Mammoth first-rounder Cole Beaudoin) in 2025-26. That and his playoff-style game have combined to make him one of the most unique defensive prospects in the past few years.

"He's going to make life miserable on the other team's best players," the scout said when asked to summarize Aitcheson's ultimate utility in the NHL.

"NHL teams are dying for a guy like this," Williamson added.

"You just don't see this type of player all that often anymore."

John Matisz is theScore's senior NHL writer. Follow John on Twitter (@MatiszJohn) or contact him via email ([email protected]).