Inside Wheeler’s Shocking Summer 2025 NHL Prospect Rankings: Who’s the True Future Star?
He just looks like he’s going to be a solid two-way defenseman who can influence play and potentially help out on both special teams, even if he’s not a natural power-play quarterback or your prototypical penalty killer. He projects as a No. 3-5 defenseman.
Bonk was an important player on a strong London team in his draft year, which isn’t always the case for defensemen his age under the Hunter brothers with the Knights and spoke to the maturity of his game in advance of the draft. That maturity helped him make Team Canada for the World Juniors as one of only two 18-year-old D to do so (along with the injured Tanner Molendyk, who was selected two slots after him in the first round of the 2023 NHL Draft). After returning from the World Juniors in Sweden, I thought he was one of the top defensemen in junior hockey and found another level offensively for a Knights team that went on to win the OHL title. Last year, he was again a top player for the Knights and was Canada’s ice time leader (about 22 minutes per game) as a returnee at the World Juniors in Ottawa. I thought he fought the puck a little in that role, but he was asked to do a lot, and there was a lot around him that was out of sorts on that team as well (he also finished with a Canada-best plus-4 goal differential at five-on-five). He also played big minutes on route to a second OHL title and Memorial Cup, albeit in a lesser offensive role so that he could really be their go-to guy defensively.
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