The CHL Import Draft was held on Wednesday, and one of the Washington Capitals’ most recent draft picks saw his name called in the first round.
Maxim Schafer, who the Capitals selected in the third round of the 2025 NHL Draft, was chosen by the QMJHL’s Chicoutimi Saguenéens with the 18th overall pick. Schafer, a 6-foot-4, 183-pound winger, was the sixth-highest out of 24 NHL-drafted prospects to see their CHL rights claimed by a team.
The Import Draft includes junior teams from the QMJHL, WHL, and OHL. An “import” is classified as a player who does not have residency status in either Canada or the United States. Fellow Caps prospects Ilya Protas and Petr Sikora were selected in last year’s draft.
Schafer, 18, spent his draft season primarily playing in the DEL, Germany’s top professional league, with Eisbaren Berlin. The Nuremberg native recorded three points (1g, 2a) in 31 games for the back-to-back DEL champions.
The DEL is notoriously tough for Under-18 players to score in, as Schafer is one of just eleven 17-year-olds since the 2010-11 campaign to record more than one point in a season. The only players ahead of him on that list are all current NHL players: Moritz Seider (6), JJ Peterka (11), Lukas Reichel (24), and Tim Stutzle (34).
Schafer dominated his similarly aged peers in the DEL’s Under-20 junior league, recording 35 points (12g, 23a) in 15 games. His 2.33 point-per-game rate is the fourth-best among all Under-18 skaters in the league’s history. He also recorded three points (2g, 1a) in five games for Germany at the 2025 World Juniors.
The Saguenéens have helped produce a couple of recent Capitals: Hendrix Lapierre and Pierrick Dubé. This past season, Chicoutimi finished third in the QMJHL’s Eastern Conference and were eliminated in a quarterfinal playoff series against Rimouski Oceanic.
Schafer will now need to decide if he’ll play the 2025-26 season with the Saguenéens or stay in the DEL for another year. He is currently participating in his first development camp with the Capitals at MedStar Capitals Iceplex.
