After a great two years with the United States National Team development program, the Edmonton Oilers selected Asher Barnett in the fifth round of the 2025 NHL Draft, and I wrote about how his defensive play stood out to me. Now the Michigan Wolverine has continued to show off his impressive defensive play in his freshman season while also chipping in offensively. Barnett finished his season with five goals and 18 points in 40 games played, which was his highest points-per-game since 2022-23 when he was playing 15U. The Wolverines defenceman also played for the United States at the World Junior Championship. Although Barnett didn’t register a point in the five games, he will most likely be on the team again and in a bigger role.

Michigan was probably the perfect spot for Barnett to head to. Like a lot of the best programs and teams around the world, they emphasize a free moving offensive zone. It was crucial for the former fifth-round pick to take a step in his play with the puck and compared to when I was doing his initial profile last year there have been improvements. Below are two clips from this year and they show the newfound confidence in his transition game.

Barnett is now carrying the puck in transition more this season than he was in his draft year. In the first clip Barnett is quick to put Penn State right back on their heels and create chaos in front after a great controlled entry. In the second clip he bobbles the puck a little bit and his stickhandling will need to continue to take a step, but Barnett draws a tripping penalty and makes the pass as he is falling. A lot of times in his draft year I watched the American defenceman continuously dump the puck in with little to no pressure on him, but now Barnett shows that he will go through a couple reads before throwing the puck deep. Even in the offensive zone the six-foot-one defender is starting to take advantage of forwards not shoulder checking in the defensive zone and two of his goals this year were directly because of this as you will see below.

Barnett’s offensive intuition is also showing growth at Michigan and continuing to be a threat backdoor will either result in a high-danger chance or creating space for your forwards to work. The timing on both goals were excellent as well. The final clip below is what I want to see the 200-pound defenceman doing consistently in transition and it’s one of my favourite shifts from the freshman.

Its a two-on-two coming at Barnett and his defensive partner, after Minnesota chips it in the Oilers prospect shadows his man perfectly and it results in buying a ton of time for his partner to get the puck and rim it around to the far side winger. Barnett recognizes the opportunity to jump into the rush and he takes full advantage leading to a clean offensive zone entry. Barnett is on a positive trajectory offensively and being at Michigan will only continue to help that part of his game.

This is the part of the game that Barnett can make an NHL living out of if he continues to improve his all-around game. Barnett continuously shows the proper fundamentals in almost every scenario and towards the end of the year the freshman defenceman played a crucial role on the penalty kill and in last minute scenarios, this shows he has gained a ton of respect from the coach. In every defensive situation the main goal Barnett has is to get the puck back and below is a great example of his fundamentals mixed with this goal in mind.

It is such a simple play, but the defensive-minded defenceman takes away the offensive players hands completely leading to an easy breakout for his partner. Another strength of Barnett’s game continues to be his gap control and one-on-one defending, I have multiple clips throughout the year showing off his strengths in this area and it continues to get better.

Barnett isn’t giving much at all when it comes to the defensive side of the game, that’s why he got drafted and that continues to standout to me every time I watch him. I’m impressed with the freshmen’s first season in the NCAA and I think if he continues to play for Michigan where they want every player to get involved offensively and play confident he will improve his game to the point where I think he deserves a contract. It was a great season from Barnett and he has climbed up my personal rankings, I’m excited to see what he can do with a bigger role next year as his second season as a Wolverine.

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