The 2025 Upper Deck NHL Draft will be held June 27-28 at L.A. Live’s Peacock Theater in Los Angeles. The first round will be held June 27 (7 p.m. ET; ESPN, ESPN+, SN, TVAS), with rounds 2-7 on June 28 (Noon ET; NHLN, ESPN+, SN, SN1). NHL.com is counting down to the draft with in-depth profiles on top prospects, podcasts and other features. Today, a look at center Jake Stuart of USA Hockey’s National Team Development Program Under-18 team. Full draft coverage can be found here.

Jake Stuart feels he is well-prepared for the NHL Draft.

After starring for the Los Angeles Junior Kings at high-profile tournaments, he spent the past two seasons as a forward with the USA Hockey National Team Development Program. He added approximately 35 pounds during his time at the NTDP, guided by strength and conditioning coach Brian Galivan, who recently accepted the same role with the Buffalo Sabres.

Stuart (5-foot-9, 161 pounds) also has a hard-wired knowledge of the NHL lifestyle, which he began absorbing long before lacing up his first pair of skates.

Consider the chronology:

Brad Stuart was a Boston Bruins defenseman when Jake, his oldest son, was born Jan. 8, 2007. Barely one month later, on Feb. 10, 2007, Brad was traded to Calgary in a deal that brought future Stanley Cup champion Andrew Ference to Boston.

Stuart’s contract expired after the 2006-07 season. He signed with the Los Angeles Kings in July, 2007, as Jake was about to turn 6 months old. The Stuarts would be based full-time in California.

Actually, not quite.

During the following season, the Detroit Red Wings sized up potential Western Conference playoff opponents and determined they needed to upgrade their corps of defensemen. On Feb. 26, 2008, they acquired Stuart from the Kings for two draft picks.

That’s how Brad Stuart wore four NHL jerseys within his first 14 months as a father. For the record, the moves were worthwhile: On June 4, 2008, Stuart and the Red Wings won the Stanley Cup.

Brad would play another eight seasons in the NHL, the final four split between two seasons each with San Jose Sharks and Colorado Avalanche, as the Stuarts tried to spend more time at (or near) their home in California. Jake was two months shy of his ninth birthday when Brad played his final NHL game, with the Avalanche on Nov. 10, 2015.

As Jake reflected on those years, he offered one of the greatest compliments a traveling parent could hear.

“I don’t remember him being gone a lot,” Jake said. “That’s the weird thing. Even though he was [traveling], I don’t remember him being gone. He was always kind of there. He’d always find a way to come back home for a little bit.”

It helped that Jake and younger brother Logan spent time at the rink with Brad. Jake always loved the No. 9 and gravitated to the players who wore it for his dad’s teams. That’s how Jake became a fan of Martin Havlat in San Jose and Matt Duchene in Colorado.

In retirement, Brad became an assistant coach with the Junior Kings, working with defensemen in Jake’s 2007 birth year and Logan’s 2008 group.

The irony, of course, is that both Jake and Logan now are forwards.