The Panthers used the 128th pick in the 2025 NHL Entry Draft to add a big-bodied forward with a track record of producing when the games mattered most. Shea Busch, taken in the fourth round at Peacock Theatre in Los Angeles, now heads into his first season at Penn State with a championship already on his resume and a clear development path ahead of him.
Busch’s draft year was split between two stops. He spent part of the season with the Vernon Vipers of the BJHL, where he had played the year before, and part of it with the WHL’s Everett Silvertips.
In 22 games with Vernon, he scored 12 goals and added five assists. Across 39 games in Everett, he chipped in 11 goals and eight assists.
The real buzz around Busch came after the regular season. In the playoffs, he put together six goals and 11 points in 13 games as Everett knocked off the Seattle Thunderbirds in six games, with Busch scoring five times in that series alone, before the Silvertips were pushed to seven by the Portland Winterhawks and fell.
After the draft, Busch followed the usual Panthers path and attended Florida’s annual development camp. He was back in South Florida again in September for the club’s 2025 NHL Prospect Tournament roster in Wesley Chapel, FL.
His second WHL season started fast. Busch opened with a hat trick on October 4 against the Victoria Royals and was sitting atop the league scoring race with 13 goals in 12 games when an upper-body injury, listed as a wrist issue, hit on October 29. The injury required surgery and ended his regular season.
When he finally got back on the ice, Busch returned in time for Game 3 of Everett’s first-round series against Portland and scored in the third period. From there, he finished the WHL playoffs with seven goals and six assists in 16 games as Everett captured the Ed Chynoweth Cup for the first time in franchise history.
The Memorial Cup was a tougher stage for him. Busch managed just one assist in five games while Everett reached the final and lost 6-2 to the OHL’s Kitchener Rangers.
His only helper came in the 5-1 semifinal win over the Chicoutimi Saguenéens. Whether that was a matter of rust after the long layoff or the jump in competition, the source of the drop-off remains unclear.
Busch was back at development camp this summer for a second straight year, and his teammates pointed to his leadership qualities. He’ll now spend the upcoming season in the Big Ten Conference at Penn State.
Even with the injury limiting his total games, Busch put up 24 goals and 13 assists in 51 regular season WHL games. His playoff line - 13 goals and 11 assists in 29 games - was even stronger, and he heads to the NCAA with a title in hand.
At 19, Busch already brings a pro-sized frame. He’s 6-foot-3 and nearly 220 pounds, and he uses that size to fight his way to the net.
There’s some quiet skill around the crease, but he’s not the type to beat defenders off the rush. He can fire a wrister and get it off in traffic, but his skating and agility still need work if he’s going to make the NHL.
Penn State should give him a chance to clean up those edges, and he fits into the Panthers’ pipeline as another forward prospect whose ceiling looks like the middle six.
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