Prospect Info: 2026 NHL Draft Discussion - we have picks!

[LeafChief]

For a while it was looking like we weren't going to have many picks in this draft but things have changed in a hurry. At this current time, we hold the following picks:

1st (TOR) - 1st OVERALL
2nd (BUF)
3rd (TOR)
4th (SEA)
5th (COL)
5th (TOR)
6th (SJ)

Would be great to get some discussion going on who some of you are hoping to draft (not only for the 1st overall pick). There will likely be some good players available with that 2nd and 3rd and hopefully Mark Leach can show us some of his Dallas magic.

Let's talk some draft!

 

[stats1]

The more I think about the more I like moving down.

Toronto
3rd overall
24th overall
33rd overall

Vancouver
1st overall
Morgan Rielly
3rd round pick

We add a 3rd for no retention. We go from having 22 million in cap to around 30 million while adding Chase Reid and having 3 more picks in the top 45 picks

Chase Reid is a stud, we haven’t had a true top pairing PP QB D-man in ages, this guy flies around the zone, jumps in the play. Elite IQ, you take him and then you get 24th overall and 33rd overall plus LA’s 2nd round pick to add depth to the pipeline

 

[HamiltonNHL]

AM to San Jose for 2nd pick.

 

[weems]

For a while it was looking like we weren't going to have many picks in this draft but things have changed in a hurry. At this current time, we hold the following picks:

1st (TOR) - 1st OVERALL
2nd (BUF)
3rd (TOR)
4th (SEA)
5th (COL)
6th (SJ)

Would be great to get some discussion going on who some of you are hoping to draft (not only for the 1st overall pick). There will likely be some good players available with that 2nd and 3rd and hopefully Mark Leach can show us some of his Dallas magic.

Let's talk some draft!

I love the draft and following prospects.
By far my favorite thing about being a fan outside of watching the actual games.

 

[HamiltonNHL]

 

[Stephen]

The more I think about the more I like moving down.

Toronto
3rd overall
24th overall
33rd overall

Vancouver
1st overall
Morgan Rielly
3rd round pick

We add a 3rd for no retention. We go from having 22 million in cap to around 30 million while adding Chase Reid and having 3 more picks in the top 45 picks

Chase Reid is a stud, we haven’t had a true top pairing PP QB D-man in ages, this guy flies around the zone, jumps in the play. Elite IQ, you take him and then you get 24th overall and 33rd overall plus LA’s 2nd round pick to add depth to the pipeline

You don't pull a Rick Dudley in this situation. You select first overall and let that carry you through some lean years with the hope this can be turned around with a new core, centered around that first overall. You're not making these oddball moves to draft in the Travis Dermott slot.

 

[Burnie97]

You don't pull a Rick Dudley in this situation. You select first overall and let that carry you through some lean years with the hope this can be turned around with a new core, centered around that first overall. You're not making these oddball moves to draft in the Travis Dermott slot.

Yeah we tried the move down a bunch of times and it really hasn't been great usually.

Pick the best damn player.

We have other guys to trade for another 1st or 2nd rounder this year or another year... or better yet... use a roster player to get a young rhd. Its doable but we'll have to lose someone good too.

 

[Rare Jewel]

Pretty hard to tell who will be there 50-70 picks in.

But...

The names at this time I'd be interested to see if they're available are Verrtti Svensk, Tommy Bleyl, and Adam Andersson.


t.

 

[Thornbury]

For a while it was looking like we weren't going to have many picks in this draft but things have changed in a hurry. At this current time, we hold the following picks:

1st (TOR) - 1st OVERALL
2nd (BUF)
3rd (TOR)
4th (SEA)
5th (COL)
6th (SJ)

Would be great to get some discussion going on who some of you are hoping to draft (not only for the 1st overall pick). There will likely be some good players available with that 2nd and 3rd and hopefully Mark Leach can show us some of his Dallas magic.

Let's talk some draft!

We also have our own 5th, which is of course like a late 4th.

 

[Menzinger]

View attachment 1235256

Add it to legends row

 

[LaPlante94]

Pretty hard to tell who will be there 50-70 picks in.

But...

The names at this time I'd be interested to see if they're available are Verrtti Svensk, Tommy Bleyl, and Adam Andersson.


t.

Bleyll has played himself into 1st round imo.

 

[ULF_55]

for comparison last year:

Assets for moving up: Treliving did land some, ex. Avs 1st.

 

[ashs]

AM to San Jose for 2nd pick.

He's worth way more than 1 pick

 

[Rare Jewel]

Bleyll has played himself into 1st round imo.

Could be, I'm interested in seeing if the trend of slightly built dmen not being valued might get him down into the 2nd. Might go before 54th, but maybe puts him in trade-up range.

Alex Bilecki in Kitchener is another one for that range as well.

There's a bunch, really.

 

[613Leafer]

The more I think about the more I like moving down.

Toronto
3rd overall
24th overall
33rd overall

Vancouver
1st overall
Morgan Rielly
3rd round pick

We add a 3rd for no retention. We go from having 22 million in cap to around 30 million while adding Chase Reid and having 3 more picks in the top 45 picks

Chase Reid is a stud, we haven’t had a true top pairing PP QB D-man in ages, this guy flies around the zone, jumps in the play. Elite IQ, you take him and then you get 24th overall and 33rd overall plus LA’s 2nd round pick to add depth to the pipeline

I'm open to moving down, but would want a specific player/prospect that our scouts are super high on that they're confident can contribute within a year or two as part of the return.

24th OA pick there might not be anyone we're super high on, and that player would be ~3-4+ years away (and could easily be another Percy, Gauthier, Biggs, etc).

So from Chicago for example, assuming our scouts like him, I'd be wanting something like 4th OA + Rinzel + ??.

 

[Kiwi]

Don't overthink it, if McKenna is the best player available in this draft take him

Honestly with how we've gone picking and developing D over the last decade I'm not exactly blown away with the results

Maybe there's a good D available in the 2nd or 3rd rounds we can grab but that 1st OA is going nowhere if I was in management

 

[stats1]

Don't overthink it, if McKenna is the best player available in this draft take him

Honestly with how we've gone picking and developing D over the last decade I'm not exactly blown away with the results

Maybe there's a good D available in the 2nd or 3rd rounds we can grab but that 1st OA is going nowhere if I was in management

Not about overthinking it, McKenna is great but if it’s true Matthews has 1 foot out the door, is SJ a team he’s willing to go to? If it’s is maybe you can get the 2nd overall pick. You can take #1 trade it to Vancouver for more assets. You end up getting Chase Reid and Stenberg plus other futures. And then you can really excel the rebuild/re-tool or whatever they want to call it. You either get 1 guy in McKenna or you can get multiple assets for the pipeline

 

[tmlms13]

The more I think about the more I like moving down.

Toronto
3rd overall
24th overall
33rd overall

Vancouver
1st overall
Morgan Rielly
3rd round pick

We add a 3rd for no retention. We go from having 22 million in cap to around 30 million while adding Chase Reid and having 3 more picks in the top 45 picks

Chase Reid is a stud, we haven’t had a true top pairing PP QB D-man in ages, this guy flies around the zone, jumps in the play. Elite IQ, you take him and then you get 24th overall and 33rd overall plus LA’s 2nd round pick to add depth to the pipeline

If I'm trading down from #1 the assets I want to pick up can't be the dart board ones. It's something of real quality. Maybe to Chicago and pick up the Florida 2027 1st rounder, it's unprotected and I'm not convinced FLA will recover, they could easily be a lottery team again.

 

[Mitch nylander]

So we've got:

1 Overall
Buffalo's 2nd
Our 3rd
Anaheim's 4th
2 5ths - ours and Colorado's
and a 6th.

-------------

This would be my perfect draft.

I like skating and IQ as the main items since neither are very coachable but I'd like to have a well rounded class. Recently we've gone all pesky physical guys and big stay at home defenders. I'd like to mix in some high upside/high skill guys along with the peskiness.

1 - Gavin Mckenna (LW)
60 - Thomas Vandenberg (C) - Very very smart centre with excellent speed. Plays great on both ends of the puck, and could see him being a very effective 3c. Someone a bit like Kerfoot (which I know isn't a name we love around here, but a great late 2nd round pick)
69 - Mans Gudmunsson (RHD) - High upside offensive defensemen, who was one of the top scoring dman in Swedish JRs. He's 6'4, skates well for his size (slightly awkward stride), but just a great puck mover.
114 - Callum Croskery (LHD) - Superb edge work, his skating is his best asset. Intelligent defensemen with a good vision of the ice.
133 - Jean-Cristoph Lemieux (C) - Excellent skater, pesky, one of the hardest working guys in the draft. Proved he can produce offensively as well on a underwhelming Sudbury offence. Willing to mix it physically as well.
160 - Nikita Gromakov (LW) - He's stupid fast. I mean like Kapanen level speed but just very raw. Has a good shot.
169 - Martin Psohlavec (G) - Look we already have Hildeby/Akhtyamov, but I think it'd be nice to add another in the system for when one of them graduates or we move on. He's a big goalie, who was clutch in the u18s and has elite stats.

In the second I really like Nicklas Aaram-Olsen, for his speed and physicality as a true PWF, Jaxon Cover for his raw tools and the development he'll have under the Hunters and Tommy Beihl for his skating and offensive prowess, but doubtful any are available at our picks.

I'd also be very open to trading down from 69 if we can add another pick later on to take a swing for the fences.

 

[Kiwi]

Not about overthinking it, McKenna is great but if it’s true Matthews has 1 foot out the door, is SJ a team he’s willing to go to? If it’s is maybe you can get the 2nd overall pick. You can take #1 trade it to Vancouver for more assets. You end up getting Chase Reid and Stenberg plus other futures. And then you can really excel the rebuild/re-tool or whatever they want to call it. You either get 1 guy in McKenna or you can get multiple assets for the pipeline

If Matthew's is bailing why's he doing us any favors? He'd want SJ to keep every pick and prospect they already have. He's better off just screwing us unfortunately

If Vancouver trade up I'll be shocked, they need every pick and prospect they can get and McKenna looks good but Stenberg has been bloody good in the SHL to

 

[Warrior16]

Matthews +? for Misa + 2nd Overall

McKenna, Misa, and Reid as your new core with Knies, Nylander, Cowan, Danford etc..

 

[LaPlante94]

Could be, I'm interested in seeing if the trend of slightly built dmen not being valued might get him down into the 2nd. Might go before 54th, but maybe puts him in trade-up range.

Alex Bilecki in Kitchener is another one for that range as well.

There's a bunch, really.

Yup. Woo is one of those guys that fits that description. 5'10 180 his 2nd time in draft who teams might not be able to ignore after the season he had.

 

[Voodoo Child]

The only way I'm trading this pick is for another lottery pick plus a juicy sweetner that is another 2nd and a young, blue chip NHL ready D (4th overall + 2nd + Levshunov), or a pure stud #1 franchise D (Heiskanen).

I wouldn't be opposed to packaging the 2027 COL 1st, which is going to be low, with 62 or 69 to get another 1st this year if someone we like is still around.

Flipping McKenna to Vancouver for another 2nd even if to offload Rielly is stupid. Will he even waive? If he goes he goes 141 in a hockey trade for a similar contract so likely we keep him, it is what it is.

I don't think after the past 2 seasons Matthews gets Misa and 2nd overall - maybe Misa+ or the 2nd straight but not both.

 

[HamiltonNHL]

My thread in this topic is locked for whatever reason and look what appears in the score app.

 

[Funk21]

The more I think about the more I like moving down.

Toronto
3rd overall
24th overall
33rd overall

Vancouver
1st overall
Morgan Rielly
3rd round pick

We add a 3rd for no retention. We go from having 22 million in cap to around 30 million while adding Chase Reid and having 3 more picks in the top 45 picks

Chase Reid is a stud, we haven’t had a true top pairing PP QB D-man in ages, this guy flies around the zone, jumps in the play. Elite IQ, you take him and then you get 24th overall and 33rd overall plus LA’s 2nd round pick to add depth to the pipeline

Vancouver while needing a splash to start their rebuild I can’t see them trading 24OA and 33OA to move up two spots and take a cap dump. If we could get Reid I would be all over this but I’d also explore the idea of trading AM for 2OA plus Misa and either Chenykov or Graf. SJS have one of the best 1/2 centres and still have a plethora of players coming up.