Speculation: 2026 NHL Draft June 26-27 (Flames Pick #6 OA)

[AccordingtomySource]

An exciting class calls for an early thread. Daily Faceoff early top 32 is here: 2026 NHL Draft Rankings: Gavin McKenna leads extremely early top 32

1. Mckenna
2. Verhoeff
3. Stenberg
4. Roobroeck
5. Bjorck
6. Preston
7. Belchetz
8. Lin
9. Lawrence
10. Rudolph
11. Villeneuve
12. Wassilyn
13. Novotny
14. Chrenko
15. Reid
16. Hermansson
17. Nordmark
18. Tomik
19. Berchild
20. Carels
21. Steiner
22. Aram-Olsen
23. Mbuyi
24. Di Orio
25. Fyodorov
26. Murnieks
27. Hakansson
28. Holmertz
29. Hurlbert
30. Katolicky
31. Fitzgerald
32. Dravecky

Discuss away

 

[Volica]

Hell yeah, way-too-early edition.

 

[Anglesmith]

Where Iginla?

 

[AccordingtomySource]

Where Iginla?

Had a horrible year. Like 14th on his team in scoring with only 16 points in 61 games horrible. At this point he’s got a lot of work to do to be even a 2nd round pick

 

[Lunatik]

Where Iginla?

He had an extremely bad season. with just 16 points in 61 games.

Joe, like Tig has an August birthday, so they are amongst the youngest in their draft classes. Tig also had a poor Draft-1 season with 18 points in 41 games. Hopefully Joe, like his brother will break out in his draft season.

 

[AccordingtomySource]

Hell yeah, way-too-early edition.

Going to be 50% changeover in the first round rankings haha

 

[Volica]

Fun fact, Ryan Roobroeck who'll go in the top of this draft somewhere is a massive LW at 6'4'' 190... and funny enough he's the younger and SMALLER brother to Dylan Roobroeck who was drafted in 2023 in the later rounds.

The Dutch don't mess around when it comes to making tall children even if they're watered down.

 

[AccordingtomySource]

Fun fact, Ryan Roobroeck who'll go in the top of this draft somewhere is a massive LW at 6'4'' 190... and funny enough he's the younger and SMALLER brother to Dylan Roobroeck who was drafted in 2023 in the later rounds.

The Dutch don't mess around when it comes to making tall children even if they're watered down.

Better yet, he’s actually a C

 

[Fig]

I wonder if this is a "down year" where we draft 6th OA.

 

[JPeeper]

Was looking on elite prospects last week and the top of this super early edition is like 90% Canadians. Of the top 15ish guys, there are 2 Swedes and American and the rest are all Canadian.

Obviously the prize is McKenna, but winning the 2nd overall lottery would also be franchise altering with Ryan Roobroeck who is everything we want, 6'4", 2 way center who puts up points, hell even getting another one of the wingers like Stenberg would be massive even if he is a LW, lots of good offensive guys at the top of this draft.

As always, it's interesting who in the top 30 will stick in the top 30 and who makes big strides to move up.

Hoping that Andersson's return can net another 1st for this draft, going in with 3 1st rounders would be great.

If Viggo Bjork grows an inch or two in a year, I think he'll go top 5. Guy is like a center version of Johnny Hockey right now, 5'9" so he gets overlooked even though he's arguably the most talented player in the draft after McKenna.

 

[Rubi]

McKenna is great but he's not the elite center we salivate over. I like Roobroeck and Bjork.

 

[crackdown44]

We are definitely getting the best left shot left winger in this draft

 

[Ace Rimmer]

So this means the Flames are drafting Vlad Dravecky with their pick, right?

 

[AccordingtomySource]

McKenna confirmed committed to Penn State. That’s #1 and #2 going NCAA in their draft year.

I like it for McKenna. Not sure about Verhoeff.

 

[FLAMESFAN]

I wonder if Roob will slide a little being one of the older guys in the draft - but still top 10.
Does Belchetz have the skill to go top 10? GM's will love that size!
Lin & Villeneuve likely will slide, unless they blow up the league, being smaller guys.

A guy that has been consistently ranked around 10th is Tynan Lawrence. Coming off a great playoff and a good 2 way C. He's a name we'll be throwing around A LOT in this thread over the next year. I'm not even going to think about bottom 5, ain't gonna happen.

 

[FLAMESFAN]

An article from a Flyers perspective on the '26 draft, but similar situation to us.

MSN

 

[JPeeper]

An article from a Flyers perspective on the '26 draft, but similar situation to us.

MSN

100% I'd be down to drafting Bjork, a super early mock draft had him going to us at 11. That would be stupidly lucky and will never happen as I see him going top 5. If he grows a couple inches over the next 12 months, he goes top 3. Like I said, the guy is Johnny Hockey level talented, but also Johnny Hockey sized which will could be quite difficult to play center at the NHL level.

 

[Body Checker]

Look what we got in a supposedly down draft year in Reschny and Potter. Say we just miss again, grab another 2026 late pick and draft say 14, 27, 32. We would probably hit on at least one top six F or top 4 D, maybe two. So at end of day I’m not going to obsess about McKenna. If it happens it happens.

 

[Khrox]

So at end of day I’m not going to obsess about McKenna. If it happens it happens.

A healthy outlook? We don't do that here man. It's either top of the world, or the world is ending.

 

[Ace Rimmer]

 

[FLAMESFAN]

I wonder if Roob will slide a little being one of the older guys in the draft - but still top 10.
Does Belchetz have the skill to go top 10? GM's will love that size!
Lin & Villeneuve likely will slide, unless they blow up the league, being smaller guys.

A guy that has been consistently ranked around 10th is Tynan Lawrence. Coming off a great playoff and a good 2 way C. He's a name we'll be throwing around A LOT in this thread over the next year. I'm not even going to think about bottom 5, ain't gonna happen.

Well, I posted that a month ago and Lawrence has really impressed me - would absolutely love to get this guy. We'll have to have a pretty bad season to get him though as he could go top 5.

 

[Ledge And Dairy]

Had a horrible year. Like 14th on his team in scoring with only 16 points in 61 games horrible. At this point he’s got a lot of work to do to be even a 2nd round pick

Meh Tij had 18 in 48 his first year on a very good Thunderbirds team. I wouldn't be surprised if Joe has a breakout year this time around

 

[Volica]

Bumping this thread as this will probably be the bigger story this season versus whatever the Calgary Flames do on the ice this season.

Here is Sportsnet's newest rankings, Sportsnet's 2026 NHL Draft Rankings: October Edition

Done by Sam Cosentino; whom is quite good at prospect evaluations (for those unaware, he was really high on guys like Rasmus and Mangiapane when they were still in development in our system, he's got a good eye).

So this is weird, from my understanding:
The San Jose Sharks, who have picked 1 and 2 the past two years; can in fact win the 1st overall again this year as both those picks are not considered lottery wins. Which to me is crazy, but... it is what it is I guess. It'd be very Flames apropos to tank out this season. finish 2nd worst in the NHL and draft 4th.

 

[Ace Rimmer]

So this is weird, from my understanding:
The San Jose Sharks, who have picked 1 and 2 the past two years; can in fact win the 1st overall again this year as both those picks are not considered lottery wins. Which to me is crazy, but... it is what it is I guess. It'd be very Flames apropos to tank out this season. finish 2nd worst in the NHL and draft 4th.

I think a team need to win twice (in 5 years?) to be uninvited from the lotto, they only won in 2024.

Still, the top draft choices are left shot left wingers and a defenseman. If there was ever a "Flames draft"... this is it.

 

[Kranix]

I think a team need to win twice (in 5 years?) to be uninvited from the lotto, they only won in 2024.

Still, the top draft choices are left shot left wingers and a defenseman. If there was ever a "Flames draft"... this is it.

Embrace it. McKenna had 2.3 ppg in the dub as a 16 year old. He's a superstar. Jason Robertson gets no credit for it, but he's one of the best defensive forwards in the league. Wingers get no recognition because "building down the middle" is an adage. They'll have to get good centreman of course, but you can build around wingers. You can!