2026 NHL Draft Thread

[PerryTurnbullfan]

Bigger players are obviously safer bets to play 200+ games because coaches will play them in a variety of roles. So if your goal is to pick the player most likely to play 200 games or more then I agree picking the bigger guy is the smarter choice. This makes sense for perennial playoff teams who have their stars and are looking for cheap depth for upcoming seasons. For a team like the Blues whose depth is reasonably good but have very few impact players, I think it makes more sense to take a swing on an undersized guy who might be a home run over a safe depth guy. If your scouts think Villeneuve, Lin, Bleyl etc. have real home run potential, I wouldn’t shy away from them just because they’re undersized because we have seen undersized admen succeed at a higher rate than they used to.

Bleyl I can see. He can skate like the wind and put up incredible numbers. Lin is not a plus skater. Saw him plenty and don’t see it. Don’t see him putting up points either, especially 5 on 5. As the game speeds up, he will be less of a factor. Going to a good program in college. Who knows? Villenueve lost his 1st pp job in the playoffs for a reason. I just don’t see a first round pick in either of the later two. I would gamble in the 2nd round. Maybe a late first. I just see a Goljer, Alalauri, MacBeath, Maximus, etc. as less of a risk pick. I don’t think the last twos talent as greater than the risk associated with the pick.

 

[Snubbed4Vezina]

My ideal semi-realistic draft: Intriguing center in Lawrence, Strong defensive defenseman in Gustaffson, wildcard defenseman in Bleyl.

Bleyl is one that keeps catching my eye too.

 

[sfvega]

Bleyl I can see. He can skate like the wind and put up incredible numbers. Lin is not a plus skater. Saw him plenty and don’t see it. Don’t see him putting up points either, especially 5 on 5. As the game speeds up, he will be less of a factor. Going to a good program in college. Who knows? Villenueve lost his 1st pp job in the playoffs for a reason. I just don’t see a first round pick in either of the later two. I would gamble in the 2nd round. Maybe a late first. I just see a Goljer, Alalauri, MacBeath, Maximus, etc. as less of a risk pick. I don’t think the last twos talent as greater than the risk associated with the pick.

Yeah, I don't see any comp between Hughes/Hutson and Lin/Villeneuve. I don't see the upside. Even if you're going by pure hockey sense and vision, I don't think they compare to their NHL counterparts. Then add in world class speed and edgework. I think Lin's upside is Kimo Timonen maybe. I think Villeneuve is closer to Grzelcyk. And if they don't reach their potential, they're 6/7 Ds at best. I just don't see it. But I've been wrong plenty of times before.

 

[blueper]

Bleyl is one that keeps catching my eye too.

Can't find what he measured at the combine. I'm curious.

 

[Bye Bye Blueston]

Can't find what he measured at the combine. I'm curious.

Measurements should be released today.

 

[MortiestOfMortys]

It doesn't matter a ton, but Niklas Aaram-Olsen killed it in the strength/agility/endurance drills at the combine. He's a physical beast. Depending on how the first two picks go, I'd be ok with nabbing him at 29.

 

[stl76]

Bleyl I can see. He can skate like the wind and put up incredible numbers. Lin is not a plus skater. Saw him plenty and don’t see it. Don’t see him putting up points either, especially 5 on 5. As the game speeds up, he will be less of a factor. Going to a good program in college. Who knows? Villenueve lost his 1st pp job in the playoffs for a reason. I just don’t see a first round pick in either of the later two. I would gamble in the 2nd round. Maybe a late first. I just see a Goljer, Alalauri, MacBeath, Maximus, etc. as less of a risk pick. I don’t think the last twos talent as greater than the risk associated with the pick.

Bleyl is one that keeps catching my eye too.

I’ve been watching some of the Q championship games between Moncton and Chicoutimi and have been very unimpressed by Bleyl.

His speed is decent he but lacks the deception and elusiveness that guys like Hutson or Hughes have. He tries hard in the dzone, I’ll give him that. But he gets caught by forecheckers and takes contact way more than the elite small NHL dmen. Also don’t think his offensive IQ is anywhere near where is needs to be to be an elite offensive dman in the NHL.

I’m seeing a slightly better skating Torrey Krug - if everything goes perfectly…not seeing a dynamic offensive force that is likely to translate to the NHL. Personally I wouldn’t draft him in anywhere close to the 1st round. Maybe in the 3rd.

 

[STL fan in MN]

Can't find what he measured at the combine. I'm curious.

5’11.25”, 170 lbs.

Also, not sure why guys like Bleyl have to be Hudson/Hughes/Makar level to be good picks. I’d say the best comp for him stylistically would be Letang. Not saying he’s going to reach that level but that’s who he reminds me of most. Also Vince Dunn but Dunn is more physical.

Bleyl has high potential but even if he doesn’t reach his absolute peak, I still see a solid 2nd pairing offensive d-man.

 

[PerryTurnbullfan]

I’ve been watching some of the Q championship games between Moncton and Chicoutimi and have been very unimpressed by Bleyl.

His speed is decent he but lacks the deception and elusiveness that guys like Hutson or Hughes have. He tries hard in the dzone, I’ll give him that. But he gets caught by forecheckers and takes contact way more than the elite small NHL dmen. Also don’t think his offensive IQ is anywhere near where is needs to be to be an elite offensive dman in the NHL.

I’m seeing a slightly better skating Torrey Krug - if everything goes perfectly…not seeing a dynamic offensive force that is likely to translate to the NHL. Personally I wouldn’t draft him in anywhere close to the 1st round. Maybe in the 3rd.

That is a fair enough assessment. There are times he hasn't been at his best and skates himself into holes? Makes me question his IQ too and don't know if experience fixes that. I just see speed that few seem to have. I'm not so sure this is the year to get your Quinn Hughes/Cole Hutson, because none of these guys totally fit the profile. Combine all 3 maybe. Regular season and playoffs combined Bleyl played 84 games and had 19 goals and 90 assists. That's kind of crazy, but it is the Q. As I have said before, I can say I would rather take a MacBeath, Maximus, Shcherbakov or Alalauri and take that swing instead.

 

[stl76]

5’11.25”, 170 lbs.

Also, not sure why guys like Bleyl have to be Hudson/Hughes/Makar level to be good picks. I’d say the best comp for him stylistically would be Letang. Not saying he’s going to reach that level but that’s who he reminds me of most. Also Vince Dunn but Dunn is more physical.

Bleyl has high potential but even if he doesn’t reach his absolute peak, I still see a solid 2nd pairing offensive d-man.

What parts of Bleyl’s game do you see translating? His skating is definitely a plus, but don’t think it’s going to stand out at the next level. His shot is nothing special. He’s a good passer and moves the puck well through the neutral zone either skating or passing…but I’m struggling to see what his game would look like at the NHL level.

I respect your opinion and know you’ve been high on Bleyl for a while so I was really excited to see some games of his. I’ve only watched 3+ full games now, so it’s still a pretty small sample size. But honestly I’ve been pretty underwhelmed relative to what I was expecting / hoping for.

I just don’t see the same Letang-like ceiling, that seems extremely unlikely to me. 2nd pairing offensive dman seems like a more realistic ceiling IMO rather than a fall back outcome if he doesn’t reach his ceiling.

That is a fair enough assessment. There are times he hasn't been at his best and skates himself into holes? Makes me question his IQ too and don't know if experience fixes that. I just see speed that few seem to have. I'm not so sure this is the year to get your Quinn Hughes/Cole Hutson, because none of these guys totally fit the profile. Combine all 3 maybe. Regular season and playoffs combined Bleyl played 84 games and had 19 goals and 90 assists. That's kind of crazy, but it is the Q. As I have said before, I can say I would rather take a MacBeath, Maximus, Shcherbakov or Alalauri and take that swing instead.

Yeah I see what you’re saying as well. There have been times he’s been caught in the neutral zone funneled to the boards and taken a hit trying to skate the puck forward. Whereas in as in a similar situation a higher IQ or better skating player would’ve circled back or dished the puck earlier.

His production looks great - no doubt. As you say it is the Q, but I think it’s also playing for a stacked team in the Q. For example, I’m watching game 3 of Moncton vs Chicoutimi right now on the FloHockey channel on Amazon video. Bleyl has 3 assists so far, and every one has been a second assist, weird bounce, or the result of a teammate mate making a great play.

Bleyl made a nice play using his speed to push defenders back in the neutral zone on the PP so his teammates could get a clean entry and they went on to score so he got a 2nd assist…but that was probably his most direct contribution to a goal, despite the stat sheet showing 3 assists…which makes me a little skeptical of the rest of his points (perhaps unfairly).

 

[STL fan in MN]

That is a fair enough assessment. There are times he hasn't been at his best and skates himself into holes? Makes me question his IQ too and don't know if experience fixes that. I just see speed that few seem to have. I'm not so sure this is the year to get your Quinn Hughes/Cole Hutson, because none of these guys totally fit the profile. Combine all 3 maybe. Regular season and playoffs combined Bleyl played 84 games and had 19 goals and 90 assists. That's kind of crazy, but it is the Q. As I have said before, I can say I would rather take a MacBeath, Maximus, Shcherbakov or Alalauri and take that swing instead.

The Q has had this reputation as this Wild West, no defense league for decades but it’s just not true anymore. It was a lot more offensive in the 90s but here’s the average goals/game for the 3 CHL leagues this past season:

WHL: 6.86 goals/game
OHL: 6.49 goals/game
QMJHL: 6.40 goals/game

So let’s not discount what Bleyl did this season. He scored more pts than Carbonneau.

Don’t see the hockey sense issue the two of you are referring to but each their own. And respect your preference for larger guys. They are absolutely safer bets. I just tend to prefer to try to hit more doubles, triples and home runs than singles all the time. Singles are nice but to get a team that truly better than the others, you need some extra base hits sometimes. So I’d prefer a 30% chance of getting a Dunn or maybe even a Letang type of d-man than a 45-50% chance of getting an Edmundson, Stanley, Oleksiak, M.Kessel etc.

(not sure why I went with a baseball analogy on a hockey forum but I’m sticking with it)

 

[STL fan in MN]

What parts of Bleyl’s game do you see translating? His skating is definitely a plus, but don’t think it’s going to stand out at the next level. His shot is nothing special. He’s a good passer and moves the puck well through the neutral zone either skating or passing…but I’m struggling to see what his game would look like at the NHL level.

I respect your opinion and know you’ve been high on Bleyl for a while so I was really excited to see some games of his. I’ve only watched 3+ full games now, so it’s still a pretty small sample size. But honestly I’ve been pretty underwhelmed relative to what I was expecting / hoping for.

I just don’t see the same Letang-like ceiling, that seems extremely unlikely to me. 2nd pairing offensive dman seems like a more realistic ceiling IMO rather than a fall back outcome if he doesn’t reach his ceiling.

I think his skating will absolutely stand out going forward. As you said, it’s already a plus skill. Let the kid get a year or two in a college weight room and I bet his stride becomes even more powerful.

His shot is absolutely nothing special. He’ll score some goals simply due to smarts, accuracy, using screens etc but yeah, nothing special about his shot.

His main standout trait IMO is his hockey sense and how he utilizes it to distribute the puck to others. He’s going to absolutely rack up assists. Yes, like some secondary assists, some are just random but he’s very good at drawing in defenders, often 2 of them and then dishing to the open guy. He’s also very good at positioning himself to take those opposing defenders out of the play. It’s not a “put you on the edge of your seat” sort of skill and he’s likely always going to be under appreciated as it’s going to be others scoring the goals most of the time but the bottom line is he was an absolute possession monster this season. The other team didn’t score much at all when he was out there and his team scored a ton. I’ll try to see if I can find a breakdown of primary assets vs secondary.

But he is the type that will need other quality players for him to be able to fully showcase his talents. He will need to be with finishers. Or at least other high hockey sense guys as he himself won’t be the one finishing plays a lot of the time.

The safety I see in him is his defensive reads, defensive stick, gap control etc. He gets outmuscled sometimes but he’s usually a step ahead of the opponent mentally defensively too. So while some smaller offensive D really only show that high hockey sense in the offensive zone and then seem inept defensively, I see it all over the ice with him.

 

[stl76]

Appreciate the response!

Just want to clarify one point: when I compare the Q to other CHL leagues it’s not necessarily pure scoring totals that I’m thinking about but rather overall quality of competition. I think the OHL and WHL are generally higher quality leagues and offer stiffer competition these days than the Q. Don’t have any specific data to back that up, just my impression reading about the leagues and catching games here or there.

Also, just to emphasize a point - Carbonneau’s team the armada were stacked this year. The team had 86 points in the standings and 3 players who scored 60+ points. Bleyl’s team the wildcats were an absolutely f***ing wagon haha. The team lead the Q with 104 standings points and had 7 players score 60+ points. Even tho he lead the team in points, I can’t help but wonder if Bleyl’s point totals may be a bit inflated by the talent around him.

 

[MissouriMook]

Even tho he lead the team in points, I can’t help but wonder if Bleyl’s point totals may be a bit inflated by the talent around him.

I don’t have a dog in this fight, but isn’t it possible that their point totals were inflated by him?

 

[stl76]

I don’t have a dog in this fight, but isn’t it possible that their point totals were inflated by him?

Sure, anything is possible. It’s impossible to measure exactly, but I’m sure everyone on the team benefits from playing with other good players. I’m not saying Bleyl isn’t contributing to a good team. But based on my eye test, Bleyl is getting quite a few secondary assists and points that are more a result of him being on a great team than a result of his individual outstanding contributions if that makes sense.

I really don’t think Bleyl alone was inflating Desnoyers for instance. Moncton added several key high scoring players this year, including Bleyl, and Desnoyers jumped from 84 points in 56 games (1.5 per game) to 78 in 45 (1.73 per game). Some of that is probably from adding Bleyl, some is adding guys like Mutryn (68 pts), Tournas (74 pts), Voronin (60 pts), etc. And some is just Desnoyers developing and being a year older.