Confirmed with Link: LEAFS WIN #1 PICK IN 2026 NHL DRAFT

[diehardleafsfan9878]

It's because defencemen are much harder to predict and almost all the Sweden's top players from a young age were defenceman.

Who was the last Canadian prodigy defencemen you've heard about?

Probably Sean Day...

 

[Action Jackson]

70 is a lot for McKenna. Kane did it but he was truly an outlier and a generational winger. That type of production is so rare in year 1.

Year 1 point totals for some 1st overalls and top prospects

Thornton - 7 pts
Kucherov - 18 pts
Stamkos 46 pts
Kessel - 29 pts
J.Hughes - 21 pts
Eichel - 56 pts
Bedard - 61 pts
Celebrini - 63 pts
Mackinnon - 63 pts

Matthews - 69 points

McKenna... most likely playing with Matthews

 

[Divine]

70 is a lot for McKenna. Kane did it but he was truly an outlier and a generational winger. That type of production is so rare in year 1.

Year 1 point totals for some 1st overalls and top prospects

Thornton - 7 pts
Kucherov - 18 pts
Stamkos 46 pts
Kessel - 29 pts
J.Hughes - 21 pts
Eichel - 56 pts
Bedard - 61 pts
Celebrini - 63 pts
Mackinnon - 63 pts

We traded a 1st + Grebenkin for Scott Laughton. We're getting a much better player than Laughton was even in year 1 for free.

Even if he puts up 50 points, that's a top 6 winger - the kind this team would trade 2 1sts or a 1st+ top prospect for.

 

[diehardleafsfan9878]

He went from native specimen to bald white guy with a goofy mustache real quick.

You make a good point, do we have an imposter? Is this not the same Matthews? Did he get swapped out by a clone from the lizard people?

 

[MCR74]

You guys gotta see the tripe that loser Erik Alfredsson is posting in the McKenna thread in the prospects forum. Great stuff!

 

[The Masters]

 

[Stephen]

Canucks will be having the most important draft in their history from 2026 till 2030 probably.

 

[Stephen]

It's because defencemen are much harder to predict and almost all the Sweden's top players from a young age were defenceman.

Who was the last Canadian prodigy defencemen you've heard about?

Landon DuPont...

 

[Zybalto]

Canucks will be having the most important draft in their history from 2026 till 2030 probably.

I predict 3 Virtanen's and a Juolevi over that stretch.

 

[Zybalto]

Landon DuPont...

Thats a player I feel I need to see more of.

I keep hearing this kid is near a McDavid level prospect on D.

His stats are nuts.

He just turned 17 so as a 16 year old dman in the WHL:

GP: 63
Goals:18
Points: 73
+ 59

Playoff stats:

GP: 18
Goals: 5
Points: 23
+ 20

Memorial Cup stats:

GP: 4
Goals: 2
Points: 6
+ 1

Looks like a 2 way beast of a dman.

 

[Stephen]

Thats a player I feel I need to see more of.

I keep hearing this kid is near a McDavid level prospect on D.

His stats are nuts.

He just turned 17 so as a 16 year old dman in the WHL:

GP: 63
Goals:18
Points: 73
+ 59

Playoff stats:

GP: 18
Goals: 5
Points: 23
+ 20

Memorial Cup stats:

GP: 4
Goals: 2
Points: 6
+ 1

Looks like a 2 way beast of a dman.

His mix tape is pretty exciting to watch. He’s a powerful skater compared to Makar, but he’s almost like the MacKinnon version of a Dman the way he’s built.

 

[MCR74]

Boy, the shit takes regarding McKenna in the prospects forum are hilarious. Check it out if you need a laugh.

 

[Divine]

Landon DuPont...

Not a prodigy. He's a potential 1st overall though, like Schaefer, but with worse skating than Schaefer.

 

[Buckley]

Thats a player I feel I need to see more of.

I keep hearing this kid is near a McDavid level prospect on D.

His stats are nuts.

He just turned 17 so as a 16 year old dman in the WHL:

GP: 63
Goals:18
Points: 73
+ 59

Playoff stats:

GP: 18
Goals: 5
Points: 23
+ 20

Memorial Cup stats:

GP: 4
Goals: 2
Points: 6
+ 1

Looks like a 2 way beast of a dman.

I imagine he is going to put up some big numbers in college next season.

 

[Divine]

Thats a player I feel I need to see more of.

I keep hearing this kid is near a McDavid level prospect on D.

He's not, he's a similar (arguably lower D prospect) as Schaefer as Schaefer is a much better skater. Great player, but not some generational defenceman.

These are the scouting reports on him right now:

2027 NHL Draft ranking: Landon DuPont tops Scott Wheeler’s first top 25 list

The class for the 2027 NHL Draft is headlined by Landon DuPont, Alexis Joseph and Nazar Privalov.

www.nytimes.com

DuPont, the WHL's first-ever exceptional status defenseman and second-ever exceptional status player after Connor Bedard, was immediately a top-end WHL D as a 15-year-old and set the WHL's U16 scoring record (any position) with 60 points in 64 games last year, playing 22 minutes per game on a top team in Everett. He has now broken 60 points again as a 16-year-old and has been one of the very best players in all of junior hockey. His back-to-back 60-plus point seasons are both the most by a U17 D since Scott Niedermayer had 69 in 64 in 1989-90, and his 73 in 63 bested him this year.

More than just the production, though, Dupont is also a play driver in every area, with pristine underlying numbers and microstats in every tracked area. Zone exits. Zone entries. Denials. Shot creation. Pass creation. You name it. Even after a bit of a slower start to the year by his standards, he has been elite in every category this year for the Silvertips while playing 24-25 minutes. He has a lethal curl-and-drag release into his feet, excellent hands and both the IQ and the competitiveness to be consistently impactful in all three zones (he defends at a very, very high level, is strong for his size and reads the play as well off the puck as on it). He doesn't have the elite feet that Quinn Hughes and Cale Makar have, which lowers his ceiling relative to theirs, but he has plus-level four-way mobility. He's not viewed as the surefire No. 1 pick in next year's draft, but he's my No. 1 right now and looks like a future star defenseman in the NHL.

 

[Zybalto]

He's not, he's a similar (arguably lower D prospect) as Schaefer as Schaefer is a much better skater. Great player, but not some generational defenceman.

These are the scouting reports on him right now:

2027 NHL Draft ranking: Landon DuPont tops Scott Wheeler’s first top 25 list

The class for the 2027 NHL Draft is headlined by Landon DuPont, Alexis Joseph and Nazar Privalov.

www.nytimes.com

The next year will let us know what we have then.

Reading some reports, folks were actually a little let down with his umbers this year for some reason based on the past but I also see them say he is one of the best skating D in the draft too so its a little confusing.

I guess I'll find out more over the next year.

 

[Leaf Fans]

Probably Sean Day...

Born in Belgium grew up in Rochester duel Canadian and US citizenship, I had hoped he worked out.

 

[Divine]

The next year will let us know what we have then.

Reading some reports, folks were actually a little let down with his umbers this year for some reason based on the past but I also see them say he is one of the best skating D in the draft too so its a little confusing.

I guess I'll find out more over the next year.

Depends how you define skating, he's agile and can move in different directions but he's not as fast as the elite defencemen. He isn't going to move around the ice like Makar, Hughes, Schaefer, etc. For a defencemen, I think skating is really important. Ekblad was considered an elite defencemen with decent skating and look what he turned into - a serviceable D but not the franchise changing D that people were expecting.

A lot of the importance of being able to breakout the puck and gain entry for a defencemen is elite (fast) skating. The speed in the NHL picks up from junior and defencemen look even worse if they can't keep pace.

 

[TMLBlueandWhite]

Still looks in great shape.

If laced up the skates he'd probably be the best player on the team still.