Upside's May Edition 2026 NHL Draft Rankings Top 224 & Beyond + NHL Central Scouting's Final Rankings Combined by Upside

[UpsideHockey]

LATEST!​

2026 NHL Draft Rankings Mammoth May Edition​

Upside Hockey's Official Updated Top 224 ranked prospects for this NHL Draft class by Chief Rankings Officer Eldon MacDonald​

Excerpt:
"The Risers:
Just to highlight some of the movement:

• The Ruck Twins Surge: Both brothers rocket into the Top 20:
  
  • Liam Ruck: Moves to #17 (up from #22)
  • Marcus Ruck: Moves to #18 (up from #27)
• Wyatt Cullen: impressed our Eldon MacDonald enough to launch him into our top 10 at #10, up all the way from #26 in April.
• Thomas Bleyl: vaulted up to #26 (up from #36 in April) with his elite offensive production (81 points) from the blue line in Moncton."

2026 NHL Draft Rankings Mammoth May Edition

Upside Hockey's Official Updated Top 224 ranked prospects for this NHL Draft class by Chief Rankings Officer Eldon MacDonald

upsidehockey.substack.com

Bonus:

NHL Central Scouting Final 2026 Combined Draft Rankings​

Upside Hockey's Eldon MacDonald painstakingly aggregates NHL Central Scouting's separated final NHL Draft Rankings.​

"If you are like our chief rankings officer Eldon MacDonald, you are likely slightly annoyed when NHL Central Scouting puts out four separate rankings for each draft class - an early edition, midterm, and final. Thus, each year, for each edition, Eldon takes on the cumbersome task of combining the segregated lists they put out. NHL CS recently published their Final Rankings in their typical format: North American Skaters | International Skaters | North American Goalies | International Goalies."

NHL Central Scouting Final 2026 Combined Draft Rankings

Upside Hockey's Eldon MacDonald painstakingly aggregates NHL Central Scouting's separated final NHL Draft Rankings.

upsidehockey.substack.com

***
April Rankings now live! (May coming soon)

Upside Hockey's 2026 NHL Draft Rankings April Edition

Upside's Top 224 ranked prospects for this NHL Draft class by Chief Rankings Officer Eldon MacDonald

upsidehockey.substack.com

***

If yah get bored of the Super Bowl and/or the Olympics, or simply want to check out, our latest at Upside:

Upside Hockey's February Edition 2026 NHL Draft Rankings
Upside's Top 224 ranked prospects for this NHL Draft class

Includes an intro by our chief rankings officer, Eldon McDonald.
- simplified format in the Substack article
- more in-depth spreadsheet with extra features on our website

Top 10 as a preview - critique away; keep it clean ; )

 

[czech]

16 Czechs. Incredible!

 

[AmericanDream]

Klepov is American fyi....

 

[UpsideHockey]

Ah, sorry for the formatting issues of Top 10 - updated original post.

 

[UpsideHockey]

Who's too high? too low? missing in action?

 

[neelynugs]

i only see 20 guys. or do you have to pay for the rest? or maybe i'm just slow

 

[DuncanMacpherson]

Who are some of the other top overagers besides Galvas?

 

[spikethedog]

Who are some of the other top overagers besides Galvas?

My top 10 overagers are:

• Galvas, Tomas - 35 (NHL 203) – D, L, 5’10, 168 – CZE 1
• MacKenzie, Ethan – 70 (NHL 121), D, L, 6’0, 174 - WHL
• Sapozhnikov, Alexander – 79 (NHL 111, D, L, 6’6, 209 - MHL
• Runtso, Timofei – 88 (NHL 84), D, R, 6’2, 185 - WHL
• Kuhta, Jasper – 105 (NHL 160, C, L, 6’3, 194 – OHL
• Baumuller, Jody, 115 (NHL 303), RW, R, 5’11, 190 - WHL
• Bryzgalov, Yaroslav, 117 (NHL 169), LW, L, 6’4, 216 – WHL
• Minchak, Matthew, 118 (NHL 227), G, L, 6’5, 197 – OHL
• Tvrznik, Tobias, 131 (NHL 132), G, R, G, L, 6’3, 180 - WHL
• Vanhanen, Matias, 134 (NHL 128), LW, L, 5’11, 174 – WHL

Of note, Matias Vanhanen who is on a heater (18pts, +15 in his last 10 games) has moved up to 104 since this ranking was completed om January 30yh, 2026.

 

[spikethedog]

i only see 20 guys. or do you have to pay for the rest? or maybe i'm just slow

Thanks, I will text the editor to get an answer.

 

[spikethedog]

Klepov is American fyi....

Thanks, will change in next post. I believe he is a dual Russian-American citizen but since he played for Team USA at the Hlinka he should be recorded as an American for hockey purposes.

 

[samsagat]

Is it just me or I don't feel much excitement towards this draft?

I like Hemming a lot, a bull in a chinese vase chop.

 

[DuncanMacpherson]

My top 10 overagers are:

• Galvas, Tomas - 35 (NHL 203) – D, L, 5’10, 168 – CZE 1
• MacKenzie, Ethan – 70 (NHL 121), D, L, 6’0, 174 - WHL
• Sapozhnikov, Alexander – 79 (NHL 111, D, L, 6’6, 209 - MHL
• Runtso, Timofei – 88 (NHL 84), D, R, 6’2, 185 - WHL
• Kuhta, Jasper – 105 (NHL 160, C, L, 6’3, 194 – OHL
• Baumuller, Jody, 115 (NHL 303), RW, R, 5’11, 190 - WHL
• Bryzgalov, Yaroslav, 117 (NHL 169), LW, L, 6’4, 216 – WHL
• Minchak, Matthew, 118 (NHL 227), G, L, 6’5, 197 – OHL
• Tvrznik, Tobias, 131 (NHL 132), G, R, G, L, 6’3, 180 - WHL
• Vanhanen, Matias, 134 (NHL 128), LW, L, 5’11, 174 – WHL

Of note, Matias Vanhanen who is on a heater (18pts, +15 in his last 10 games) has moved up to 104 since this ranking was completed om January 30yh, 2026.

Definitely agree on Mackenzie looking good, Edmonton’s my dark horse pick to win the WHL championship

 

[UpsideHockey]

i only see 20 guys. or do you have to pay for the rest? or maybe i'm just slow

All free! (virtual cups of coffee accepted ; )

Are you on computer/tablet/phone/substack app?

Anyway, just need to change the page number.

Hope this helps - Cheers!

 

[spikethedog]

I am no further ahead; what am I missing?

 

[Son of Donegal]

Is it just me or I don't feel much excitement towards this draft?

I like Hemming a lot, a bull in a chinese vase chop.

That kid is going to demolish at the NHL level. I see him going ahead of Becheltz if he finds some production from here on out with BC. I've seen him live a bunch and he is already better than Teddy Stiga IMO as Stiga hasn't clicked this year. I would put him 4th behind Hagens, Letourneau and Gasseau on BC in terms of "in game impact." I really love him and hope he doesn't rise so the Bruins can take him. But it's a pipedream. Scouts have to love this kid.

 

[UpsideHockey]

I am no further ahead; what am I missing?

Still not able to scroll through the table you mean? Just have to arrow through the page numbers, 20 guys per page.

 

[UpsideHockey]

If any trouble viewing through our Substack, here's direct link to our rankings home page:

2026 NHL Draft Rankings

2026 NHL Draft HQ

www.upsidehockey.com

 

[UpsideHockey]

We're also test-driving two new features o our website:
1. NHL Draft Lottery Simulator (realize there are others out there including Tankathon), but for the lottery obsessed amongst us, give it a spin:

2026 NHL Draft Lottery Simulator Tool

www.upsidehockey.com

2. 2026 NHL Draft Consensus Rankings Board:

2026 NHL Consensus Rankings

www.upsidehockey.com

(We post another version of consensus rankings on our Substack which is noted in our other thread)

 

[Icebreakers]

All free! (virtual cups of coffee accepted ; )

Are you on computer/tablet/phone/substack app?

Anyway, just need to change the page number.

Hope this helps - Cheers!

View attachment 1183985

Reasoning for Verhoeff over Stenberg?

 

[horner]

After the top 6 it doesn't seem to be that great of a draft.
Defensive heavy

 

[UpsideHockey]

April Rankings now live!

Our Lottery Simulator and Mock Draft Creator also updated - linked within:

Upside Hockey's 2026 NHL Draft Rankings April Edition

Upside's Top 224 ranked prospects for this NHL Draft class by Chief Rankings Officer Eldon MacDonald

upsidehockey.substack.com

 

[UpsideHockey]

Upside's 2026 NHL Draft Lottery Simulator And Mock Draft Creator
- Can choose one team to pick for
- uses our Top 70 current Consensus Rankings
- works better on computer but doable on mobile
- run the lottery, then make picks for 2 rounds
- option at end to share your picks on X (who I'm admittedly not a fan of, but can grab the picks without actually posting there); I'll refine a better for option at this at some point
Mock Drafts

 

[UpsideHockey]

NHL Draft Lottery Simulator and Interactive Mock Draft Creator

Upside Hockey's Interactive NHL Mock Draft Sim is Live

upsidehockey.substack.com

 

[Martin Elz]

It is a fun simulator! Did a mock with the Canucks and got McKenna at #2, both Ruck brothers at end of first and early second round and Victor Plante mid second round.

 

[UpsideHockey]

It is a fun simulator! Did a mock with the Canucks and got McKenna at #2, both Ruck brothers at end of first and early second round and Victor Plante mid second round.

Nice! Well played!