2026 NHL Draft Thread

[sureLoss]

Tankathon's mock draft is interesting when you click sim lottery.

If Flames are 1st OA, they have the Flames taking McKenna.

If 2nd, Stenberg

If 3rd, Lawrence. Even when Stenberg is still available

Wonder what logic they are using for that.

[Goriders]

Originally Posted by Sandman

Holy crap- JP Hurlbert leads the WHL with an eye-popping 9 goals and 14 points in just 5 games!!

He’d probably be the flames best forward right now

[Sandman]

In terms of ppg, McKenna has the 3rd-best mark (2.30) for U-18 players in WHL history (I don't count Dennis Holland who played 1 game with 5 points), and the second-best since Rob Brown put up 2.51 ppg in the 1985-86 season- behind only Bedard's 2.51 ppg (which ties Brown).

I know it's considered to be a useless stat, but his +60 was the best in the WHL last season, and tied for 21st-best all-time.

McKenna put up an incredible 38 points in just 16 playoff games, which is tied for 17th-most all-time in the WHL, and is the 6th-most in the last 35 years by a player of any age. His 2.38 ppg in the playoffs is the highest by a U-18 WHL player in that time, other than Bedard's 2.86 ppg in 7 games.

At the age of 16, McKenna attended the U-18's, where he posted the most points all-time by a U-17 player (20 points in 7 games), and the highest ppg (2.86) all-time by a U-17 player.

It's very disappointing that he's not a C (I know he filled in at that position when Lindstrom was injured, at least part-time), but if he isn't worthy of "generational player" status, then he's as close as one can get. I would take this kid over Bedard in a second- he's a game-breaker, a big game player, and will be good for well over 100 points/season when he hits his stride; I wouldn't worry at all about his point totals in college being lacklustre. There's no possible way he isn't taken first-overall next summer.

[Aarongavey]

Originally Posted by sureLoss

Tankathon's mock draft is interesting when you click sim lottery.

If Flames are 1st OA, they have the Flames taking McKenna.

If 2nd, Stenberg

If 3rd, Lawrence. Even when Stenberg is still available

Wonder what logic they are using for that.

I would be fine with a backend that had Parekh and Verhoeff myself.

[Sandman]

Some centers who are climbing the draft rankings:

-Caleb Malhotra (6'0",170lbs) 16 points in 10 games for Brantford of the OHL. He's really making scouts take notice.

-Yegor Shilov (6'1",181lbs) 19 points in 10 games for Victoriaville of the Q. Seems to be lurking around the second-round right now, but he's moving up.

-Oliver Suvanto (6'3",209lbs) 3 points in 14 Liiga games, turned heads at the Hlinka. Look for him in the late first.

-Beckham Edwards (6'1",181lbs) Power forward with 12 points in 10 games for Sarnia, should be picked in the late-teens, early twenties.

-Jack Hextall (6'0",185lbs) He reminds me a lot of Jack Murtagh, 6 goals and 11 points in 11 USHL games. Performed very well at the Hlinka, probably late first-round.

-Oscar Holmertz (6'0"192lbs) One of Sweden's best performers at the Hlinka, has 14 points in 11 U20 games. Looking like he'll go in the 20's.

-Lavr Gashilov (6'2",170) He's older, with a late September birthday, but has amassed 23 points in just 12 MHL games.

-Alexander Command (6'1",183lbs) 16 points in 10 U20 games.

-Noah Kosick (5'11",170lbs) Former Hitman has 15 points in 9 games with Speedy Creek.

-Brooks Rogowski (6'6",227lbs) Behemoth has 13 points in 13 games with Oshawa, and showed well in the Hlinka. Moves well for his size, and might go in the first-round.

-Carter Stevens (6'1",183lbs) Perfect hockey name, 12 points in 11 games with Guelph of the OHL.

-Thomas Vandenberg (5'11",170) 12 points in 10 games with Ottawa of the OHL.

-Cooper Williams (6'0",150lbs) Already a mature, detailed two-way player, he needs to show more offensively. 9 points in 10 games for Saskatoon, I really like this kid.

I will post more names soon...

[FlamesAddiction]

The 2026 draft doesn't seem super heavy with centers in the top end of the 1st. I'd settle for a potential franchise player of any position though.

[TrentCrimmIndependent]

Originally Posted by sureLoss

Tankathon's mock draft is interesting when you click sim lottery.

If Flames are 1st OA, they have the Flames taking McKenna.

If 2nd, Stenberg

If 3rd, Lawrence. Even when Stenberg is still available

Wonder what logic they are using for that.

The machine knows.

[Macindoc]

Originally Posted by sureLoss

Tankathon's mock draft is interesting when you click sim lottery.

If Flames are 1st OA, they have the Flames taking McKenna.

If 2nd, Stenberg

If 3rd, Lawrence. Even when Stenberg is still available

Wonder what logic they are using for that.

If the Flames are picking in the top 3, I don't think they're taking a LW whose name isn't Gavin McKenna.

[FlamesAddiction]

Originally Posted by sureLoss

Tankathon's mock draft is interesting when you click sim lottery.

If Flames are 1st OA, they have the Flames taking McKenna.

If 2nd, Stenberg

If 3rd, Lawrence. Even when Stenberg is still available

Wonder what logic they are using for that.

I ran the mock draft and on the first try, Edmonton jumped up to 2nd OA and the Flames drafting 3rd.

[Ba'alzamon]

What about Ilia Morozov? Really good start so far with Miami (7 points in 4 games). 6'3" 200lb.

Faceoff stats are... uh, a work in progress (36.4%).

[sureLoss]

NHL Central Scouting's preliminary players to watch list.

https://media.d3.nhle.com/image/priv...9u2k2ycr4r.pdf

A rating - 1st round candidate
B rating - 2nd/3rd round candidate
C rating - 4/5th round candidate
W rating - 6th/7th round candidate
LV rating - injured players who have not had enough viewings to be rated

only 6 C's got an A rating:
Alessandro Di Iorio
Tynan Lawrence
Caleb Malhotra
Brooks Rogowski
Egor Shilov
Oliver Suvanto

Perhaps biggest surprise is that Central Scouting gave Bjorck a B rating.

[flame4life]

I did the tankathon NHL website to project mock draft lottery. Even with the worst record, and clicking the SIM LOTTERY 10 times, we only won it 2 times. Even the tankathon algorithm has the NHL bias built in.

The crazy thing is running that sim 10 times had us winning 2 times, but had Boston winning it three times (and they moved up 10 spots).

For those of you dreaming of McKenna in the Flaming C ... even having the worst record is not a guarantee of getting him and wouldn't shock me one bit to lose the lottery. The Flames seem to have a NHL curse for sure.

[Tbull8]

Ran it one time:

Buffalo
Edmonton
Calgary

...... Yikes

[ThatHighGuy]

If we somehow get 2nd overall pick, and Mckenna goes first, who do the Flames take? Do they take Verhoeff or go with someone like Stenberg?

[ComixZone]

Originally Posted by ThatHighGuy

If we somehow get 2nd overall pick, and Mckenna goes first, who do the Flames take? Do they take Verhoeff or go with someone like Stenberg?

Too early to say. I'm not sure players have truly separated themselves into tiers. As the season goes on, it may become more clear.

If Verhoeff, Lawrence, Stenberg all end up in the same'ish tier, you then get to go on positional/organizational need. If they don't end up in the same'ish tier? You just go BPA.

[The Cobra]

Originally Posted by flame4life

I did the tankathon NHL website to project mock draft lottery. Even with the worst record, and clicking the SIM LOTTERY 10 times, we only won it 2 times. Even the tankathon algorithm has the NHL bias built in.

The crazy thing is running that sim 10 times had us winning 2 times, but had Boston winning it three times (and they moved up 10 spots).

For those of you dreaming of McKenna in the Flaming C ... even having the worst record is not a guarantee of getting him and wouldn't shock me one bit to lose the lottery. The Flames seem to have a NHL curse for sure.

IIRC, coming last gives you a 25% chance of picking 1st, so 2 out of 10 is about right.

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by flame4life

I did the tankathon NHL website to project mock draft lottery. Even with the worst record, and clicking the SIM LOTTERY 10 times, we only won it 2 times. Even the tankathon algorithm has the NHL bias built in.

The crazy thing is running that sim 10 times had us winning 2 times, but had Boston winning it three times (and they moved up 10 spots).

For those of you dreaming of McKenna in the Flaming C ... even having the worst record is not a guarantee of getting him and wouldn't shock me one bit to lose the lottery. The Flames seem to have a NHL curse for sure.

If the Flames finish last I am totally prepared for them to get bumped to 3rd. It just seems to be their draft luck. However, finishing last is the only way to guarantee a top 3 pick and they should still get a very good player.

[dino7c]

Originally Posted by The Cobra

IIRC, coming last gives you a 25% chance of picking 1st, so 2 out of 10 is about right.

Yeah I don't think fans understand this...it wouldn't be "bad luck" to finish last and pick 3rd it would be the most likely outcome

[D as in David]

Originally Posted by ThatHighGuy

If we somehow get 2nd overall pick, and Mckenna goes first, who do the Flames take? Do they take Verhoeff or go with someone like Stenberg?

Trade it. McKenna or bust!!!

[the-rasta-masta]

Originally Posted by sureLoss

Tankathon's mock draft is interesting when you click sim lottery.

If Flames are 1st OA, they have the Flames taking McKenna.

If 2nd, Stenberg

If 3rd, Lawrence. Even when Stenberg is still available

Wonder what logic they are using for that.

I just tried the tankathon simulator. The Flames moved to 3rd in the first 5 simulations I ran, and finally got 1st overall in the 6th simulation. You know that's how it would play out!