2026 NHL Draft Thread

[Tbull8]

If Mckenna doesn't dominate the WJC and Lawrence continues to produce in the second half, theres even a chance he could fall to 4. Not that I think he should personally, but its not impossible!

[traptor]

Originally Posted by The EBUG's EBUG

Totally agree, take one of those guys and run. They seem to be in line for at least a bottom 3/4 finish here meaning they'll probably be in a good spot where at least one is available.

Worst case scenario and they get lottery'd, what are people's thoughts on 5, 6, 7? Belchetz scares me given his production relative to his size advantage and then after that right now it seems like a run on defense. Curious if Malholtra gets into the conversation if the Flames are sitting at 5 and miss out on those top 4 guys.

I'd definitely be looking at Malholtra.
The other two are Belchetz and Carels.

It's really not a group draft for us to be out of the top 4.

[Royle9]

Can’t wait for Bjorck to turn heads at WJHC’s

[mile]

Lawrence compares his own game to Suzuki’s and closely studies Celebrini’s as well. I’d be pumped if the Flames got him

[YyjFlames]

Originally Posted by Royle9

Can’t wait for Bjorck to turn heads at WJHC’s

Sweden's forward group is absolutely stacked. They should be a fun team to watch.

[Tkachukwagon]

https://twitter.com/user/status/1998111951881416771

[1qqaaz]

Flames are 6-2-1 in their last 9. Who are the best players in the 10 to 20 range?

I would say J.P. Hurlbert, but he'll probably be in the top 10 by the end of the season.
Apparently Adam Novotny is pretty good defensively.

[Fan69]

Originally Posted by 1qqaaz

Flames are 6-2-1 in their last 9. Who are the best players in the 10 to 20 range?

I would say J.P. Hurlbert, but he'll probably be in the top 10 by the end of the season.
Apparently Adam Novotny is pretty good defensively.

Bjork, Villeneuve, Malhotra, Smits, Roobroek ( i would stay away ) , however any of those guys could also enter the top ten leaving someone like Carels or Lin possibly.

[Sandman]

Originally Posted by 1qqaaz

Flames are 6-2-1 in their last 9. Who are the best players in the 10 to 20 range?

I would say J.P. Hurlbert, but he'll probably be in the top 10 by the end of the season.
Apparently Adam Novotny is pretty good defensively.

13 points in the last 7 games for Novotny. He’s gotten used to the game over here now. He’s a beauty too.

35 points in 29 games for the Petes.

[getbak]

Flames keep climbing the standings as McKenna falls in the rankings... it's meant to be.

[Bingo]

Updated with Ferrari's ranking.

Now 10 rankings, and 3 needed to get sorted. That means up to 67 players with an "average" now.

1	Gavin McKenna	LW	1.60
2	Ivar Stenberg	RW	2.30
3	Keaton Verhoeff	RHD	2.40

4	Tynan Lawrence	C	5.00
5	Ethan Belchetz	LW	6.60
6	Chase Reid	RHD	7.70

7	Alberts Smits	LHD	11.00
8	Ryan Lin	        RHD	11.70
9	Carson Carels	LHD	12.10

10	Mathis Preston	RW	13.50
11	Viggo Björck	C	13.70
12	M Nordmark	LW	14.78

13	X Villeneuve	LHD	15.80
14	Adam Novotný	LW	16.30
15	El Hermansson	RW	16.40
16	Ryan Roobroeck	LW	17.44
17	Caleb Malhotra	C	17.56
18	Daxon Rudolph	RHD	17.70

19	Oliver Suvanto	C	18.56
20	Juho Piiparinen	RHD	18.90
21	M Gustafsson	LHD	19.67
22	Oscar Hemming	LW	20.43

23	Will Håkansson	LHD	22.00
24	J.P. Hurlbert	LW	22.10
25	Nikita Klepov	LW	22.56
26	Jack Hextall	C	23.00

27	Egor Shilov	C	25.38
28	N Aaram-Olsen	LW	27.38
29	Beck Edwards	C	27.80

30	Ilia Morozov	C	30.38
31	Tomas Chrenko	C	31.00
32	Adam Valentini	C	32.50
33	M Dagenais	C	32.80
34	Ales Di Iorio	C	34.67
35	B Rogowski	C	35.29
36	Lars Steiner	RW	35.67
37	Casey Mutryn	F	36.00
38	Vilho Vanhatalo	RW	37.33
39	Oliver Mūrnieks	C	37.75
40	Oscar Holmertz	C	37.83
41	Giorg Pantelas	RHD	38.00
42	Alex Command	C	39.00
43	Lavr Gashilov	C	39.67
44	N Shcherbakov	LHD	40.00
45	Pierce Mbuyi	LW	40.20

[Sandman]

Wow, I guess people are starting to believe that Smits is the real thing…

[traptor]

What is Björck's projection (ceiling/floor)?

Is there a comp?

[SuperMatt18]

McKenna still seems so undervalued to me.

If he stayed in WHL he's on pace for 160 points right now and this isn't even a question.

[Fan69]

Originally Posted by SuperMatt18

McKenna still seems so undervalued to me.

If he stayed in WHL he's on pace for 160 points right now and this isn't even a question.

Which means exactly jack squat. Maybe he just isnt as good as projected? Gasp?

[shutout]

Originally Posted by traptor

What is Björck's projection (ceiling/floor)?

Is there a comp?

Maybe Marco Rossi

Both play center
Both at 5'9"
Both offensively gifted

Primary similarity is their comparable size and intelligent, competitive playing style.

Biggest difference is Bjorck is Swedish and Rossi is Austrian.

Wild picked Rossi at #9. Have to think that Bjorck goes in the 7-15 range.

[Royle9]

Bjorck did things in JR playing as a 13 year old in U15 and a 15 year old in U17 that’s never been done, and by large margins, surpassing every other Swede in the history of said leagues.

I think his ceiling is vastly higher than Rossi.
He’s also closer to 6 than he is to 5’9 right now.
His shot and offensive instincts are probably the top 2 right now, if he was in the CHL he’d be seen in comparison with McKenna.

[The EBUG's EBUG]

Crazy how fun a top 4 pick would be for this team, you either get yourself a potential game changing forward or "settle" for a 6'4 Albertan stallion who's a teammate of a previous first rounder.

Definitely not the clear and obvious need but a world where in a couple years you can ice something like the following would be pretty fun:

Kuznetsov - Verhoff
Bahl - Parekh
Weegar - Brzustewicz

Wolf

Oooof howareya.

[Tbull8]

Originally Posted by The EBUG's EBUG

Crazy how fun a top 4 pick would be for this team, you either get yourself a potential game changing forward or "settle" for a 6'4 Albertan stallion who's a teammate of a previous first rounder.

Definitely not the clear and obvious need but a world where in a couple years you can ice something like the following would be pretty fun:

Kuznetsov - Verhoff
Bahl - Parekh
Weegar - Brzustewicz

Wolf

Oooof howareya.

And still have a guy like mews with really high upside

[The EBUG's EBUG]

Originally Posted by Tbull8

And still have a guy like mews with really high upside

Oh yea, so brutal his year got cut short, curious if he'd have been in the World J conversation, pretty stacked group but still.

Calgary kid Eric Jamieson also having a really strong freshman year in Denver. 21 year old Lian Bichsel feels like a natural target out of Dallas if they end up doing a deal with them.

Could be a really fun backend in 2-4 years.