2026 NHL Draft Thread

[BigThief]

Originally Posted by Sidney Crosby's Hat

I bet the whole having to go to school thing, being far away from home in a different country, etc. These are all factors you don't think of.

They'd all have to be pretty stupid to not factor that stuff in, I'm not saying you're wrong but how short sighted are these parents, families, agents etc?

[CliffFletcher]

McKenna moved away from home when he was 14, first to B.C and then to Alberta. And I don’t know why the adjustment would be harder for him than other kids from Canada and Europe who play college hockey.

The complaints from professional scouts about McKenna’s play so far this season are specific: A) He doesn’t seem to have put any effort into improving his play without the puck, and B) His production hasn’t been impressive enough to make up for A.

If McKenna is going to be a one-dimensional player with zero interest in rounding out his game, that will affect his ceiling in the NHL.

[Jiri Hrdina]

Originally Posted by CliffFletcher

McKenna moved away from home when he was 14, first to B.C and then to Alberta. And I don’t know why the adjustment would be harder for him than other kids from Canada and Europe who play college hockey.

The complaints from professional scouts about McKenna’s play so far this season are specific: A) He doesn’t seem to have put any effort into improving his play without the puck, and B) His production hasn’t been impressive enough to make up for A.

If McKenna is going to be a one-dimensional player with zero interest in rounding out his game, that will affect his ceiling in the NHL.

Agreed but I think the main consideration is the things that he does at an elite level are rare and not something you can teach.
His gaps are coachable items.
If he is willing.

That's the question. If he is willing, then you take him.
If you don't think he's got the will to fill those gaps, then it's a redder red flag.

[JTech780]

Originally Posted by Sandman

D Ryan Lin, RW Mathis Preston, D Carson Carels, D Daxon Rudolph, D Chase Reid, RW Marcus Nordmark, LW Elton Hermansson, C Viggo Bjorck.

Plus one of Ethan Belchetz, Ryan Roobreck, and Ty Lawrence might be available at #5.

I think Roobroeck falls out of the top 15, even right now he for sure isn’t a top 5 pick.

My top 10 right now:

1. Verhoeff
2. McKenna
3. Stenberg
4. Lawrence
5. Reid
6. Belchetz
7. Carels
8. Rudolph
9. Bjorck
10. Lin

[fotze2]

Originally Posted by CliffFletcher

McKenna moved away from home when he was 14, first to B.C and then to Alberta. And I don’t know why the adjustment would be harder for him than other kids from Canada and Europe who play college hockey.

The complaints from professional scouts about McKenna’s play so far this season are specific: A) He doesn’t seem to have put any effort into improving his play without the puck, and B) His production hasn’t been impressive enough to make up for A.

If McKenna is going to be a one-dimensional player with zero interest in rounding out his game, that will affect his ceiling in the NHL.

Because it is a massive difference in competition, lifestyle, location, country, amount of games. Billet vs no billet might be huge as well. These are still un-fullycooked humans and now has some insane wealth and stardom on campus.

Lets giver er more than 16 games for "the scouts". Who are just hockey nerds on the internet mostly.

We should also be rightfully concerned about Misa abysmal numbers.

[PepsiFree]

Originally Posted by CliffFletcher

McKenna moved away from home when he was 14, first to B.C and then to Alberta. And I don’t know why the adjustment would be harder for him than other kids from Canada and Europe who play college hockey.

The complaints from professional scouts about McKenna’s play so far this season are specific: A) He doesn’t seem to have put any effort into improving his play without the puck, and B) His production hasn’t been impressive enough to make up for A.

If McKenna is going to be a one-dimensional player with zero interest in rounding out his game, that will affect his ceiling in the NHL.

Yeah, I’m not sure why so many excuses are being made for this player in particular vs the countless others who have endured the same thing. The knocks on McKenna are not new, they’re just far more apparent right now when he’s not wildly outscoring them. If all the issues with his game emerged only after going the NCAA route, or if he had quickly addressed them, it might be different.

And, all that said, it’s not like McKenna’s abilities are being completely discounted here. It’s become a conversation over whether he’s the defacto 1OA or if he slips to 2/3 and/or needs another year of development. He’s going to be a top pick regardless because of that talent.

[Jiri Hrdina]

Wacky Craig with his wacky list!

https://www.tsn.ca/nhl/article/craig...in-deep-draft/

[dissentowner]

Originally Posted by Sandman

McKenna
Verhoeff
Stenberg
Lawrence
Belchetz

I want no part of Belchetz at all. Giant kid dominates in CHL, ya I have seen how that story plays out way too many times and it's never good.

[Monahammer]

Originally Posted by Jiri Hrdina

Wacky Craig with his wacky list!

https://www.tsn.ca/nhl/article/craig...in-deep-draft/

What is it that you interpret as Whacky with this edition? IMO he's got the top 3 bang on, and the rest is kind of a wash right now anyway. Does seem to be higher on some foreign D men then others so far, but historically he's nailed those (Silayev, Simashev come to mind as guys he talked about higher up first.)

[Tbull8]

Originally Posted by Monahammer

What is it that you interpret as Whacky with this edition? IMO he's got the top 3 bang on, and the rest is kind of a wash right now anyway. Does seem to be higher on some foreign D men then others so far, but historically he's nailed those (Silayev, Simashev come to mind as guys he talked about higher up first.)

Standout weird ones to me are Lawrence at 9, Lin at 14, Bjorck at 22, Roobroeck at 27.

Those are all guys I've regularly had in the top 10-15

[Monahammer]

Lawrence is in top 10- I agree with Craig that he will be hard pressed to keep a top 5 ranking when he's just started playing, and hasn't blown off the doors with his late start.

Lin and Bjrok have been extremely variable. It seems some are afraid of the combo of Bjorck's size and not amazing skating. I don't see those as super out of line with others though.

Roobroeck I agree is low, but that does seem to be the vibe out there right now on his trajectory. Craig is just ahead of the pack.

[Monahammer]

I don't like Verhoeff's game, so i am unfair, but IMO if anyone is going to knock off McKenna it's going to be Stenberg. Almost a PPG and seriously leading an SHL team pre 18 is very, very impressive. Looks to have potential center chops still.

[CliffFletcher]

Originally Posted by PepsiFree

Yeah, I’m not sure why so many excuses are being made for this player in particular vs the countless others who have endured the same thing. The knocks on McKenna are not new, they’re just far more apparent right now when he’s not wildly outscoring them. If all the issues with his game emerged only after going the NCAA route, or if he had quickly addressed them, it might be different.

And, all that said, it’s not like McKenna’s abilities are being completely discounted here. It’s become a conversation over whether he’s the defacto 1OA or if he slips to 2/3 and/or needs another year of development. He’s going to be a top pick regardless because of that talent.

Yeah, I don’t think anyone has suggested he’ll be a bust. Just that he has enough warts in his game that he’s trending towards a top-3 pick rather than a no-brainer #1.

[Jiri Hrdina]

Originally Posted by Monahammer

What is it that you interpret as Whacky with this edition? IMO he's got the top 3 bang on, and the rest is kind of a wash right now anyway. Does seem to be higher on some foreign D men then others so far, but historically he's nailed those (Silayev, Simashev come to mind as guys he talked about higher up first.)

Was mainly tongue in cheek as people tend to criticize him for having different rankings than the consensus. I enjoy different views including from Button

[fotze2]

Originally Posted by CliffFletcher

Yeah, I don’t think anyone has suggested he’ll be a bust. Just that he has enough warts in his game that he’s trending towards a top-3 pick rather than a no-brainer #1.

He definitely does but probably due to the size. I think the dub was a little too easy for him, now hockey is not pond hockey.

[mile]

https://twitter.com/user/status/1993047243054805093

[dammage79]

Cullen Potter sitting pretty on that list.

Reschny not far behind. Actually, Reschny up that high on a loaded ND team is quite an accomplishment. For Potter it's the reverse, it's awesome he's the one carrying the water for ARZ.

What is Ilya Morozov? Center? Wing?

[TrentCrimmIndependent]

Wow, 5 Flames high up on that list. Pretty solid representation.

[fotze2]

Originally Posted by mile

https://twitter.com/user/status/1993047243054805093

Smith looking good. Damn he had a nice goal last week.

[Sandman]

Originally Posted by dissentowner

I want no part of Belchetz at all. Giant kid dominates in CHL, ya I have seen how that story plays out way too many times and it's never good.

I understand your concern, but Belchetz dominates just as much with his speed, skill, and smarts, as he does with his size. I sent a video montage a while back to prove my point:

https://youtu.be/OILA4-bWUoQ