2026 NHL Draft Thread

[Monahammer]

I have watched a decent amount of Verhoeff and still don't like him. I don't think his skating is great, I think his defensive effort is not as strong as may be advertized, and I think he has historically relied a lot on his size and strength.

But, I have been very wrong before.

IMO if we do draft Verhoeff, we should probably see if someone will trade us a centre for Parekh or Brzu. Great concept to hold all 3 but impractical, especially as we will have holes elsewhere, and eventually they will hopefully all need to be paid too much.

[The EBUG's EBUG]

Originally Posted by Monahammer

I have watched a decent amount of Verhoeff and still don't like him. I don't think his skating is great, I think his defensive effort is not as strong as may be advertized, and I think he has historically relied a lot on his size and strength.

But, I have been very wrong before.

IMO if we do draft Verhoeff, we should probably see if someone will trade us a centre for Parekh or Brzu. Great concept to hold all 3 but impractical, especially as we will have holes elsewhere, and eventually they will hopefully all need to be paid too much.

Is there a natural player comp you see for him? In the like 4 viewings I've had of him the size and the shot give me Chychrun vibes but that also might just be me being lazy.

Total aside but Chychrun was an interesting one in his draft from what I remember because he started the year high and then got kinda over scouted imo. Everybody so concerned with what he didn't do that they forgot about all the good parts of his game. That was a sick draft but wild seeing some of the guys picked ahead of him.

I agree with that, makes sense to deal from a surplus, champagne problems though, especially when we sign Makar in a couple years...

[FlamesAreOne]

We're definitely going to mess up our chances at McKenna.

Trading Ras soon should be priority for this franchise to A) Ensure we suck enough for Gavin B) Get a high-end asset(s) back and C) Do so before Ras gets hurt going 110% at the Olympics.

This is one of the most pivotal points in our franchises history.

[The EBUG's EBUG]

Originally Posted by FlamesAreOne

We're definitely going to mess up our chances at McKenna.

Trading Ras soon should be priority for this franchise to A) Ensure we suck enough for Gavin B) Get a high-end asset(s) back and C) Do so before Ras gets hurt going 110% at the Olympics.

This is one of the most pivotal points in our franchises history.

Family gifted me a Penn St McKenna jersey as an early birthday present a couple weeks ago. Should have known that we were cooked the minute I unwrapped it. May need to sell it to a Canucks fan friend to appease the hockey gods.

[Ba'alzamon]

Originally Posted by Monahammer

I have watched a decent amount of Verhoeff and still don't like him. I don't think his skating is great, I think his defensive effort is not as strong as may be advertized, and I think he has historically relied a lot on his size and strength.

But, I have been very wrong before.

IMO if we do draft Verhoeff, we should probably see if someone will trade us a centre for Parekh or Brzu. Great concept to hold all 3 but impractical, especially as we will have holes elsewhere, and eventually they will hopefully all need to be paid too much.

OR

Trade the Verhoeff pick for Michael Misa.

[JTech780]

Originally Posted by 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 Djurgardens roster page has him listed at 177cm which works out to 5'9.7", so just under 5'10". He also plays RW for Djurgardens, and is most likely going to play RW at the NHL.

He is very skilled, but I wouldn't have him in the top 10 of this draft. He profiles as more of a perimeter player and a 2nd line winger IMO.

[Jiri Hrdina]

Guys like Bjorck, rightly or wrongly, always go later in the real draft than they do in the mock drafts. Size up the middle still matters.

I think he will be the 4th center off the board, behind Lawrence, Malhotra, and Suvanto

[The EBUG's EBUG]

Originally Posted by Ba'alzamon

OR

Trade the Verhoeff pick for Michael Misa.

Hell yea. Somehow get Hemming from Dallas in the inevitable Anderson and/or Coleman deal, pick the other Hemming with the Vegas pick. 3rd overall to the Sharks for Misa, first line in 2028:

Hemming - Misa - Hemming

Earnestly committing to the Hemming way.

[SuperMatt18]

Originally Posted by Jiri Hrdina

Guys like Bjorck, rightly or wrongly, always go later in the real draft than they do in the mock drafts. Size up the middle still matters.

I think he will be the 4th center off the board, behind Lawrence, Malhotra, and Suvanto

If the Flames do keep winning and fall out of the top 5 and more into that 8-12 range I feel like Malhotra will end up being their pick, just a gut feeling

Center
Good Size
Good Skating
200 ft game
Young for his draft year
NHL Family Pedigree (and Steve Nash is his uncle)

Honestly Flames could do a lot worse

[The EBUG's EBUG]

Originally Posted by SuperMatt18

If the Flames do keep winning and fall out of the top 5 and more into that 8-12 range I feel like Malhotra will end up being their pick, just a gut feeling

Oh yea, fitting cause they're on the same team but he gives me Jake O'Brien vibes in terms of ranking. Felt like O'Brien sat in the teens for most of the year before ending up in the top 10.

If Calgary are picking at 6-8 with a bunch of D-men as consensus BPA on the board it would not shock me to see them take Malholtra.

[traptor]

Björck, Malholtra, Smits and Carels are all a clear drop off from the top 4 but would be a nice consolation should we find ourselves 5-15.

Maybe I'm sleeping on the wingers in this range, but none seem that enticing outside of Belchetz.
Novotny is the most enticing out of the bunch, he feels like Gridin 2.0