The 2026 NHL Draft is in the books. We tracked 362 prospects on our pre-draft board — here's how it held up against what actually happened in Buffalo: the steals, the reaches, and where we nailed it.
📊 VIEW ALL 410 PROSPECTS →Prospects our board valued highly who slid down the draft — value for the teams that waited.
| BOARD | PROSPECT | DRAFTED | SLID | TEAM |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| #89 | Noel Pakarinen | #207 | +118 | Vegas Golden Knights |
| #58 | Lars Steiner | #171 | +113 | St. Louis Blues |
| #45 | Giorgos Pantelas | #153 | +108 | Minnesota Wild |
| #66 | Vilho Vanhatalo | #168 | +102 | Florida Panthers |
| #90 | Alexander Grunin | #183 | +93 | Ottawa Senators |
| #78 | Roberto Henriquez | #170 | +92 | Pittsburgh Penguins |
| #132 | Max Laatikainen | #213 | +81 | Philadelphia Flyers |
| #112 | Matthew Minchak | #191 | +79 | Vegas Golden Knights |
Players drafted well ahead of where our board had them ranked.
| PICK | PROSPECT | OUR BOARD | JUMP | TEAM |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| #65 | Joe Iginla | #325 | -260 | Calgary Flames |
| #92 | Benjamin Wilmott | #352 | -260 | Vegas Golden Knights |
| #62 | Martin Psohlavec | #303 | -241 | Philadelphia Flyers |
| #121 | Evan Jardine | #343 | -222 | Minnesota Wild |
| #154 | Cooper Soller | #364 | -210 | Tampa Bay Lightning |
| #202 | Charlie Puglisi | #405 | -203 | Nashville Predators |
| #201 | Alexander Karmanov | #400 | -199 | San Jose Sharks |
| #147 | Florent Houle | #338 | -191 | Utah Mammoth |
| # | PROSPECT | POS | TEAM | LEAGUE | 2026 RESULT |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Gavin McKenna | LW | Penn State | NCAA | #1 · TOR |
| 2 | Ivar Stenberg | LW | Frölunda | SHL | #2 · SJS |
| 3 | Chase Reid | RD | Sault Ste. Marie | OHL | #7 · SEA |
| 4 | Caleb Malhotra | C | Brantford | OHL | #3 · VAN |
| 5 | Carson Carels | LD | Prince George | WHL | #6 · CGY |
| 6 | Viggo Björck | C | Djurgården | SHL | #8 · WPG |
| 7 | Keaton Verhoeff | RD | North Dakota | NCAA | #9 · SJS |
| 8 | Alberts Smits | LD | Jukurit | Liiga | #5 · NYR |
| 9 | Ethan Belchetz | LW | Windsor | OHL | #17 · UTA |
| 10 | Daxon Rudolph | RD | Prince Albert | WHL | #4 · BUF |
| 11 | Malte Gustafsson | LD | HV71 | SHL | #13 · NYI |
| 12 | Tynan Lawrence | C | Boston University | NCAA | #11 · STL |
| 13 | Wyatt Cullen | C | USNTDP | NTDP | #10 · NSH |
| 14 | Adam Novotný | LW | Peterborough | OHL | #24 · VAN |
| 15 | Ryan Lin | RD | Vancouver (WHL) | WHL | #21 · SJS |
| 16 | Xavier Villeneuve | LD | Blainville-Boisbriand | QMJHL | #34 · CHI |
| 17 | Oscar Hemming | LW | Boston College | NCAA | #14 · CBJ |
| 18 | Nikita Klepov | LW | Saginaw | OHL | #15 · ANA |
| 19 | Jaxon Cover | LW | London | OHL | #32 · OTT |
| 20 | Elton Hermansson | RW | MODO | Allsvenskan | #19 · LAK |
| 21 | Ilya Morozov | C | Miami (Ohio) | NCAA | #20 · BUF |
| 22 | Maddox Dagenais | C | Québec | QMJHL | #16 · STL |
| 23 | Oliver Suvanto | C | Tappara | Liiga | #18 · WSH |
| 24 | Alexander Command | C | Örebro HK | SHL | #12 · NJD |
| 25 | Yegor Shilov | C | Victoriaville | QMJHL | #43 · COL |
| 26 | JP Hurlbert | LW | Kamloops | WHL | #23 · DET |
| 27 | Brooks Rogowski | C | Oshawa | OHL | #33 · VAN |
| 28 | Mathis Preston | C | Vancouver (WHL) | WHL | #50 · ANA |
| 29 | Liam Ruck | LW | Medicine Hat | WHL | #22 · PIT |
| 30 | Juho Piiparinen | RD | Tappara | Liiga | #29 · VGK |
| 31 | Marcus Nordmark | RW | Djurgården | J20 Nationell | #28 · ANA |
| 32 | Nikita Shcherbakov | LD | Tolpar Ufa | MHL | #44 · NJD |
Don't just read rankings — experience them. Our Mock Draft Simulator lets you pick any team, draft against 31 AI GMs, make trades, and see how the board falls. Rankings power every AI GM's decision-making.