The 2026 NHL trade deadline has come and gone, and the playoffs are just about one month away. There are tons of interesting races both at the top and the bottom of the standings, except for the two endpoints in the Colorado Avalanche and the Vancouver Canucks, who are shoo-ins to finish first and 32nd, respectively. It’s time for the 2026 NHL draft rankings.

With the World Juniors wrapped up, and junior seasons entering their homestretches around the globe, a clearer picture of the 2026 draft class is emerging.

A look at the 2026 NHL draft class

This year’s draft is touted as one of the deepest in many years. There is a ton of value to be had even into deeper rounds, and teams have known this for a while. 2026 first-round picks were a very prized commodity, and instead of seeing those bartered at the frequency we’ve come to expect, second-rounders were flying around instead.

The prize was thought to be no-doubter number one pick, Gavin McKenna. That has changed.

McKenna has had a phenomenal draft year in the NCAA. Other worthy number one picks have emerged in Ivar Stenberg, Keaton Verhoeff, and Chase Reid. McKenna is no longer a slam-dunk first overall selection.

In terms of our rankings, three players received number one votes, a surprising third in Chase Reid, who got his first number one vote from Cory Pronman. Five players received top-two votes, 11 received top-five votes, 17 received top-10 votes, and 61 players received top-32 votes. This is down from 72 players with top-32 votes last year, so we may see a more predictable group of players taken in the first couple of rounds.

Consolidated draft rankings

Our rankings include those from Scott Wheeler, Cory Pronman, Foley on Hockey, Upside Hockey, Peter Baracchini, Sam Cosentino, Steven Ellis, Tony Ferrari, Jason Bukala, McKeen Hockey, Smaht Scouting, Craig Button, and EliteProspects.

A moment to mourn the shutdown of Future Considerations, the best hockey prospect ranking resource we’ve ever seen. Their work is missed dearly.

If any notable rankings were missed, please let me know, and I will adjust the consolidated rankings accordingly.

A trimmed mean is used to remove the highest and lowest ranks for each player.

Without further ado, here’s the full list.

RankPlayerTrimmed
MeanPositionTeamLeagueDOBHTWTS1Ivar Stenberg1.5LW/RWFrolunda HCSHL29-Sep-076’0″181L2Gavin McKenna1.8LWPenn State Univ.NCAA19-Dec-076’0″170L3Keaton Verhoeff3.4DUniv. of North DakotaNCAA18-Jun-086’4″212R4Chase Reid4.4DSoo GreyhoundsOHL29-Dec-076’2″187R5Tynan Lawrence6.5CBoston Univ.NCAA02-Aug-086’0″185L6Alberts Smits7.0DJukuritLiiga01-Dec-076’3″205L7Carson Carels7.7DPrince George CougarsWHL22-Jun-086’2″194L8Caleb Malhotra8.7CBrantford BulldogsOHL01-Jun-086’2″183L9Viggo Bjorck8.9C/RWDjurgardens IFSHL11-Mar-085’10”172R10Ethan Belchetz10.1LWWindsor SpitfiresOHL29-Mar-086’5″227L11Oscar Hemming12.5FBoston CollegeNCAA12-Aug-086’4″198L12Daxon Rudolph13.3DPrince Albert RaidersWHL05-Mar-086’2″203R13Adam Novotny14.6LW/RWPeterborough PetesOHL12-Nov-076’1″205L14Oliver Suvanto15.5CTapparaLiiga02-Sep-086’3″209L15Ryan Lin16.2DVancouver GiantsWHL17-Apr-085’11”176R16Marcus Nordmark16.6RWDjurgardens IF U20U20 Nationell03-May-086’2″187L17Xavier Villeneuve17.3DBlainville-Boisbriand ArmadaQMJHL28-Sep-075’11”157L18Elton Hermansson17.6RW/LWMoDo HockeyHockeyAllsvenskan04-Feb-086’1″174R19Malte Gustafsson18.6DHV71 U20U20 Nationell10-Jun-086’4″201L20J.P. Hurlbert20.1FKamloops BlazersWHL10-Apr-086’0″183R21Ilia Morozov21.3FMiami Univ. (Ohio)NCAA02-Aug-086’3″205L22Juho Piiparinen21.3DTapparaLiiga09-Aug-086’3″203R23Nikita Klepov24.8FSaginaw SpiritOHL26-Jun-086’0″181L24William Hakansson25.0DLulea HFSHL07-Oct-076’4″207L25Mathis Preston27.1FSpokane ChiefsWHL20-Jul-085’11”176R26Alexander Command28.2Corebro HK U20U20 Nationell15-Jun-086’1″185L27Egor Shilov29.1CVictoriaville TigresQMJHL29-Apr-086’1″181L28Wyatt Cullen29.2FU.S. National U18 TeamNTDP07-Sep-086’0″172L29Tomas Chrenko29.7CHK NitraSlovakia01-Nov-075’11”170R30Markus Ruck30.0FMedicine Hat TigersWHL20-Feb-086’0″168L31Ben Macbeath30.5DCalgary HitmenWHL03-Mar-086’2″181L32Liam Ruck31.5FMedicine Hat TigersWHL20-Feb-086’0″176R33Ryan Roobroeck31.9CNiagara IceDogsOHL24-Sep-076’4″216L34Jack Hextall32.0CYoungstown PhantomsUSHL22-Mar-086’0″185R35Maddox Dagenais32.1CQuebec RempartsQMJHL26-Mar-086’4″196L36Casey Mutryn35.3FU.S. National U18 TeamNTDP04-Jul-086’3″201R37Brooks Rogowski35.4COshawa GeneralsOHL27-Jun-086’6″231R38Niklas Aaram-Olsen36.4RW/LWorebro HK U20U20 Nationell18-Apr-086’1″187L39Simas Ignatavicius36.6C/FGenève-Servette HCNL21-Oct-076’3″198R40Nikita Shcherbakov37.1DSalavat Yulaev UfaKHL22-Oct-076’5″187L41Dmitri Borichev37.5GLoko-76 YaroslavlMHL18-Jun-086’3″198–42Adam Goljer38.5DHK Dukla TrencinSlovakia06-Jun-086’3″194R43Adam Valentini39.0FUniv. of MichiganNCAA10-Apr-085’11”185L44Lavr Gashilov40.0CAvto YekaterinburgMHL22-Sep-076’2″170L45Jonas Lagerberg Hoen40.0RWLeksands IF U20U20 Nationell23-Oct-076’2″176R46Jaxon Cover40.5LWLondon KnightsOHL12-Feb-086’1″185L47Pierce Mbuyi44.0LWOwen Sound AttackOHL16-Apr-085’11”159L48Alessandro Di Iorio44.8CSarnia StingOHL16-Mar-086’1″190R49Vilho Vanhatalo45.0RW/LWTappara U20U20 SM-sarja17-Jan-086’4″198L50Gleb Pugachyov45.5RW/LWChaika Nizhny NovgorodMHL24-Mar-086’3″198L51Samu Alalauri45.7DPelicans U20U20 SM-sarja30-May-086’3″205R52Tomas Galvas46.5DBili Tygri LiberecCzechia10-Feb-065’10”168L53Victor Plante48.0FU.S. National U18 TeamNTDP09-Mar-085’10”157L54Vladimir Dravecky48.3DBrantford BulldogsOHL18-Dec-076’0″187R55Tommy Bleyl48.7DMoncton WildcatsQMJHL30-Nov-076’0″170R56Braidy Wassilyn49.0FLondon KnightsOHL27-May-085’11”194L57Giorgos Pantelas50.5DBrandon Wheat KingsWHL23-Apr-086’2″214R58Axel Elofsson50.7Dorebro HK U20U20 Nationell02-Jun-085’11”165R59Thomas Vandenberg51.5COttawa 67’sOHL07-Sep-086’0″181L60Mikey Berchild51.7FU.S. National U18 TeamNTDP15-Feb-085’10”181L61Oscar Holmertz51.8CLinkoping HC U20U20 Nationell20-Mar-086’0″192L62Filip Novak52.0FHC Sparta Praha U20Czechia U2006-Mar-086’1″198L63Lars Steiner52.3RWRouyn-Noranda HuskiesQMJHL11-Nov-075’10”176R64Beckham Edwards52.8CSarnia StingOHL05-Jan-086’1″181L65Ryder Cali53.0CNorth Bay BattalionOHL05-Sep-086’2″209L66Charlie Morrison53.7DQuebec RempartsQMJHL11-Oct-076’3″198L67Adam Nemec54.0FSudbury WolvesOHL17-Oct-076’1″176L68Vertti Svensk57.0DSaiPa U20U20 SM-sarja08-Nov-076’1″168L69Luke Schairer57.2DU.S. National U18 TeamNTDP29-Jan-086’3″201R70Brady Knowling57.5GU.S. National U18 TeamNTDP08-Mar-086’5″203–71Landon Nycz59.0DUniv. of MassachusettsNCAA03-Oct-076’3″205L72Casper Juustovaara Karlsson59.0C/LWLulea HFSHL24-Oct-075’9″168L73Tobias Trejbal59.5GYoungstown PhantomsUSHL08-Nov-076’4″190–74Viktor Fyodorov60.0CChaika Nizhny NovgorodMHL20-Feb-085’10”176L75Jakub Vanecek60.3DTri-City AmericansWHL24-Feb-086’2″194L76Chase Harrington60.5FSpokane ChiefsWHL29-Oct-076’0″201L77Blake Zielinski60.5FDes Moines BuccaneersUSHL04-Mar-086’0″187R78Landon Hafele62.0FGreen Bay GamblersUSHL17-Sep-076’0″187L79Brek Liske63.0DEverett SilvertipsWHL08-Jan-086’2″187R80Alexei Vlasov63.0LWVictoriaville TigresQMJHL01-Feb-085’9″179R81Olivers Murnieks65.8CSaint John Sea DogsQMJHL30-Jul-086’1″194L82Nils Bartholdsson69.0RWRogle BK U20U20 Nationell24-Apr-085’10”174R83Ethan MacKenzie70.0DEdmonton Oil KingsWHL01-Sep-066’0″174L84Max Isaksson73.5CVaxjo Lakers HC U20U20 Nationell27-Jan-086’0″183L85Cooper Williams75.0FSaskatoon BladesWHL17-Feb-086’1″159L86Yaroslav Fedoseyev75.0DBelye Medvedi ChelyabinskMHL04-Nov-076’2″187R87Colin Fitzgerald77.0CPeterborough PetesOHL31-Mar-086’2″207R88Ludvig Andersson80.0C/RWorebro HK U20U20 Nationell23-May-085’11”192R89Jean-Cristoph Lemieux82.5CSudbury WolvesOHL18-Jun-086’0″187L90Landon Amrhein86.0FCalgary HitmenWHL05-Apr-086’4″192R91Timofei Runtso88.0DVictoria RoyalsWHL05-Jul-076’2″187R92Alexander Bilecki91.0DKitchener RangersOHL08-May-086’2″181L93Simon Katolicky93.0LW/RWTappara U20U20 SM-sarja23-Jul-086’4″198L

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