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The most comprehensive NHL draft guide on the market is now available!

Inside you’ll find:

1. Draft 101 — 5 W’s on the 2026 draft, write-ups on the draft process, and the draft order for picks 1-224

2. Draft lottery year-to-year histories — I could never find accurate summaries for every lottery draw since 1995, so I made it myself. Lots of info here.

3. NHL Team reports — a statistical breakdown of five-year draft trends (last five first-rounders, leagues drafted from, positions, etc), plus each teams draft pick slots for 2026, top-5 prospects, summaries on state of team, state of farm system, and draft outlook and potential targets.

4. Prospect depth charts — I break down every non-NHL regular into positions with contract expiry, rights expiry, and age. Biggest reason for the draft report’s late-June release is getting this right, because teams make changes from 6/1 to 6/15.

5. Top prospects for every team — expanded summaries on every club’s top prospect at the forward, defense, and goalie positions.

6. Top 220 draft rankings

7. 250 prospect profiles (1-50 with bio data and season stats, plus shot totals)

8. Graphs and tables with league-wide draft trends.

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NASHVILLE (The Draft Analyst) — Greetings everyone. Team-by-team random thoughts, and then we’ll wrap it up for all 32 clubs throughout July. To get the whole story, click the preview links below for team draft previews and each franchise’s general pre-draft outlook.

Team Draft Previews

ANA | BOS | BUF | CGY | CAR | CHI | COL | CBJ | DAL | DET | EDM | FLA | LAK | MIN | MTL | NAS | NJD | NYI | NYR | OTT | PHI | PIT | STL | SJS | SEA | TBL | TOR | UTA | VAN | VGK | WAS | WIN

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Record: 35-27-20, 90 points (20th overall) | Draft position: 17th overall

2026 picks: 1st (LAK) | 2nd (CBJ), 2nd (LAK) | 3rd (WAS) | 4th (LAK) | 5th (LAK) | 6th (LAK), 6th (COL) | 7th (LAK)

Key dates: Scouting Combine (May 31-June 6) | Draft (June 26-27)

Situation: Frustration is past the boiling point in the City of Angels, where another draining fight-to-the-finish just to qualify for the playoffs resulted in nothing more than another early-round disappointment. For it is now 12 years without a postseason series victory, only in this particular campaign there wasn’t a single playoff triumph at all. Yes, the Kings, stubborn as they were at times, suffered the quickest of deaths at the hands of the top-seeded Colorado Avalanche, who swept Los Angeles while limiting the Kings to only five measly goals, of which only two were at even strength.

These end results were somewhat easy to predict, even before star winger Kevin Fiala was knocked out of action from an injury suffered at the Olympics in February. The Kings may have been a stout defense-oriented team who stood alongside the big boys when it came to overall shot suppression and shot quality. But the offense couldn’t live up to their end of the bargain, resulting in an inordinate amount of one-goal games — 20 of which were losses in 3-on-3 overtime or the shootout. The fact that they even made the playoffs with the paltry sum of only 22 regulation wins — the same total as 31st-ranked Chicago — can serve as both Exhibit A in the case against the loser’s point and an indictment of their inability to deliver in the clutch. The irony of it all is that losing twice as many games as they won is what got the Kings into the playoffs.

As such, change was and will continue to be inevitable. Head coach Jim Hiller entered the season on borrowed time and was finally sacked right after the Olympic break following what felt like a crippling Pacific Division stretch. His replacement, D.J. Smith seemed to get more out of the lineup, as goals per game improved from 2.60 under Hiller to 3.10 with Smith, albeit in a smaller sample. Another boost came from the acquisition of perennial scoring ace Artemi Panarin, who forced a trade to Los Angeles from the New York Rangers for family reasons and produced 27 points in 26 games.

Naturally, optimism for next season is understandably tempered, especially with the retirement of franchise favorite Anze Kopitar after a 20-year career in silver and black. However, the hiring of accomplished veteran head coach Peter Laviolette, coupled with the expected return of Fiala to join forces with Panarin, should provide the attack with more punch. Part of that equation is extending playmaking blueliner Brandt Clarke, which shouldn’t be a problem now that Kopitar’s cap hit of $7 million is removed and the ceiling increased significantly.

Of note: The Kings are among the leading teams in the conference who favor North American draft prospects. In the last five years, nearly 60 percent of their 29 picks came from the OHL (10) and USHL (6) alone, while less than 27 percent of the total came from Europe.

Draft outlook: The Kings head to the draft table armed with an organizational stockpile unseen since their rebuilding days from the previous decade. For the first time since the lockout, they will hold at least one selection in all seven rounds — boasting nine picks in total — including their own first-rounder at 17th overall and a pair of second-rounders via Columbus (46th) and theirs (49th). These assets are welcome luxury for a front office that has made only 29 picks since 2021 — a bottom-third total in the NHL which has left the pipeline lean in high-end volume. This is particularly noticeable along the flanks where the Kings have drafted a mere seven wingers over that five-year span, and included in that total is 2024 first-rounder Liam Greentree, who was shipped to the Rangers in the Panarin deal.

Fortunately, these developments did not stop their current crop of prospects from turning the AHL’s Ontario Reign into an absolute powerhouse. The minor-league affiliate marched to a spectacular 47-20-5 record last season, fueled heavily by home-grown talent drafted since 2020. Leading scorer Martin Chromiak, alongside key forward contributors Kenny Connors, Francesco Pinelli, and Jared Wright, provided consistent scoring.

Prospect development is even more pronounced in goal, where Los Angeles has quietly accumulated some of the best depth in hockey. While mature neophytes like Hampton Slukynsky, Carter George, and Finnish standout Petteri Rimpinen continue to marinate, towering Swede Erik Portillo turned in a spectacular 18-7-3 effort in his this season with Ontario, recording a .907 save percentage while splitting duties with veteran Pheonix Copley.

Still, maintaining this competitive environment requires a return to the draft-day volume of the Kimgs’ 2019 and 2020 cycles, when the front office routinely walked away with nine or more selections. By holding multiple picks in the top 50 for the first time in years, GM Ken Holland and scouting director Mark Yanetti have a prime opportunity to insulate their existing pipeline with elite, top-tier talent.

Positional needs: Upgrading the pipeline’s forward ranks should become an explicit, urgent priority following the loss of Greentree, who was considered by some to be their top prospect. If Kings’ scouts are to fill the void created and then some, it bears mentioning that nearly 70 percent of their picks since 2021 came from three specific sources — the OHL, the USHL, and Finland. With the Finns boasting their strongest and deepest international class in recent memory, the Kings in the both the first and second rounds are uniquely positioned to target their high-end talent like massive, three-zone center Oliver Suvanto or nimble power winger Oscar Hemming, with the latter playing a similar style to Greentree.

If there is a missing element to the current framework outside of the top-six forward ranks, it lies on the blue line. While the organization once boasted a steady stream of dynamic, creative power-play quarterbacks, that specialist surplus has mostly dried up following Clarke’s NHL graduation. Clarke remains a foundational pillar, but he was drafted five years ago, and a long-term contingency plan is sorely needed. The current crop of defensemen solidifying Ontario’s roster are mostly cut from a traditional cloth, as in, they’re known more for rigid, structurally sound positional play and holding the line than for high-end transition creativity.

While this stay-at-home archetype perfectly mirrors the defensive identity the Kings employ at the NHL level, adding a dedicated skill and puck-moving component at this year’s draft would provide a necessary, dynamic wrinkle to what most would consider a predictable, albeit necessary group. Relying solely on rugged, assignment-sound defenders limits the team’s ability to transition quickly out of their own zone and generate offense from the point. In this particular draft, Yanetti and staff shouldn’t have a hard time finding multiple defensemen who can handle heavy matchups below the dots but still possess the hockey sense and vision to quarterback a secondary power-play unit.

Thinking out loud: Los Angeles is one of several teams in the league impaled on the horns of dilemma. Much like Nashville and Boston, the Kings as an organization appear just as close to the bottom as they are to the top, which isn’t supposed to be some hand-waving definition of mediocrity. Instead, it means the Kings are almost there but could crash if they go about it the wrong way.

The first and easiest question to answer is whether the current roster is up for the challenge. Without much debate, the Kings have a talented lineup. They are, as Holland put it, among the elite defensive teams and have been for some time. That in itself can serve as an instant pivot point toward greatness, even if only for a season or two. Second, they now own three of the game’s top wingers — Panarin, Fiala, and Adrian Kempe — and all are capable of reaching the 30-goal, 70-point marks next season and beyond. In goal, they have four of the top 20 prospects at the position to push the formidable tandem of Anton Forsberg and Darcy Kuemper. And for the first time since Darryl Sutter, the Kings will be under the leadership of veteran, Cup-winning coach in Laviolette, who has his share of shortcomings but is a notorious problem-solver within his first two years of taking over.

The biggest sticking point for now is at center, but Holland can rectify this beyond the hopes that Quinton Byfield surges as Kopitar’s heir apparent. The Kings will have the combination of cap space and an attractive draft haul to avoid overspending during a summer free agency period that presents mostly lukewarm options. The added benefit, however, is the aforementioned goalie crop, which can become more problematic than valuable if the Kings are unable to identify the cream of the crop within a reasonable timeframe.

One thing that is certain is that the contractual value of veteran defenseman Drew Doughty will no longer take an $11 million bite out of the salary cap after this season. The 36-year-old rearguard is in the last year of his contract and has a seven-team no-trade list, but it’s guaranteed that his desire to remain with his only organization will have to come at a reduced price.

Bottom line: The aging Kings have every reason to be concerned with the rising competitive levels within the division and conference, but they appear both prepared and resolved to dictate next year’s results. Armed with a deep draft class and solid prospects in goal, the future in Los Angeles is by no means bleak.

Record: 43-27-12, 98 points (11th overall) | Draft position: 21st overall

2026 picks: 1st (PHI) | 2nd (PHI) | 3rd (PHI) | 6th (PHI) | 7th (PHI)

Key dates: Scouting Combine (May 31-June 6) | NHL Draft (June 26-27)

Situation: A deliberate rebuild that produced profound changes in team identity and resilience three seasons ago took a significant leap forward thanks to critical offseason acquisitions by GM Daniel Briere and the contributions of homegrown talent. The cumulative result was a successful 98-point effort that enabled the Flyers to clinch their first playoff berth since 2020 and later dump in-state rival Pittsburgh in the opening round.

Although the Flyers would be outclassed in a humbling sweep at the hands of Stanley Cup-bound Carolina in the conference semifinals, the prevailing theme of Philadelphia’s emergence was youth — specifically, the stretch run and playoff contributions from 22-and-under wingers Porter Martone, Matvei Michkov, Alex Bump, and Denver Barkey. Chemistry with Flyers centers seemed instantaneous, which is another notch on Briere’s belt for aggressively targeting the need for quality pivots. By season’s end, Christian Dvorak proved to be one of the previous summer’s top free agent signings, while dynamic setup man Trevor Zegras — stolen from Anaheim for checking center Ryan Poehling — provided scoring punch and versatility from the middle or the flank.

But the true hero of Philadelphia’s memorable campaign was goalie Daniel Vladar, a former backup in Calgary whom Briere acquired on the cheap last July. Vladar delivered Vezina-caliber play as the primary starter and — luckily for the organization — has one year left on his deal. It remains to be seen if Vladar was merely riding a wave of momentum in his first foray as a primary within the NHL pressure cooker. But the stability he provided over a full season was a welcome change for an organization that finished dead last in raw save percentage one year earlier.

The obvious question heading into the upcoming free-agency period is how serious Briere and his staff are about taking an even greater leap in 2027. The Flyers, like most of their closest competitors, will have the benefit of a salary cap increase but the limitation of one of the weaker free-agent classes in the post-lockout era. Where the differences begin lies within Philadelphia’s pipeline and Briere’s ability to reinforce it with skill and positional diversity. Although there are several teams within the conference that had better seasons using stronger homegrown lineups and can exploit a blue-chip-laden reserve if necessary (Carolina, Buffalo, and Montreal, et al.) the Flyers appear close to joining them for the long haul.

Patience, however, continues to be emphasized by Briere whenever he is asked about his plans for the future. In terms of cap space, the Flyers have close to $70 million committed to 2026-27 with only two critical restricted free agents — Zegras and top-four defenseman Jamie Drysdale — and a handful of support players who shouldn’t expect overly generous raises. Once his housekeeping is complete, Briere is expected to have at least $20 million to conduct additional offseason affairs, which — when combined with his team’s concerning power-play struggles and the luxury of a deep pipeline — present him with the opportunity for either hockey trades or win-now blockbusters involving picks and prospects.

Again, that is only if he is unsure of his current team’s ability to advance at least one step further, or, if the prospects pushing for jobs require another season in the AHL. All in all, these are good problems to have for a team that just snapped a lengthy playoff drought.

Of note: Should Martone, who went sixth overall last year, achieve 20 goals and 50 points in his rookie season, Philadelphia will become the lone NHL franchise to draft three players reaching those scoring benchmarks within a four-year window, joining Cutter Gauthier (2022 draft) and Michkov (2023). If extended back to the 2020 and the drafting of Tyson Foerster, the Flyers will have secured a future 20-goal winger in four of six drafts, with all achieving the milestone prior to their 23rd birthdays.

Draft outlook: This new and improved version of Flyers management has fallen in line with the rest of the league’s rebuilders by weaponizing draft picks on a systematic scale. Naturally, the overarching aim is to reshape the organization for long-term competitiveness, but this year’s sparse allotment — only five picks in total — will test Briere’s war room savvy when the NHL convenes for the draft. The fact that the Flyers made the playoffs somewhat unexpectedly could influence how their scouts operate, especially after last year;s draft focused almost entire on size over skill.

This year’s allotment will be the leanest it’s been since 2020, when the Flyers were last considered a well-constructed contender. The good news is that they were able to retain each of their first three picks (their own), which currently slot at 21st, 53rd, and 85th overall. But Briere’s practices during his time in Philadelphia are mostly defined by transactional volume. At each of the past three drafts, the Flyers have aggressively altered its positioning through sequential trades. In 2023, Briere surrendered a later-round asset to pivot forward three spots and secure goalie Carson Bjarnason in the middle of the second round.

The following year, he engineered a minor retreat from 12th overall, yielding slick defenseman Zeev Buium to Minnesota in exchange for center Jett Luchanko and a third-rounder that was ultimately parlayed into righty blueliner Spencer Gill. That same day, Briere dealt his late first-rounder (from Florida in the Claude Giroux trade) to Edmonton for a top-12 protected pick in 2025, which one year later was paired with another 2025 first (22nd overall from Los Angeles for Sean Walker) to move up 10 spots to 12 and take center Jack Nesbitt.

This shake-and-bake draft strategy can read like overkill, and the jury remains out on whether any of Briere’s moves involving spare first-rounders will pay off. Nonetheless, the Flyers have room for error since they are tied for the 10th-most picks since 2021 — a span that includes 18 within the first three rounds. Two were home runs that graduated to full-time NHL roles, and both arrived via top-10 pedigree — Gauthier in 2022 and Michkov a year later, although Gauthier quickly forced a trade to Anaheim for Drysdale.

The organization’s scouting parameters appear somewhat rigid and predictable. For starters, they rarely target overagers, as 90% of their picks since 2021 have been first-year eligible players. Conversely, management has maintained a distinct positional partiality, selecting 14 wingers compared to eight natural centers and an obvious requirement for right-shot defenders.

Fast forward to 2026, and Philadelphia’s pipeline has a nearly a two to one advantage in right-shot defensemen over the left side and each of the last seven defenders they drafted were righties. The last lefty blueliner selected by the Flyers was 2022 sixth-rounder Hunter MacDonald, a regular with their AHL affiliate in Lehigh Valley who made his NHL debut last season. Safe to say the Flyers heading into the 2026 draft are quite happy with their reserve depth on their right side.

Although a hasty analysis of their prospect depth chart can help map out their most likely course of action on draft day, the truth is they are willing to overlook critical needs for what they consider to be a best player available. Case in point — operating the worst power play in the league for several years running yet passing on the quarterback Buium and his insane NCAA production for a garden-variety OHL setup man in Luchanko.

To be fair, this method worked to their advantage last year, as taking Luchanko in 2024 allowed them in 2025 to pass on superior setup men like James Hagens and Jake O’Brien and take the skilled power winger in Martone, who thus far has been a godsend. The Flyers certainly weren’t devoid of right-shot scoring wings when they took Martone, but there’s a solid chance he becomes the best of a talented group.

While their nearest-term draft volume is somewhat limited for now, the Flyers’ future draft options remain optimal, as they own a full compliment for the next three years, sans an extra third in 2027 over trading their own sixth. The main prize revolves strictly around the upcoming placement of the Toronto Maple Leafs, who via the Scott Laughton trade executed two deadlines ago relinquished a top-10 protected pick in 2027 that becomes unprotected in 2028. And for those keeping score at home, Leafs’ franchise center Auston Matthews becomes an unrestricted free agent after the 2027-28 season.

Lastly, Flyers scouts have opted against expanding their goalie inventory since making top-96 picks out of Bjarnason and standout Yegor Zavragin in 2023 — the only netminders they’ve drafted from their last 36 picks.

Positional needs: Incrementally-balanced draft classes have been a hallmark of Briere’s early tenure as GM and the Flyers’ pipeline is generally healthy at each position, with the obvious exception being the top-heavy state of goaltending.

Securing multiple first-round picks in two of the last three drafts has helped, but If there is one area to nitpick from a skater standpoint, it’s the lack a pure playmaker on defense, which in retrospect could have been addressed instead of obsessing over the right side in both 2024 and 2025 and it’s mostly nondescript collection of long-term projects. With all due respected to the talented and mature Oliver Bonk, or recent editions like Chrisitan Kyrou and reclamation project David Jiricek, the Flyers need to develop a real “offenseman” from the back end. By the way, all three I just mentioned are righties.

Another reality facing the Flyers in the upcoming draft is the overabundance of scoring wings, which ties into the fact that Philadelphia’s rebuild most half passive and Briere never fully deconstructed the roster during their recent downturn. The result is a surplus of scoring wings, who as fun as they can be have done diddly-squat in fixing the worst power play in franchise history.

All that said, this year’s approach should be three-fold: one, take the undisputed best player at 21 but avoid the wing since this year’s first round is wide open after the first seven or eight picks. Two, address the PPQB situation — Axel Elofsson, A.J. Francisco, Samu Alalauri, Jakub Vanecek, whatever. Three, draft a goalie just to play it safe.

Thinking out loud: This was an impressive bounce-back effort from the Flyers, but it is too early to be fully convinced. Head coach Rick Tocchet has a long history of team regression in the season following a playoff berth. It occurred with Arizona in 2021 and again with Vancouver in 2025. For all the discourse surrounding his tactical impact this season, it is more likely the Flyers engineered their turnaround by adding, I don’t know, a starting goaltender, a top-six center, and a top-six scoring winger? I know, crazy right?

Tocchet clearly has a some sort of collaborative relationship with the media beyond the pre-and post-game stuff, which frequently defends his personnel decisions even if that means alienating the fan base. Yet wins and losses are the sole currency that matters to Philadelphia’s demanding fans, so even a favorite from the Mike Keenan era like Tocchet will not survive long if the Flyers fail to return to the postseason like his previous two stints elsewhere.

This is where Briere must step in to ensure an organizational fracture does not implode a third franchise. A pragmatic approach would dictate roster stability for one more season, regardless of age, position, or contract status. The media narratives are annoying and became problematic the moment the Flyers were eliminated, as the usual suspects immediately pivoted to Tocchet’s defense by targeting specific players instead of objectively assessing the collective success of a roster — one that overachieved in the opening round and had no business competing with the Carolina, let alone beat them, in Round 2.

All that said, I think there are four distinct theories regarding this sudden organizational tension, listed in no particular order:

1. Addition by subtraction: Tocchet thinks Michkov is a problem and wants him gone, so he’s using the media to fan the flames. Extending Michkov is a worst-case scenario since it would drag on for years until the coach is forced out, so Tocchet sells the idea that two of Martone, Bump, and Barkey will help the Flyers improve and that Michkov is redundant, which in turn could make Tocchet look like a genius and that the fans will eventually come around to accept picks, cap space, and winning instead of Michkov.

2. Selling high: Briere has a winger surplus and the whole league knows it. There are several teams desperate for offense (Seattle, Los Angeles, Winnipeg come to mind). Those teams should be willing to overpay for an established scorer, so he allows Tocchet and the media to create the narrative that Michkov is problematic and might be on the way out. Said desperate teams think they can fix any perceived issues so he isn’t devalued despite media circus. Analytics team are fully on board — Michkov after two full seasons ranks fourth in the league in points-per-60 at 5-on-5 among the 23-and-under crowd who average at least 12 minutes per contest. Plus he’s out of the conference.

3. Motivation by humiliation: Briere allows Tocchet to use the media to target Michkov to get him into better shape for next season. His shortcomings as a player are broadcast to the hockey world throughout the offseason, meaning Michkov is hearing it from the staff from behind closed doors and again during his alone time and doom scrolling. Michkov comes to camp in great shape, has a great season, and all is right in the world.

4. Carnival Tent Theory: Michkov means clicks. He is an SEO cash cow and offseason engagement involving the Flyers is stagnant without him. Printing niceties regarding Michkov does nothing for a checking account compared to the desperate act of rage-baiting fans with the new-age playbook of reporting what could happen instead of what actually did. That’s why Michkov’s elite 5v5/60 production is buried but speculation that he’s problematic is not.

Bottom line: The Flyers emerged from a passive rebuild with vigor and now boast organization-wide depth that allows them to pivot toward the league's elite. Whether Briere accelerates that timeline as early as this offseason will soon become clear, but the reality remains — the recovery process requires one more season of calculated restraint before Philadelphia can safely declare total victory in its opening phase.

Record: 46-24-12, 104 points (7th overall) | Draft position: 24th overall

2026 picks: 3rd (MIN) | 4th (MIN) | 5th (SJS), 5th (MIN) | 6th (MIN)

Key dates: Scouting Combine (May 31-June 6) | Draft (June 26-27)

Situation: It was right before Halloween when the slumping Wild found themselves drifting in the Central Division following a fourth straight home loss that sank them well behind the teams they had been chasing for years. A housekeeping-heavy offseason that saw limited change to the lineup added to the frustration, especially after Minnesota received nearly $15 million in freed-up cap space following the well-publicized Zach Parise and Ryan Suter buyouts.

But GM Bill Guerin had a strategic plan that shocked the hockey world and ultimately elevated the Wild into the elite tier of championship contenders. As the Wild rebounded thanks to a torrid November stretch, Guerin pulled the trigger on a blockbuster deal in December, acquiring All-Star defenseman Quinn Hughes from Vancouver for the most substantial prospect return in post-lockout history. By adding a star without needing to subtract one, Minnesota boasted a lineup that could rival any in the conference. The result was a 46-win, 104-point effort and a takedown of the powerful Dallas Stars in the opening round.

Yet, the Wild weren’t as stout defensively as their fourth-ranked 2.87 goals-against average would indicate. They were no better than average in most possession numbers and downright awful among playoff teams in limiting shot attempts and scoring chances at 5-on-5 during the regular season. This shortcoming undoubtedly proved fatal in their five-game elimination by Colorado, which heavily out-chanced the Wild in the final three games and scored nearly five goals a contest. Trying to expose this shortcoming to head coach John Hynes, however, wasn’t met with agreement, as his belief following the series was that the Wild were in fact a great defensive team.

Regardless of opinions on systems and tactics, the Minnesota blue line moving forward does have a personnel problem beyond the elite top pairing of the playmaker Hughes and two-way standout Brock Faber. Team captain Jared Spurgeon will be 36 early next season, while tenured but oft-injured blueliner Jonas Brodin turns 33 next month, and both count for nearly $14 million against the salary cap.

All signs point toward Guerin continuing his aggressive roster building after delivering on his promise that the Wild would advance in the playoffs — something that, before this season, had not happened since 2015. Armed with an enviable core of game-breaking talent and a handful of valuable trade chips, the Wild are expected to dominate the summer as one of the league’s top buyers.

Of course, that likely won’t be the case in terms of draft capital, as the Wild have seen the quality and depth of their pipeline steadily decline due to Guerin’s robust desire to make his club a legitimate contender for Western Conference supremacy. If rumors are true, a further degradation is in the offing, specifically from Minnesota’s interest in acquiring an established top-six center.

Of note: The Wild have drafted 11 WHL prospects since 2021, tying them with Anaheim for the most in that span. In fact, Minnesota has taken at least one WHL’er in every draft since 2016, although the last time they used a first-round pick on a WHL prospect was 2012, when they took Red Deer’s Matt Dumba at seventh overall.

2026 draft outlook: Minnesota enters the draft facing the historical squeeze of no top-64 picks for the first time since 2017 and back-to-back years without a first-rounder for the first time ever. Taking it a step further is the size of the actual haul — as of today, the five selections the Wild currently own will make it twice in two years with five or less, which last happened in 2007 (five picks) and 2008 (four). Naturally, this hinderance is par for the course within the realm of Stanley Cup contention, which further proves how serious the Wild are about bringing a championship to the State of Hockey.

But this lack of draft capital arrives immediately after Guerin and his player development staff executed a partial purge of the farm system, deleting eight prospects from the organizational rolls. This typical structural housecleaning does not even account for the massive premium paid to acquire Hughes in a blockbuster transaction that cost Minnesota the rights to elite young talents Zeev Buium (12th overall in 2024) and Liam Ohgren (19th overall in 2022), plus 23-year-old center Marco Rossi, a top-10 pick in 2020. The roster pruning has amplified pressure on the remaining farm hands, yet the AHL affiliate in Iowa continues to stall out as one of the circuit’s least successful operations, at least in the standings.

Another consideration is that Iowa just endured a third consecutive losing season and had its third head coach in as many years. In a bizarre twist, the Baby Wild finished with near-identical, sub-.500 records across each of those three campaigns -- posting matching 27-37-8 marks before sputtering to a 27-36-9 finish in 2025-26. Not as concerning but visibly obvious is the dwindling impact of its own home-grown talent — two seasons ago, six of Iowa’s top 11 scorers were Minnesota draft picks under the age of 22. That number dipped to just four this past season, and none eclipsed the reasonable 40-point mark.

Part of turning around this organizational depth problem will require a philosophical pivot, particularly in the crease. Minnesota has been notoriously stingy when it comes to prioritizing goaltenders, drafting only two over the last five years. While blue-chipper Jesper Wallstedt has successfully graduated to the NHL, the Wild’s only other draft-day investment between the pipes since 2021 has been 2024 fifth-rounder Chase Wutzke, made his professional debut late last season. Two lower-level undrafted signees — Samuel Hlavaj and Riley Mercer — are likely to swap out in terms of usage in Iowa, with Hlavaj expected to sign elsewhere, but that still leaves the unsigned reserve pool completely devoid of actual bodies, let alone a quality prospect from the draft.

Positional needs: If you were to construct a revised prospect nucleus for the Wild in an attempt to determine its center of gravity, you’d notice they have a significant skill component at center ice above all else. After graduating (and then trading) Rossi and promoting 2022 first-rounder Daniila Yurov, the updated blueprint should now include diminutive playmakers Adam Benak, Riley Heidt, and Hunter Haight. Snatched in the fourth round in 2025, Benak exploded for a gaudy 1.60 points-per-game average during his rookie OHL season with contending Brantford, while Heidt and Haight were two of Iowa’s most reliable setup men and power-play facilitators. Even 2023 first-rounder Charlie Stramel, though cast in a much bigger, heavy-bodied frame, has proven more than capable of creating offense as a key cog for Michigan State.

Thing is, the rumor mill surrounding the Wild and Guerin’s desire for a top-six center likely means one of the aforementioned prospects will be included. Stramel is the obvious choice for his draft pedigree, physical maturity, and production as an upperclassman on a national powerhouse. Although you’re not guaranteed to replace him in the pipeline with a late third-rounder or lower, that type of reactionary drafting would be more than justified.

Three names who come to mind as potential fits if Stramel is moved are Jakub Frolo, Beckham Edwards, and Lavr Gashilov. Frolo is a skilled big man who was more than versatile for Ilves U20 in Finland’s SM-Sarja, and he even got a decent look with the A-team. Edwards is possession-driver for Sarnia in the OHL who had with solid showings on the international stage, and Gashilov is a pure pass-first type with sublime vision who has good length and doesn’t mind mixing it up.

With formidable down-the-middle depth and the bonus of a natural skill component, — the Wild would also be wise to target wingers with natural finishing ability; not only to replace the departed Ohgren, but also to complement the aforementioned pass-first pivots currently accumulating in Iowa.

The blue line is a mixed bag since it offers AHL-tempered options but none are to be considered potential deal-breakers. Granted, the Wild received a shot of optimism from overseas, where once-highly-touted Finnish defenseman Aron Kiviharju appears fully recovered from his knee injuries by completing his second full SM-Liiga season for HIFK. The 2024 fourth-rounder has reestablished himself as a natural playmaker from the back end — a talent tailored to quarterback Iowa’s top power-play unit the moment he crosses the Atlantic. He joins right-shot Czech import David Spacek, a 2022 late-round flyer who has quietly led all Iowa defensemen in scoring in each of the last two seasons.

While trading Buium undeniably robbed the pipeline of an elite, blue-chip offensive threat, that loss becomes a moot point if the front office can convince the 26-year-old Hughes to sign a long-term extension. Guerin has tried to insulate the depth chart by signing undrafted free agent (and former Edina standout) Ben Dexheimer after a four-year run at Wisconsin. Yet, while Dexheimer, Spacek, and Kiviharju provide solid prospect-level contingencies as puck-rushers, the organization’s inventory of premier, shutdown defensive specialists remains incredibly shallow, which mostly explains the signing of 6-foot-6 free agent Viking Gustavsson-Nyberg out of UConn.

As such, the Wild’s structural shopping list heading into the draft appears obvious. Addressing the depth in the crease is the organization’s most critical long-term requirement, while grabbing a high-end finisher on the wing also jives since it cashes in on their wealth of playmaking centers.

Thinking out loud: Without sounding too much like a boor, it’s safe to say that Guerin’s got a set on him. From the twin buyouts of Suter and Parise to the Kaprizov extension to the Hughes blockbuster, Minnesota’s GM has played the part of a pre-cap-era gunslinger to perfection, and all while operating in today’s analytics-driven hockey world. Granted, it took him a while to secure a single playoff series victory, but the way I see it, playing the long game with his salary cap structure has proven to be incredibly beneficial for the overall health and reputation of his franchise, which sits in one of the most passionate markets on the continent.

Of course, the job is far from finished, and I wonder if the price he paid to land Hughes will one day lead to his downfall, albeit from a worst-case scenario where the star defenseman doesn’t extend after this season while the players he shipped to Vancouver become household names for the right reasons.

No matter how often Guerin reminds the public that the Wild are only contending for the Stanley Cup, the depletion of his pipeline over the past 24 months has been profound. Although Minnesota was in the business of plussing-up higher-round picks between 2019 and 2023, the win-now edict has reduced their options for homegrown help. One way to look at this is exploiting the results of seasons-long internal competitions among the prospects, where, for lack of a better term, only the strong survived. Additionally, there were few criticisms of how the Wild were drafting and developing before the Hughes trade, and most before the blockbuster would have considered Minnesota’s overall system to be quite strong.

Still, this year will mark the second consecutive draft without a first-round pick and their AHL affiliate in Iowa has been among the league’s worst teams in each of the last three seasons. Another small reason for concern is for those of the opinion that later-round draft picks can be just as valuable as long as the right people are making the final call. For all the talk in recent years about how well the Wild have done at the top end of the draft, a gap has now emerged in terms of drafting and developing middle-round prospects and turning them into full-time NHL’ers. Between 2009 and 2018, the Wild unearthed eight NHL regulars from the third round or later, including Kirill Kaprizov. Everything since, however, has yielded a big fat zero, although there is plenty of time for the recent classes to wrap up with college or Europe and make it as late bloomers.

Food for thought, I know. But that shouldn’t detract from the work scouting director Judd Bracket and his staff have done in recent years. Rather, it’s part of the equation when competing for a Cup — wouldn’t it be nice to have your depth problems solved by a former fifth-rounder on an ELC, or the prospect you had to fork over for a critical deadline deal just happened to be a fourth-round pick that surged up the depth chart? Again, this isn’t to say that it won’t happen again, but it hasn’t happened in some time.

Bottom line: The Wild are dead serious about bringing a championship to Minnesota, and they still possess the assets to bolster their lineup, even if their 2026 draft haul yields no usable capital beyond the add-in category.

Record: 41-30-11, 93 points (6th overall) | Draft Position: 20th overall

2026 picks: 2nd (EDM) | 3rd (EDM) | 6th (EDM) | 7th (EDM)

Key dates: Scouting Combine (May 31-June 6) | Draft (June 26-27)

Situation: The Oilers entered the season having earned the right to be considered Western Conference royalty, but it didn’t take long for them to regress toward mediocrity. After reaching consecutive Stanley Cup Finals, Edmonton’s favorite sons seemed stuck in neutral for most of the regular season — and even a desperate move to address issues in goal couldn’t prevent the Oilers from recording their lowest points percentage in eight years. It was therefore far from surprising when Edmonton was dispatched in six games by the upstart Anaheim Ducks in the first round of the playoffs.

The fallout from a mostly agonizing campaign was profound. Head coach Kris Knoblauch was fired within two weeks of his club being eliminated, and reports soon thereafter indicated an interest in hiring the exiled Mike Babcock as his replacement. Whoever assumes control behind the Oilers bench will have little to worry about on the scoring front, as the tandem of Connor McDavid (league-best 138 points) and Leon Draisaitl (97 points in 65 games) paced the second-best offense in the conference and orchestrated the league’s top power play. Career seasons from the likes of defenseman Evan Bouchard (95 points), as well as younger forwards Vasily Podkolzin and Matthew Savoie, offered reassurance that the Oilers could develop an effective support system around their two offensive stars.

Nonetheless, depth scoring in the playoffs proved to be ineffective while a silenced McDavid fought through a foot injury, but the bigger problem facing much-maligned general manager Stan Bowman is on the goaltending front, where Edmonton leaked goals-against at an alarming rate while using four different goalies. This shortcoming proved damaging early in the campaign, and Bowman’s attempt to rectify it via a midseason trade saw him swap out the enigmatic Stuart Skinner for the equally inconsistent Tristan Jarry — a notorious playoff underachiever with the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Ironically, Jarry was injured soon after arriving and subsequently lost his starter’s job to reclamation project Connor Ingram, who was acquired by Bowman at the start of the season after being cut by the Utah Mammoth. None of these moves worked, and by season’s end the Oilers were owners of the league’s worst 5-on-5 save percentage.

But above all the issues that stymied progress in Edmonton, none are as paramount as keeping McDavid not only happy, but in a blue-and-orange uniform for the long term. It goes without saying that most NHL teams are expected to consider this offseason as consequential to accumulate cap space to make a run at the game’s premier forward, who is slated to become an unrestricted free agent after the 2027-28 season.

Of note: Prior to 2023, the Oilers had been without a first-round pick only once in franchise history — in 2006, when they sent it to Minnesota for goaltender Dwayne Roloson. They later traded it in 2023, 2025, and again in 2026.

Draft Outlook: The Oilers have operated with a bare-cupboard approach to the draft since 2021, accumulating a mere 25 picks to tie for 28th in the NHL in that span. More telling is that only seven of those selections were made within the first three rounds — the third-fewest in the league. Little is expected to move the needle on that front this summer, as Bowman holds just four picks in 2026, which are Edmonton’s own second-rounder, plus a third, sixth, and seventh. Barring any late trades, this will mark the fourth time in five years the Oilers possess five picks or fewer and the third time in four years without a first-rounder — an unprecedented drought in franchise history.

Unsurprisingly, this draft-weekend shortcoming has yielded virtually zero immediate help for the parent club. None of Edmonton’s draft picks since 2021 have played a full NHL season, combining for a grand total of only 55 NHL games played — 47 of which belong to power forward Reid Schaefer, who did so for Nashville after he was moved to the Predators in the Mattias Ekholm trade.

To Bowman’s credit, there appears to be a concerted effort to add youth and high-end skill to the organization. It is an undertaking obviously constrained by a championship window that remains wide open during the prime years of the McDavid-Draisaitl duo. Still, a lack of significant draft capital has not stopped Edmonton scouts from making the right personnel decisions by other means, pivoting hard to indirect approaches to keep their AHL affiliate in Bakersfield competitive.

This strategy has leaned heavily on free agency, and one of the highlights is former Boston University standout Quinn Hutson. The rookie winger led the Condors with 30 goals as an AHL rookie and even notched his first NHL goal during a brief four-game cameo with the Oilers. Also providing a spark in Bakersfield was Finnish waterbug Viljami Marjala — a former Buffalo Sabres draft pick whose rights were relinquished, allowing Edmonton to scoop him up on an entry-level deal. The shrewd acquisition paid immediate dividends, with Marjala helping pace Bakersfield’s offense.

The forward ranks received another massive injection of punch via the trade market in former Michigan State sniper Isaac Howard. A 2022 first-round pick of Tampa Bay, the shifty Wisconsin native was acquired in a trade that cost the Oilers 2024 first-rounder Sam O’Reilly. Howard made an immediate impact, averaging over a point per game in both the AHL regular season and playoffs before earning a 29-game stint with the big club.

Positional needs: Whether it is by design or mere positional coincidence, the selections Edmonton made over the perfectly five drafts are perfectly symmetrical from a skater standpoint — seven centers, seven wingers, and seven defensemen. Up front, they have found late-round value in recent drafts, with speedy center Tommy Lafreniere (83rd overall last year) and power forward David Lewandowski (117th) each turning in impressive seasons in the WHL and are expected to join Bakersfield for full-time playoff duty late next season.

One obvious blemish on Edmonton’s farm system at the AHL level is in goal. Bakersfield relied on three netminders well north of prospect age this past season, leaving 24-year-old Connor Ungar as the lone AHL option despite lacking reassuring long-term potential. Quite frankly, Ungar is on the shorter side for the position and did not make his AHL debut until this season, albeit a successful one as a backup.

To combat this, Edmonton has targeted a goaltender in each of the last four drafts, even if none have been tempered in the AHL quite yet. Samuel Jonsson, a 6-foot-5 netminder out of Sweden, made a booming North American debut, albeit in the lesser ECHL, where he posted a 21-8-2 mark with a .910 save percentage. He formed one of the league’s top rookie duos alongside 2023 sixth-rounder Nathaniel Day, who went 22-9-8 with a 2.76 goals-against average. Both are under contract until 2028, and at least one is expected to log minutes in Bakersfield next season.

Meanwhile, in Finland, 2025 sixth-round pick Daniel Salonen played for a strong Lukko Rauma squad in the adult-age SM-Liiga, turning in an impressive 20-7-1 record with a 2.40 goals-against average to further solidify the depth of the crease.

Thinking out loud: I get that Stan Bowman is persona non grata in most hockey circles and understandably so, but I don’t have a problem with some of the moves he’s made since taking over for Ken Holland. For one, the scouting staff has done its job replenishing the pipeline with a new batch of mid-level prospects, only the latest contingent is far more balanced and mature. Although I fully admit I was wrong in overrating the pipeline when it had the likes of Xavier Bourgault, Carter Savoie, and Ty Tullio, this time I feel more confident in the current prospects I mentioned earlier.

The draft situation looks bleak as it should, but there’s an NHL-caliber goalie somewhere in there, and it’s important to avoid the trap of believing everything — absolutely everything — has to revolve around McDavid winning or keeping McDavid happy. Of course, the front office has a responsibility to provide a winning product, but it’s already been proven that a contender can go all-in for a Cup and still operate a functioning and beneficial farm system. That isn’t saying the Oilers are in the same class as Carolina and now Buffalo and Montreal, but I’m quite optimistic that there are a few potential long-tenured NHLers currently in Edmonton’s system.

As far as I’m concerned, the focus of this year’s opening pick for the Oilers — currently at 52nd overall — should be on the defense. Granted, they tried that with Beau Akey (a personal favorite of mine) in the second round in 2023, and so far that hasn’t panned out as anticipated. But in each of their last two classes, the defensemen they grabbed — Albin Sundin, Asher Barnett, and Bauer Berry — were of the positional type rather than natural two-way puck movers who quickly transition but can also hold the line and cause matchup issues below the dots. Perhaps that is what Paul Fischer will develop into, but at 211 pounds, I have a hard time seeing him go end to end well into his late 20s.

Therefore, I have recommendations: If they go for a righty, then one of Giorgios Pantelas, Mans Gudmundsson, and Brek Liske should be there at 52. All should be considered classic puck movers but with length and developing shutdown potential, although Gudmundsson is by far the biggest risk taker and often needs his partner’s help. Still, the upside is quite high for all three. On the left side, the names I’m leaning toward are Alexander Bilecki, who did well in a support role for the Kitchener Rangers as they marched to the Memorial Cup, Nikita Shcherbyakov, and another Swede in Ola Palme. Add any one of these guys, and I’ll be comfortable labeling Edmonton’s defense pipeline as no worse than average.

Bottom line: We’ll soon find out if it’s getting late early in Edmonton, as the Oilers have no choice but to rebound from a disappointing season no matter who their head coach will be on opening night. Help may be on the way from the farm system, but we’re not ready for that just yet.

Record: 48-24-10, 106 points (6th overall) | Draft Position: 28 overall

2026 picks: 1st (MTL) | 2nd (MTL) | 3rd (MTL) | 4th (WIN), 4th (MTL) | 6th (MTL) | 7th (MTL), 7th (CAR)

Key dates: Scouting Combine (May 31-June 6) | Draft (June 26-27)

Situation: All was right in La Belle Province in 2025-26, as the Canadiens built off their previous emergence to solidify themselves as a bona fide Eastern Conference power. This rapid ascension — built primarily through the draft — took exactly five seasons from the roster gutting in 2022 up to now. For the tandem of operations VP Jeff Gorton and general manager Kent Hughes, the process took a little bit less time, as the duo were in-season hires midway through a 2021-22 campaign that became one of the worst in the storied franchise’s history.

After a brief feeling-out process in October, the Canadiens kicked it into high gear right around Thanksgiving and rode that wave all the way to a pair of seven-game victories over two division rivals, before understandably stumbling in four games against top-seeded Carolina in the Eastern Conference Finals. Although their 5-on-5 advanced numbers were more concerning than reassuring or validating, Montreal still ranked in the top 10 in goals scored, power-play efficiency, shooting percentage, and 5-on-5 PDO.

This rejuvenation of Les Habitants — beginning in 2025 with their initial playoff appearance, followed by this season’s deep run — was so pronounced that both the market and the organization now believe a Stanley Cup — yes, an actual championship, trophy, banner, and all — is within reach. Yes, the Canadiens required two seven-game victories to reach the third round, but no, the Habs didn’t struggle to prove themselves against the league’s 15 other postseason qualifiers (going 23-13-5, to be exact). As the old axiom goes, you are what your record says you are, and the Habs were among the best in the business.

Nonetheless, for their Stanley Cup objective to become a reality, both Hughes and Gorton must concern themselves with significant roster considerations — the kind that should consume most of their time over the next 12 months. The salary cap may have risen, but the Canadiens face over a dozen pending free agents over the next two seasons, all of whom participated in the playoffs. Five will be unrestricted, while the key targets of the restricted nature are Rookie-of-the-Year finalist Ivan Demidov, primary starter Jakub Dobes, and postseason hero Alex Newhook. All three are due for substantial pay raises, and the Habs already have close to $94 million committed to next season.

Of note: Leading Montreal’s deadly attack was captain Nick Suzuki, whose 101 points made him the first Canadien to eclipse the 100-point mark since Mats Naslund in the Cup-winning season of 1985-86. Sniper Cole Caufield (51 goals) became the franchise’s first 50-goal scorer since Stephane Richer in 1989-90;, while defenseman Lane Hutson registered 78 points — the most by a Montreal blueliner since Larry Robinson’s 82 points, also in 1985-86.

Draft Outlook: The Canadiens enter this draft tied for second in the NHL with 48 total selections made since 2021 — a massive haul that mirrors competitive franchises whose rebuilds were accelerated. The breakdown reveals a clear front-office strategy — 20 of those picks were used in the first three rounds, while the remaining 28 came from the second half of Day 2, mostly to shore up depth and balance out the depth chart.

Surprisingly, the payoff from this process has been rapid. Five of Montreal’s recent draftees from the last five events have already played at least one full NHL season, tying them for third-most in the league. More impressively, three of those neophytes have already eclipsed the 20-goal mark at least once, while four have notched a 40-point campaign. Last year, Gorton and Hughes made at least nine picks for the fifth consecutive draft. However, the club prioritized a high-upside forward group early before shifting entirely toward defensemen and goaltenders, leaving only three of those nine selections for the attack.

One of the bigger questions surrounding this overcrowded pipeline is simply who will make the cut for the few NHL roster spots they have remaining. Hughes has championed a merit-based system of internal promotion — a philosophy reflected by the eight homegrown players under the age of 26 who populated last year’s playoff roster. That young nucleus included four of Montreal’s top scorers in Lane Hutson, Cole Caufield, Ivan Demidov, and Juraj Slafkovsky.

The success has trickled down to the AHL, where the Laval Rocket posted a 41-win, 91-point regular season with 13 full-time regulars drafted by the Canadiens over the last five years. Eight of those 13 have already earned an NHL promotion, and the talent pool swells further next autumn when skilled setup man Michael Hage — a 2024 first-rounder who finished among the NCAA’s top playmakers — is slated to join the Rocket if he doesn’t crack the big club out of training camp.

While Montreal is not guaranteed to keep its first-round selection (currently sitting at 28th overall), you can bank on management raiding the CHL and Russia once again. Their scouts remain inclined to ignore traditional size biases — a logical stance given that under-5-foot-10 stars Caufield and Hutson were two of the league’s top performers. Late-round fliers on smaller, highly skilled attackers like playmaking pivot L.J. Mooney are becoming increasingly common for them.

Conversely, ff the current pipeline is deemed sufficiently stocked, expect Hughes to be aggressive yet again. Packaging futures to move up or engineering another draft-day blockbuster — identical to last year’s trade that landed top-pair defenseman Noah Dobson for two mid-first-round choices — remains firmly within the realm of possibility.

Positional needs: When assessing where this roster goes next, the organizational depth down the middle is nearly as formidable as their goaltending futures. Montreal has drafted 13 pivots over the last five seasons — a staggering collection that is almost as many as Atlantic Division rivals Ottawa, Florida, and Toronto combined. This crop includes Hage, shutdown specialist Owen Beck, lanky center Hayden Paupanekis and the diminutive Mooney, giving the Canadiens a diverse mix of size, playmaking, and speed through the center position.

The flanks remain heavily insulated by high-upside skill on the left side, headlined by Russian standout Alexander Zharovsky. Montreal has consistently targeted wingers with premium offensive traits in the upper half of their recent draft classes, ensuring the scoring elements remain well-stocked.

On the whole, the Canadiens have proven to be one of the league’s most active shoppers on the overager front, targeting older prospects who can fast-track their way to the pros. Winger Florian Xhekaj — an overage find who made his NHL debut last season — epitomizes this approach. In total, 14 of Montreal’s 48 draft picks since 2021 were taken in their second or third year of eligibility, with half of them sourced directly out of the CHL for depth purposes.

Along the blue line, the numbers show that Montreal has drafted the second-most defense prospects in the league since 2021. Those 17 defensemen are split nearly down the middle by shooting side — nine from the left and eight from the right. The lefty contingent at the parent club level is obviously anchored by Hutson and reinforced by Kaiden Guhle, but up-and-comers from the left side isn’t as deep as it once was thanks to graduations.

Meanwhile, the right side features a potential cornerstone piece in David Reinbacher, the fifth-overall choice in 2023 who made his NHL debut last season. There always will be controversy surrounding the pick for whom the Habs passed on to take him, but they did trade righty Logan Mailloux — a late-first-rounder in 2021 — to St. Louis for forward Zachary Bolduc, thereby making Reinbacher’s path to an opening-night slot (presumably on the bottom pairing) less obstructed. Still, the loss of Mailloux subtracted upside from that right side, which could be reinforced at this year’s draft with a top-64 option like one of Juho Piiparinen or Samu Alalauri, QMJHL playmaker Tommy Bleyl, or stead Slovak Adam Goljer, among several others.

Lastly, no NHL franchise has raided the goaltending market as frequently as Montreal, which grabbed eight netminder prospects in the last five years. While only one has appeared in the NHL — 2023 third-rounder Jacob Fowler, who went an impressive 9-6-2 with a .908 save percentage as Laval’s primary AHL starter — the position is entirely locked down on the prospect front. Expect a complete avoidance of goalies at this year’s podium to prevent a serious logistical logjam within the pipeline, while also ensuring they aren’t simply making picks for the sake of making them.

Thinking out loud: I have no doubt in my mind that the Canadiens have just started their revenge tour and want to stake their rightful claim as the nation’s premier hockey organization, especially now that the Toronto Maple Leafs appear to be yesterday’s news (lottery win notwithstanding). They successfully navigated a notorious danger crossing that frequently hampers young teams, and that is clinching a playoff spot and winning a round or two immediately after ending the rebuild with a just-happy-to-be-here wild-card berth.

While sustaining an extended run of dominance should be difficult, the last think Hughes and Gorton should do is maintain a bearhug on any of their prospects not named Michael Hage, David Reinbacher, or Jacob Fowler. On second thought, I probably should add Alexander Zharovsky to that exclusive list as well

The problem, albeit a good one to have, is that teams have already been rumored to request any one of those three in trade talks with Hughes, who after this season’s performance should not consider himself desperate, regardless of the pressure from the media and fanbase. Patience paid off in a big way for several longstanding rebuilders, so why change now? On the other hand, do the Canadiens have enough quality in the secondary and tertiary tiers of their pipeline, and there are several organizations throughout the league that a) need to bolster their prospect depth and b)have serviceable roster pieces that either need a change of scenery or are getting squeezed out by the cap.

Hughes won’t have the pick of the proverbial litter in that regard — the division and conference are far too competitive and this year’s free agent class is below average at best. The good news is that he has enough quality down on the farm to sweeten deals that competing clubs simply can’t match beyond their unused first-round picks three or four years down the road.

Bottom line: Montreal outran its suspect underlying analytics by riding a potent attack and the goaltending of Dobes. Now comes the hard part, where Hughes and Gorton have to juggle an overflowing pipeline with NHL-ready options, a slew of upcoming free agents, and oh by the way, the pressure of delivering a repeat performance in one of the league’s most demanding markets.

Record: 40-38-4, 84 points (25th overall) | Draft position: 9th overall

2026 picks: 1st (FLA) | 2nd (FLA), 2nd (WAS) | 4th (CHI) | 5th (FLA) | 6th (FLA) | 7th (MIN)

Key dates: Scouting Combine (May 31-June 6) | Draft (June 26-27)

Situation: The two-time defending Stanley Cup champions and the league’s model franchise tried everything they could to overcome long-term injuries to their two leading scorers and the worst goaltending in the conference. But in the end, the sheer weight of those constraints, combined with a much-improved Atlantic Division, couldn’t prevent the Panthers from buckling once play resumed following the Olympics.

And yet for all the roster’s shortcomings without center Aleksander Barkov and power forward Matthew Tkachuk in the lineup, the Cats remained a formidable adversary for three-quarters of the season despite the surge in competitiveness from hungrier, healthier squads. But it was shortly before the trade deadline when general manager Bill Zito opted to leave his team’s slim playoff hopes to chance. The resulting finish was disappointing, as the Panthers went 10-13-1 over the final month and a half in relinquishing their title as the league’s preeminent organization.

Although the injury excuse is a valid one — Florida lost a league-high 540-plus man-games in 2025-26 — one could only wonder how different the season would have turned out had they simply received average goaltending from perennial starter Sergei Bobrovsky, let alone Vezina-caliber play. In one of the bigger single-season statistical regressions from any goalie in the most recent campaign, the 37-year-old netminder saw his goals saved above average (GSAA) at 5-on-5 drop from +8.60 in 2025 to -17.07, and in the final year of his contract, no less. The goals against came in bunches, too — Florida surrendered five goals or more 23 times compared to 21 combined between 2024 and 2025. With free agency less than a month away, it is believed the Panthers will only entertain a return at a discounted price from his previous $10 million cap hit.

If Bobrovsky does in fact go to market, the hole he leaves behind will be significant, his 2026 struggles notwithstanding. For one, Hall of Fame-bound goalies tend to recover from career-worst seasons, which in Florida’s case likely means a return to the postseason at a minimum. However, the organization’s ability to benefit from cheap reclamation projects shouldn’t be limited to the skater ranks. Backup Daniil Tarasov performed admirably in the second half without the benefit of Florida’s complete lineup, and in the AHL, undrafted signee Cooper Black steered the Charlotte Checkers to a winning season as their undisputed primary. If Zito and his staff aren’t ready to hand the starter’s role to an unproven commodity or give in to Bobrovsky’s demands, a trade for an established starter with relative youth and more contract flexibility can be accomplished without setting the organization back.

Of note: Florida has made only six picks within the first three rounds in the previous five drafts combined and none in the first round since 2021. The Panthers in that same span have taken as many goalies as centers (five).

Draft outlook: Panthers’ scouts have types and those types generally come from four places, as nearly 80 percent of their picks since 2021 have been concentrated across just four amateur circuits — Russia, Sweden, the OHL, and the WHL. It is a highly focused talent pool, with the Swedish pipeline proving particularly active. When Florida selected Frolunda J20’s Mads Klyvo at 112th overall and Djurgardens J20’s Arvid Drott at 192nd at last year’s draft, it marked the fourth consecutive year in which the Panthers grabbed at least two prospects from Sweden.

Drott, in particular, spent his spring validating that regional scouting preference. He was a key piece behind Djurgardens J20 capturing the Nationell championship, helping his squad brush off a tough first-round matchup against MoDo J20 before completely dismantling the rest of the field. His tournament culminated in a sweep of a best-of-five final against Klyvo and Frolunda J20, so it’s safe to say Panthers scouts are well aware of Sweden’s vaunted 2008 birth year — a powerhouse group that just secured gold at the 2026 IIHF World U18 Championship.

Because of that familiarity and the Cats’ recent draft trends, it’s more than reasonable to think they are actively targeting cerebral, 200-foot center Viggo Bjorck at ninth overall, as he fits the best-player-available mold while filling a serious need in the system. For Day 2, the Panthers may be lucky to have a legitimate game-breaker fall into their laps at 40 overall if dynamic, dual-threat winger Marcus Nordmark slips due to discipline concerns. Each prospect was foundational to that Djurgardens title run, and both fit the exact blueprint Florida has spent years tracking.

That being said, this year’s glut of franchise-caliber defensemen could be deep enough to extend into that ninth slot, where a big-bodied puck rusher like Daxon Rudolph is expected to be available. Without question, if any one of Rudolph, Alberts Smits, Keaton Verhoeff, Chase Reid, or Carson Carels is drafted by Florida, he would represent the best blue-line prospect in the organization’s possession since it took Aaron Ekblad first overall in 2014.

Positional needs: If you are looking for a blueprint on how to systematically starve a specific position of draft capital, bow down and kneel before the throne of Florida’s blue-line strategy. Hyperbole aside, the Panthers have not used a first-round pick on a defenseman since taking the aforementioned Ekblad 12 years ago. And if you think they’ve compensated for that in the second round, think again — the only rearguards Florida selected in Round 2 over that entire decade-plus stretch are Vladislav Kolyachonok in 2019 and Evan Nause in 2021, and neither ever played a game for the parent club.

Additionally, Zito’s staff has steadily purged draft picks accumulated by the previous regime to fuel the parent club’s roster. When they do keep their picks, the higher-round options are almost exclusively spent on forwards. In fact, out of the 17 prospects drafted by Florida between 2023 and 2025, a mere four were defensemen. Even last summer’s attempt to replenish the flanks went to an extreme level — the Cats select a winger with each of their first four picks, though all of those calls were made after the first three rounds had already passed.

Consequently, the strengths of this pipeline are clearly defined — it’s a system built on wingers and goaltenders, with some shutdown defenders classifying and Hail Mary’s at the halftime horn. Down the middle, the cupboard is considerably more spartan, as the Panthers since 2021 have drafted exactly as many natural centers as they have goalies (5). Talk about gutsy, but it probably explains why the mainstream types frequently criticize Florida for its lack of high-round pedigree, even though the development staff in Charlotte has quietly done a remarkable job of squeezing water from the proverbial stones.

The AHL’s Checkers were one of the league’s most formidable outfits this season, relying heavily on homegrown Panthers picks. Eight of Charlotte’s nine youngest skaters logged 30 or more games, and backup netminder Kirill Gerasimyuk (a 2021 fifth-rounder) came over from Russia and provided steady minutes as an AHL backup. Up front, the heavy lifting was driven by unheralded Day 2 types like Jack Devine and Sandis Vilmanis. Both prospects paced Charlotte across several offensive categories and ultimately earned their first NHL promotions when the big club ran low on healthy bodies. Expected to join them shortly is 2025 draftee Shea Busch (128th overall), a rugged net-front presence who rebounded from a long-term injury to help Everett capture a WHL postseason crown before falling just short at the 2026 Memorial Cup.

The real test comes now. This specific 2026 class is widely considered to be deep on premium defensive talent and dual-threat wings, with Florida’s pipeline needing more help at center than anywhere else. With the Panthers holding three top-50 picks for the first time since their 2010 rebuild year, Zito has a rare opportunity to finally address a decade-long drought on the blue line without compromising the forward depth they clearly love to target.

Thinking out loud: The Panthers missed the playoffs after winning 11 of their previous 12 series, but the mood in South Florida appears generally upbeat, even if most of their cap is dedicated toward older players who may very well become both ineffective and immovable in three or four years. Zito seems confident that he and his staff will be prepared when it’s time to cross that bridge, and perhaps gaining a top-10 pick after a fairly respectable regular season will be viewed as a critical link toward extending their run into the next decade, which at the moment remains plausible.

Another factor is the internal assessment of their farm system and whether they genuinely believe they can plug and play with later-round types and NHL castoffs who are in need of a culture makeover. Using the latter method to build playoff-worthy depth within the forward ranks has worked for them (see Jonah Gadjovich, A.J. Greer, and Jesper Boqvist), so we’ve not yet reached the point of criticizing Zito for the hockey equivalent of raiding the clearance rack.

Without question, mentorship and buy-in appear to be an organization-wide strength, and second chances are partly responsible for the franchise’s reputation changing for the better. As far as the draft is concerned, it’s no secret that Florida scouts have had to work extra hard to find prospects who not only fit into the organization’s identity but also have a legitimate shot at making the roster.

Naturally, three straight years of advancing to the Finals has proved costly in the asset realm, as the Panthers in the last five years have made only six picks within the first three rounds — a league low in that span. Of course, that changes this June when the Cats will have three selections in the top 50, including one in the top 10. You can be sure they will go BPA regardless of position with their first pick and target Sweden’s talented group thereafter.

Bottom line: The conference finally caught up to the Panthers, and the onus is back on them to become the hunted instead of the hunters. On paper, the lineup remains formidable even without a championship-caliber goalie like Bobrovsky in net, but help appears to be on the way from a prospect pool whose slow growth is nearing respectability.

Record: 44-27-11, 99 points (9th overall) | Draft position: 23rd overall (32nd in 1st Round)

2026 picks: 1st (OTT) | 3rd (FLA), 3rd (OTT), 3rd (DAL) | 3rd (PIT) | 4th (CBJ) | 5th (OTT) | 6th (OTT)

Key dates: Scouting Combine (May 31-June 6) | Draft (June 26-27)

Situation: The Senators were an analytical oddity this season, and one can only assume data crunchers are considering going full Orwellian and striking the 2025-26 campaign from the record books. How else can anyone explain the league’s advanced-stats darlings barely qualifying for the playoffs, only to finish on the wrong side of a first-round sweep?

Considered a team on the rise after snapping their playoff drought two seasons ago, the Senators did not look like a legitimate contender by the midway point of this campaign. Typically, a true contender can rely on elite shot suppression and top-of-the-scale 5-on-5 possession metrics if other systems fail. Not so was the case in the first half of the season.

Instead, the smoking gun was in the Ottawa crease, where starter Linus Ullmark struggled to regain his Vezina-caliber form before leaving the team for an extended period for personal reasons. Ullmark stepped away to prioritize his mental health, which in turn exposed the Senators’ insufficient goaltending depth.

The offense and blue line did their part to minimize the damage, but the four goalies Ottawa cycled through in Ullmark’s absence could barely scrape together a quality start. The slump put the Senators’ playoff hopes in serious jeopardy, and rumors began to mount about the future of captain Brady Tkachuk, who becomes an unrestricted free agent after the 2027-28 season. Ullmark ultimately returned in grand fashion, however, posting a 14-4-3 mark over his final 21 appearances to help the squad outlast a host of bubble teams.

Still, using Ottawa’s lack of quality reserves in goal can only go so far as an excuse for why the Senators didn’t finish higher than expected, especially in a season where the balance of power in the Atlantic Division shifted away from the traditional powerhouses. It wasn’t too long ago when Ottawa was stuck in the rebuild category with the likes of Montreal and Buffalo, only those two clubs surged far ahead in the standings and each was able to advance past the first round. Are the Senators next in line? They certainly have the skaters capable of getting the job done, but they’ll have to do it without much help coming from the prospect ranks.

Of note: Ottawa’s AHL affiliate in Belleville had another losing season despite a mostly veteran group, and it was their worst season since moving to Belleville in 2017-18. The Baby Sens were touched for the second-most goals against in the league and the seven goalies they used combined for an .881 save percentage.

Draft outlook: The fallout from former general manager Pierre Dorion’s spectacular mishandling of the Evgeni Dadonov trade continues to linger in the nation’s capital, though the damage could have been far worse. Initially ordered to forfeit their 2026 first-round selection entirely, owner Michael Andlauer managed to smooth things over with commissioner Gary Bettman, negotiating the penalty down to a slide from the 23rd pick to No. 32 overall.

As a result, chief scout Don Boyd and his staff carry seven total picks into the weekend, anchoring their class with that 32nd selection before digging in their heels for what should be a busy second day. The Senators own three third-rounders — their own plus two more from separate trade-deadline dealings with Florida and Dallas — to go along with a high fourth-round pick via Columbus and their own selections in the fifth and sixth rounds.

Where those picks will be directed remains anyone’s guess for a scouting department that loves to jump from league to league. Over the last five years, Ottawa has cast a wide net, grabbing prospects from over a dozen different circuits. Sweden tops the passport list with six selections, closely followed by four apiece from the USHL, the OHL, and the Canadian Junior-A ranks.

The strategy behind who they take is also undergoes a needed philosophical shift. Ottawa’s draft-day decisions have been heavily criticized immediately after nailing the first round in 2020, when they grabbed franchise-caliber pieces in Tim Stutzle and Jake Sanderson. Nearly everything since has ruffled plenty of feathers, as a borderline obsession with raw size and old-school toughness left the door open for other teams to exploit these mistakes.

As such, the return on investment has been virtually nonexistent — only four of the Senators’ 32 picks since 2021 have skated in a single NHL game. To make matters worse, of the 158 combined NHL games produced by those four players, 122 belong to center Zack Ostapchuk, a fourth-line checker for San Jose.

Perhaps mounting external pressure coupled with the reality of the aforementioned raw data convinced Boyd to slightly alter the blueprint at last summer’s draft. Despite ignoring the center position completely once again, Ottawa used its first-round pick on smooth righty puck-rusher Logan Hensler before nabbing three skilled wingers — two of which are on the smaller side. Clearly, this departure from the heavy-body archetype of drafts past was considered a welcomed change, even if the prospects themselves were outside the first two rounds.

They capped the weekend by drafting two goalies in a single class, a dual-netminder strategy the franchise hadn’t deployed since 2012 when they selected Chris Driedger and Francois Brassard. Considering how unreliable Senators goalies wre for most of last season, it would be reasonable if the scouts used one of their high picks on a backstop despite the perceived strength in the lower reaches of the pipline.

Positional needs: The warning light on Ottawa’s prospect depth chart is located right down the middle, as the Sens are tied with Carolina for the fewest natural centers drafted since 2021, registering a grand total of four.

Naturally, the current pipeline at the position is among the NHL’s thinnest, relying almost exclusively on playmaker Stephen Halliday (104th overall in 2022) to act as the proverbial meat on the bone. Halliday is an accomplished AHL point-producer who put up only two goals but 27 assists in just 29 games with Belleville last year before earning a 30-game audition in Ottawa, where he chipped in a respectable 11 points. The catch? He turns 24 in July, meaning he is rapidly aging out of prospect status and entering his peak years.

Things aren’t much better when looking at the farm team as a whole. The AHL affiliate in Belleville just wrapped up its most miserable season since relocating to the city for the 2017-18 campaign, missing the postseason for the third time in four years. The Baby Sens are still without a playoff series victory beyond the best-of-three format, which happened only once in 2024. Last year’s edition paired an anemic offense with a defense that surrendered the second-most goals against in the AHL, and this was after a mass exodus from the previous offseason, when current general manager Steve Staios gutted the depth chart by deleting over a dozen AHL-caliber prospects who averaged close to 25 years of age.

The blue line offers a bit more pedigree, though the recent top prospects come with distinct caveats. Ottawa used its last two first-round picks on right-shot defenders: Carter Yakemchuk (seventh overall in 2024) and the aforementioned Hensler. Yakemchuk flashed his high-end offensive upside during his rookie year in Belleville, potting 10 goals and adding 30 assists in 54 games, but his minus-31 rating was the worst on the roster by a good 14 goals against. Meanwhile, Hensler’s development hit an abrupt wall in February when he crashed into the boards while playing at Wisconsin, ending his season prematurely.

The news is brighter on the flanks, highlighted by the resilience of tough winger Luke Ellinas. After helping Kitchener advance deep into the 2025 OHL playoffs, the 2024 fourth-rounder missed nearly the entire 2025-26 regular season with a severe shoulder injury. He timed his return perfectly, jumping back into the lineup for the OHL finals before opening the scoring in Kitchener’s 6-2 victory over the Everett Silvertips to claim the 2026 Memorial Cup Final.

The lone strength within the system is in the crease, which is entirely overflowing but still mostly unproven. The Senators have seven goaltenders stuffed into their pipeline, five of whom are already locked into NHL contracts. The only two netminders currently without deals are Russian prospects Vladimir Nikitin and Andrei Trofimov, who remain contractually obligated to their KHL organization for the time being. With the goalie cupboard completely full and the blue line possessing high-end talent, expect Ottawa’s scouts to use their draft capital to aggressively fix a forward corps desperate for natural centers and versatile finishers.

Thinking out loud: This year will be a telling draft for the Senators. I know I’m not the only guy who went bananas year after year beginning with their Day 2 decisions in 2020, so it’s safe to say I can almost empathize with actual Ottawa fans who spent the last half-decade hoping for some sort of high-upside swing that married with consensus opinions, only to be let down considerably. Look, if you’re into physical, shutdown defensemen, then yes, the Senators are set up for success for the next several years. Now, it’s time to begin fixing the forward ranks.

And perhaps their reasoning for overloading on rearguards is the simple fact that five of Ottawa’s first seven defensemen in ice time will be free agents either this summer or next, and that isn’t including the stalwart Chabot, whose deal is set to expire after the 2027-28 season. That leaves the all-star Sanderson as the only blueliner who Sens fans can lock in for the foreseeable future, and this is far from optimal regardless of the money to be made available or how elite of a player Sanderson continues to be.

As far as Tkachuk is concerned, trading him is almost at the point of necessity, and for more than just the fear of losing him for nothing. The distraction is real, and Tkachuk’s disappearing act in the sweep against Carolina could be a symptom of that. Although he keeps saying all the right things and has two full years left on his deal, a blockbuster deal of any kind — a hockey trade or for a haul of futures — shouldn’t set the Senators back into the Dark Ages. He’s a 30-goal, 65-point winger on average, not a perennial top-15 scorer.

Bottom line: The Senators are close to where they need to get and were a consistent Ullmark away from challenging for the division title and winning their first playoff series since 2017. Help from within wasn’t to be found, adding more justification for a complete revamping of draft-day strategies, no matter how stubborn the old guard campaigns against it.

Record: 41-25-16, 98 points (18th overall) | Draft position: 19th overall

2026 picks: 1st (PIT) | 2nd (WIN), 2nd (PIT) | 3rd (PIT) | 6th (PIT)

Key dates: Scouting Combine (May 31-June 6) | Draft (June 26-27)

Situation: When the Pittsburgh Penguins hired Kyle Dubas after his highly publicized divorce from the Toronto Maple Leafs, there was a sense that his optimism toward his new organization was either misplaced or entirely delusional. On the whole, the aging Penguins he inherited were no better than enigmatic and had just missed the playoffs for the first time in 17 years.

Fast forward to 2026, and those grandiose promises of establishing the franchise’s championship pedigree while fortifying an already fledgling prospect reserve seem far more realistic than at any point during his time at the head of the table. Under his leadership, the Penguins proved many a naysayer wrong, and his outside-the-box hiring of rookie head coach Dan Muse proved to be an act of pure prescience.

Using a mostly patchwork supporting cast of castoffs, career minor leaguers, and unproven prospects, the Penguins rode Hall of Fame-bound centers Sidney Crosby and Evgeny Malkin to an 18-point improvement and second place in the Metropolitan Division. The aforementioned duo once again eclipsed a point-per-game average as they inched closer to 40, while offseason acquisition Anthony Mantha potted a team-best 33 goals. Another gamble that paid off was inserting energetic 18-year-old center Ben Kindel into the lineup, and the neophyte rewarded the decision-makers with a 17-goal, 35-point rookie season.

By the time they clinched a playoff berth, Pittsburgh owned one of the league’s most potent attacks, as the Pens finished third in raw goals scored and seventh on the power play. The blemish, however, to this otherwise renaissance of a season centered entirely on defense, specifically scoring chances against and the subsequent inconsistencies in goal. The Penguins used three backstops in goal — first it was the tandem of unheralded trade acquisition Arturs Silovs and incumbent starter Tristan Jarry, followed by the trading of Jarry to Edmonton for Stuart Skinner. Each member of this troika posted a winning record as a Penguin, but their average quality-start percentage was barely above .500, while the combined goals saved above expected was deep into double-digit negative territory.

Of note: The Penguins since 2021 have drafted 11 centers and 15 defensemen but only seven wingers and two goalies.

Draft outlook: Few teams have been as busy as the Penguins these last two seasons at bulking up on long-range draft capital, but 2026 is looking like a major outlier. Although they hold their own first-rounder at 22 and an extra pick in the second via Winnipeg (from the Luke Schenn deal at the 2025 trade deadline), the Pens will be sitting on their hands throughout the back end of the second day thanks to trading their 2026 fourth (to Nashville), their 2026 fifth (to St. Louis), and their 2026 seventh (to Colorado). That’s five picks total, although four are within the top 90.

If you know Dubas’ history at the draft, however, these picks are not etched in stone. Not only does he like to wheel and deal throughout the weekend no matter the pick, but his Penguins still need to cross t’s and dot i’s for the strength of their pipeline. As of today, Pittsburgh is tied for 13th in total draft picks made since 2021 and 16th regarding picks from rounds one through three.

Another tenet of the average Dubas draft class is an unbiased view toward size. Granted, this outlook toward prospects failed him miserably in 2020, when as Leafs GM his scouts amassed one of the weakest draft hauls in post-lockout history — 12 picks, eight NHL games played, and zero points. But he more than helped his reputation by bucking the consensus in not only taking the sub-six-foot Kindel ahead of popular big-body types, but giving him an everyday job and watching him succeed in the process.

In terms of preferences beyond size, the Penguins under Dubas are incredibly — more like entirely — slanted toward the CHL and North America, as not one of their last 19 picks (between the 2024 and 2025 classes) was taken from a European league.

Positional needs: The Penguins possess a strong contingent of goalie prospects and are one of the few teams in the league with more right-shot defenders than left. The quality and upside are greater within the former than the latter, but the Pens are nowhere near deficient at the defense position. Questions posed by the media pertaining to stalled development were scoffed at during Dubas’ end-of-season press conference, where he correctly rejected the idea that two of his top blue-line hopefuls — 2021 first-rounder Owen Pickering (a lefty) and 2024 second-rounder Harrison Brunicke (right side) — suffered setbacks in play in 2026.

Nonetheless, what may compel Pittsburgh scouts to dip right back into this year’s defense pool — at least for reasons beyond a public perception of stagnation — are the long-term injuries suffered by playmaker Joona Vaisanen and shutdown option Peyton Kettles. Still, the collective is no worse than average and an addition or two from either this year or next should push them into a higher tier.

Up front, the organization is comfortably deep at all three positions, although getting technical reveals that the Pens rank on the lower end of the scale with only seven wingers drafted since 2021. As such, it bears repeating that the 2026 class is filled with first-round-caliber attackers from either wing, and potentially well into the second round. None of this should imply that the quality of Pittsburgh’s wing prospects is concerning, because simply put, it isn’t. It simply means the Penguins haven’t prioritized wings over other positions over the course of the last five years.

The caveats to that stat are significant — 200-foot specialist Ville Koivunen was the main piece in the return from Carolina for Jake Guentzel and earned an NHL job for almost half a season, and power forward Rutger McGroarty, a 2022 lottery pick of Winnipeg’s, was acquired for center Brayden Yager. Throw in the addition of Melvin Fernstrom from Vancouver and the four wingers taken in last year’s draft, and you’ll grasp how deep their system has become.

Besides, wing prospects within their pipeline are both noteworthy and mostly AHL experienced, so it wouldn’t be a classic “need” pick if the Penguins go in that direction. Instead, it simply makes them deeper and more balanced while increasing the competition level at development camp and in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.

Thinking out loud: It was only a short time ago, say, back in the early 2020s, that the Pens possessed one of the weakest pipelines in the league. Perennial contention coupled with an all-star nucleus in its prime can have that impact on an organization, but Pittsburgh wasn’t doing itself any favors by missing almost entirely on a cluster of drafts between 2016 and 2019; classes that included close to a dozen picks from within the first three rounds but without a single skater becoming an NHL regular.

You might have noticed that I didn’t include the 2020 group, which as of today has a total of 15 NHL games played, and all belong to current Wilkes-Barre/Scranton backup goalie Joel Blomqvist, who went 52nd overall that year. The reasoning is simple — Dubas justifiably continues to pump Blomqvist’s tires as a potential backup in Pittsburgh, and it’s not like the former had anything to do with drafting him. In fact, both Blomqvist and Pittsburgh’s next pick — goalie Calle Clang, who was part of the package sent to Anaheim for Rickard Rakell — were two of the AHL’s top netminders last season among prospects drafted since 2020.

Therefore, it is well within reasoning to consider Pittsburgh’s thin 2020 class as the delineation between previous failed scouting decisions that coincided with the Pens’ back-to-back Cup triumphs, and the subsequent replenishing (or flushing out) of the pipeline that took a more serious turn right around the time Ron Hextall and Chris Pryor were hired in February 2021 with the promise to fix the Penguins’ stalled development apparatus. Of course, this isn’t an attempt to immortalize Hextall’s mostly unsuccessful and short-lived tenure as GM in the Steel City. Far from it. But the man said he wanted to fix the farm system and four of Pittsburgh’s better present-day prospects — goalie Sergei Murashov, Pickering, and forwards Tristan Broz and Zam Plante — are linked to the Hextall regime.

Again, this isn’t an attempt to detract from the work Dubas and his staff have done. Instead, it’s a matter of separating Hextall’s operational shortcomings related to the parent club from the work he and Pryor did to set the conditions for a deeper pipeline, one that Dubas himself has already benefited from in one form or another.

Nonetheless, the volume of trades orchestrated by Dubas since his arrival has created a minor disparity in draft capital for this year, as he had 13 picks in 2025 but fewer than half that amount in 2026. This reality requires the important caveat that the Penguins in June still own a top-20 selection, two picks in the upper half of the second round, plus their own third. The fact that they just drafted over a dozen prospects to add balance to each of their skater positions allows their scouts to take greater chances with this year’s options, and an important consideration is that Dubas already secured nine picks for 2027 (a first, two in the second, and two in the third) and 11 in 2028 (a first, three in the second, two in the third).

Bottom line: The Penguins aren’t back to what they were in their glory years, but they’re better off today than they were two seasons ago, and all with their “Big Three” contributing nightly despite being a year older and carrying a hefty combined cap hit.

Record: 55-16-11, 121 points (1st overall) | Draft position: 29th overall

2026 picks: 4th (COL), 4th (CAR) | 5th (PHI), 5th (BOS) | 7th (NYR), 7th (PIT), 7th (OTT), 7th (COL)

Key dates: Scouting Combine (May 31-June 6) | Draft (June 26-27)

Situation: The league’s undisputed top team for the entirety of the regular season extended the Presidents’ Trophy jinx to an unlucky 13 years when its bulldozing attack, bolstered by a wave of trade deadline-activity, was halted by the Vegas Golden Knights in a stunning four-game sweep in the Western Conference Final. This marked the fourth consecutive season in which the favored Avalanche were halted before the Stanley Cup Final, which they last won in 2022.

The post-mortem after this unexpected early-round knockout had profound effects on the organization. General manager Chris MacFarland is out after four years at the helm without ever winning a single game beyond the second round. Taking over for a second go-around will be team president Joe Sakic, who engineered the Avs’ last title-winning outfit and has intimate knowledge of a roster that notched a franchise-record 121 points last season behind the star power of center Nathan MacKinnon and defenseman Cale Makar.

From there, however, it gets a little tricky. Head coach Jared Bednar continues to receive support from the executive suite despite overseeing each of the last four postseason failures, and goalie Scott Wedgewood was Colorado’s third different netminder in three years to serve as the primary starter in the playoffs. Cap space is limited entering the offseason, as the Avs have most of their money tied up in expensive term-laden deals with protections to prevent flexibility, and that includes five unrestricted free agents from the depths of their playoff roster.

Perhaps running it back will be the way ahead for Colorado in 2027, and there’s always the trade deadline to address any perceived shortcomings. The problem isn’t with the Avs’ nucleus, goaltending, or even their support units. In fact, one can even argue that Bednar’s 52-win average after hoisting the Cup in 2022 is beyond justification to retain him, recent playoff misfortunes and all. But possessing only two top-96 picks over the next three drafts — none in the first round — is a potential grenade for multiple parties involved, from Sakic on down to scouting and player development.

Of note: Colorado has drafted the fewest players since 2021 (23) and ranks dead last in that same span in both first-year-eligibles (13) and wingers selected (2).

Draft outlook: As previously mentioned, Colorado’s mortgaging of the future to win another championship has rendered the pipeline close to useless. Instead of fueling internal growth and competition while keeping operating costs at manageable levels, Colorado’s drastic relinquishing of pipeline-related assets year after year under MacFarland leaves the organization with the limited alternatives of either purchasing hired guns at premium prices or making lateral hockey trades in search of a better fit.

The results speak for themselves. Colorado has made only 28 picks since 2020, of which six were from the first two rounds and only three of those — puck-rusher Mikhail Gulyayev, goalie Ilya Nabokov, and two-defenseman Sean Behrens — remain with the organization. Ironically, its AHL affiliate, creatively dubbed the Colorado Eagles, has been one of the more competitive teams in the league but continues to suffer from early-round eliminations.

But the bigger concern is that the Eagles rarely feature a prospect by the classic definition, such as higher-round draft picks or Day 2 steals who are scratching the surface of a potential long-term NHL career. Rather, only one of the Eagles’ top-10 scorers was an original Avalanche draft pick — 25-year-old center Taylor Makar — and that grouping averages out to a 1998 birth year.

Positional needs: The organization needs skaters of all shapes, sizes, and positions, but one can make a valid case for the left side of the defense being the least weak of the five. Last year’s addition of lefty puck-mover Francesco Dell’elce (77th overall) and positional Swede Linus Funck (118th) to the right side was seen as a safe move to address an organization-wide need for defensemen.

Still, the Avs came away with only three picks in 2025 — two of whom will be 21 by Opening Night of next season. Naturally, any team falling short of draft picks every year means there are major holes to fill at every skater position, although goaltenders remains the pipeline’s saving grace. Three who were taken in 2024 — Nabokov, Louka Cloutier, and Ivan Yunin — had impressive regular seasons as the primary starters for their respective clubs, while the AHL squad is in good hands with 2019 seventh-rounder Trent Miner, who through June 6 boasted an 11-4 mark and .932 save percentage in the playoffs.

Lastly, drafting only two wingers in a five-year period is hard to fathom regardless of the parent club boasting the league’s best record and goal-scoring output since 2019-20. The system needs finishers, especially after the previous round of hopefuls failed to meet expectations in the AHL, let alone with the parent club. If Colorado scouts have draft-day reluctance because of it, they’re going to miss out on one of the deepest drafts for finishers we’ve seen in some time.

Thinking out loud: I know my assessments can lean toward speculative and naysaying, but that’s only because I’ve done a zillion MDMPs where mission analysis and course-of-action development — or COA DEV for you S-3 planner types — must consider threats of all types. With Colorado, title or no title, the initiative remains under its control, but that doesn’t mean it’s entirely secure. There are rising threats in both the Central (Minnesota, Utah) and Pacific (Anaheim) who can challenge them.

This is why I tend to agree with a reengagement of their main contributors from before, mostly because they’ve already won but more so because the loss to Vegas felt more like the Knights catching lightning in a bottle after their coach was fired with two weeks to play. The swift butt-kicking over the course of a four-game sweep isn’t going to go unpunished in one form or another, and yes, it didn’t look good that some of their best performers in that series were the last guys you’d expect to carry the load offensively.

Perhaps Makar’s injury that shelved him for the first two games of the series is the way both Sakic and Bednar sell it to the pitchfork mob, and in a way, one really can’t blame them beyond their inability to acquire or discover an additional generational defenseman, you know, just in case.

Bottom line: The Avs are a great team that caught some bad luck, and all after trading nearly three years’ worth of draft picks to get back to the Stanley Cup Final. It didn’t happen, but screw it. Run it back.

Record: 43-33-6, 92 points (18th overall) | Draft position: 19th overall

2026 picks: 2nd (ANA) | 3rd (ANA) | 4th (ANA) | 5th (ANA) | 6th (ANA) | 7th (ANA)

Key dates: Scouting Combine (May 31-June 6) | Draft (June 26-27)

Situation: Orange County has been a beehive of offseason activity ever since Pat Verbeek took over as general manager in late February 2022. A series of headline-grabbing deals in concert with Anaheim’s usual draft-day success not only helped the Ducks clinch their first playoff appearance since 2018, but also downed the two-time Western Conference-champion Edmonton Oilers in their first-round matchup.

The addition of storied-but-exiled head coach Joel Quenneville last offseason showed how serious the Ducks were about ending the franchise’s longest playoff drought. A controversial hire, to say the least, Quenneville offered a genuine mea culpa at his introductory press conference, and his experience in running Chicago’s vaunted attack during the Blackhawks’ dynasty years helped Anaheim improve dramatically in raw scoring (from 30th in 2025 to 13th) and scoring-chance percentage at 5-on-5 (from 31st to 10th).

With winning, however, comes the heavy weight of expectation. Beating an established postseason powerhouse like Edmonton followed by heavily out-chancing the Vegas Golden Knights in a tough six-game defeat is as official an arrival as anyone would require. The future in Anaheim is undeniably bright, and the deeds of both ownership and the front office prove how serious the organization is about sustained excellence.

Of note: Anaheim is slated to be without a first-round pick for only the third time in franchise history. Since joining the league in 1993, the only other years in which the Ducks wrapped up draft proceedings without a selection in the first round were 1999 (traded with center Travis Green to the Phoenix Coyotes for defenseman Oleg Tverdovsky) and 2017 (traded to Dallas for winger Patrick Eaves). The eventual picks? Phoenix at 15th overall in 1999 took center Scott Kelman (never played in the NHL), and the Blackhawks (via the Stars) in 2017 drafted current NHL defenseman Henri Jokiharju.

Draft outlook: The cost of assembling a playoff team from scratch appears cheaper for Verbeek than it would for most rebuilders, as the only asset of note that was relinquished in either of the last two seasons was this year’s first-rounder that went to Washington at this year’s deadline for defenseman John Carlson.

The Ducks still have one pick in each of the next six rounds, and lest we forget, they just finished a seven-year stretch where they grabbed a top-10 pick each time. Clearly, the organization is not even close to hurting on the prospect front, and assuming risk in 2026 with a deep, skilled class before them should be a welcome challenge.

Nonetheless, Anaheim scouts have a job to do, and that usually means taking at least two defensemen or two centers in the early rounds. This formula has produced quality NHL talent throughout the last two decades, so why change it?

All that said, Verbeek has moveable assets of value, and there is force behind the speculation that his scouts should expect to receive additional draft capital if or when the Ducks decide to move out roster players for cap room at the deadline.

Positional needs: The lengthy rebuild that preceded this season’s playoff drive allowed the Ducks to spread out their draft capital among all positions. This came in handy during Anaheim’s aggressive roster upgrades in recent offseasons in both free-agent signings and trades, but the loss of several prospects and high-round picks put only a minor dent in the pipeline’s overall strength at each position.

A quick overview of Anaheim’s pipeline status reveals both quality and quantity. The center position includes 2025 top-10 pick Roger McQueen and a battle-tested, 200-foot playmaker in Lucas Pettersson. On the wing, Sasha Pastujov had a career season in the AHL, and joining the San Diego Gulls next season are Maxim Masse (51 goals in the QMJHL), the towering Herman Traff (23 goals in Sweden’s adult-age Allsvenskan), and potentially Austin Burnevik, a premier finisher and upperclassman who is transferring from St. Cloud State to the University of Minnesota.

And when you talk about the Ducks, you can’t help but marvel at their development of defensemen and goalies. Stian Solberg (23rd overall in 2024) just put on a shutdown clinic for Norway in winning a bronze medal and will push hard to make the Ducks out of camp, while the San Diego trio of Calle Clang, Damian Clara, and Tomas Suchanek should be among the AHL’s best in 2027.

As such, the Ducks are safely nestled in a draft-day sweet spot despite not owning a top-32 pick for the first time since 2017. They can pivot toward any direction without the pressure of patching a gaping hole or needing to prove their scouting acumen. They took a chance on the oft-injured McQueen last year, and for now, he remains on an upswing, so expect the Ducks to buck the consensus line in the middle of the second round and take one of two types — high-upside point producers with mature hockey sense regardless, or character types with size and skill.

Thinking out loud: Anaheim ownership is staring down the double barrels of its most expensive offseason in decades, and the front office has objectives of all types to wargame. This helps to explain why the Ducks over the past 12 months have been heavily involved in trade talk, and smoke keeps billowing. Par for the course for Verbeek’s tenure as GM, some might say, but one persistent rumor du jour is that Verbeek could move two former top-10 picks — everyday center Mason McTavish and middle-pairing defender Pavel Mintyukov.

The former, who went third overall in 2021, is a proven middle-six commodity, but an expensive one at that. The physical 23-year-old pivot has five years left on his deal with a hefty annual cap hit of $7 million, albeit without any trade restrictions. But the bigger obstacle for both the seller and the buyer equally pertains to return on investment as it does to cold, hard cash — McTavish saw his production dip to 41 points in the regular season and his playoff usage was reduced to that of the checking line.

The hard-shooting Mintyukov, the 10th overall pick in 2022, presents a different scenario in that he is a restricted free agent coming off an entry-level deal. He appeared in a career-best 73 games and all 12 in the playoffs, in addition to tying for third in Anaheim defenseman scoring and averaging close to 20 minutes a night in the postseason. While McTavish has already been replaced in the Ducks’ top six, Mintyukov has distanced himself ahead of his closest challengers in the pipeline. Money is the visible sticking point, as the market should dictate a handsome raise for Mintyukov, even if he’s not the only restricted free agent Verbeek has to tend to. The priorities undoubtedly will be the multiyear extensions required for top scorers Cutter Gauthier and Leo Carlsson, not to mention Mintyukov’s blue-line contemporary, 22-year-old lefty Olen Zellweger.

All of these goings-on should link to the draft, and by that I mean this season and beyond. The Ducks have always clutched their future first-round picks like a field marshal’s baton, but we’ll soon find out how far they are willing to go against this longstanding standard operating procedure.

Bottom line: Anaheim is loaded across the board and sits in a fascinating position after its recent playoff breakthrough. Sacrificing their 2026 first-rounder at the deadline probably stung, but they can still walk away with yet another enviable Ducks-esque draft haul while using their rumored trade chips for additional capital down the road.

Record: 50-20-12, 112 points (3rd overall) | Draft position: 26th overall

2026 picks: 2nd (DAL) | 5th (DAL) | 6th (DAL) | 7th (TOR), 7th (DAL)

Key dates: Scouting Combine (May 31-June 6) | Draft (June 26-27)

Situation: With their veteran-savvy roster another year older and their collective production still on the higher end of the scale, the Stars — always confident and ready for a long playoff battle — ultimately became another victim of the league’s unpopular playoff format. A first-round matchup with the equally up-gunned Minnesota Wild proved too difficult an obstacle to breach, and it took less than two weeks for their season to conclude unceremoniously.

To say the Stars have been buyers during this ever-extending run of contention would be an understatement. Anyone can pull off trades at the deadline using picks and prospects, but Dallas is on the higher end of the serious scale. From signing marquee free agents (Joe Pavelski, Matt Duchene, Mason Marchment) to making blockbuster deals (Mikko Rantanen), general manager Jim Nill and his staff have carefully crafted a near-model blueprint, with player development from within continuing to play a vital role.

All that said, the end state has not been achieved. Although the Stars can claim four visits to the Western Conference Finals since 2020, only once have they broken through to the final series, and that was six years ago when they were dropped by the Tampa Bay Lightning in six games. Of course, nearly every NHL franchise since the beginning of the decade would love to be saddled with the weight of those specific disappointments, but in Dallas, the desire to win a Stanley Cup is no different from or less palpable than what is expected from recent title-winning franchises in Florida, Tampa Bay, and Las Vegas.

Which raises the question — are the Stars in the immediate future destined to suffer a similar fate as the Panthers, who missed the playoffs in 2026, or the Lightning, who are now going on four straight years of first-round knockouts? In Boston, the Bruins registered the league’s only cumulative points percentage of .700 or higher between 2020 and 2024, only to fall short of the postseason in 2025 and trigger significant changes to the roster.

For Dallas, the excuse of facing an equal adversary at a similar desperation level is valid — sports can be an unfair business at times, and no better example of this exists when the mood following an otherwise synergistic regular season is dampened by an early-round exit. But Nill isn’t likely to stand pat this offseason and he also may be inclined to redistribute priorities to the pipeline and player development.

Of note: The Stars joined the 2022-2024 Colorado Avalanche as the only two teams in Western Conference history to post three straight 50-win seasons.

Draft outlook: What was once a minor but valid concern regarding the trading of high-round draft picks has now grown considerably — specifically within the scope of a perennial contender unable to break through to the Stanley Cup Final. After staunchly retaining his first-round pick in 10 straight drafts between 2013 and 2022, Nill now enters his third in four years without one. In fact, the Stars’ only pick in this year’s event within the first four rounds is a lone second-rounder, which will slot at 59th overall.

Nonetheless, optimists can point to a rich history of Day 2 successes, some of whom — Jason Robertson, Roope Hintz, and Oskar Back, among others — remain integral pieces to a roster that has hit the 50-win mark for three straight seasons. Taking that a step further, 11 Stars who appeared in all of the team’s playoff games were homegrown, and eight were 27 or younger.

But what about the long-term future? Surely a team that has succeeded in the regular season as often as Dallas is bound to rely on its pipeline for resources. But the pipeline’s current state is one of near neglect, to the point where the Stars have relied less on their AHL affiliate in Texas — and when they do, the roster rarely includes a recent draft pick. Since 2021, only All-Star Wyatt Johnston and depth defenseman Lian Bichsel (18th overall in 2022) out of their 31 picks have played in an NHL game.

This is where Dallas scouts have some explaining to do beyond the excuse of the parent club’s contention window. Additionally, the Stars are increasingly letting the rights of draft picks expire without ever offering them contracts, including 2023 third-rounder Brad Gardiner, an OHL-trained forward who was drafted ahead of current NHLer Denver Barkey, also from the OHL. The source of these contrasting picks is relevant to this discussion. For starters, Dallas usually ranks among the busiest shoppers for OHL talent — 18 of its picks since 2018 came from there. Second, their OHL picks since 2021, other than the Johnston discovery, are either no longer with the organization or stuck in the ECHL.

Not all the news is bad out of the OHL, however, as 2024 first-rounder Emil Hemming — a pure sniper who was drafted out of Finland before joining the Barrie Colts — was critical in their march to the OHL Final. Still, Nill and scouting director Joe McDonnell seemingly maintaining unwavering loyalty to the circuit practically every draft needs to be examined.

Positional needs: If you desired confirmation that the Stars are content with the long-term outlook of their parent club’s defense corps, look no further than their last two drafts in which only one pick was used on a blueliner — 2024 fifth-rounder Niilopekka Muhonen.

There are two ways one could explain this above anything else. First, Dallas used each of its first four picks on defensemen in 2022, and the two they selected the following year — Tristan Bertucci and Aram Minnetian — remain quality prospects who came from the second and fourth rounds, respectively. The other is the addition of Bichsel to an everyday lineup that already included two prime puck rushers taken in the top 32 in Miro Heiskanen (2017) and Thomas Harley (2019).

One area the Stars may be willing to overlook relates to finishers, whom they snagged to open their draft classes in 2024 (Hemming) and 2025 (Cameron Schmidt), with the latter — taken near the bottom of the third round — being significantly undersized. Additionally, it is worth noting that Dallas has taken three gargantuan netminders listed at 6-foot-4 or taller over the last four drafts, and all from the fifth round — Maxim Mayorov (147th overall in 2022), Arno Tiefensee (157th in 2023), and Mans Goos (158th in 2025).

Throw all these factoids together and you likely see a defense majority with the Stars’ reduced allocation, although you could see them adding a center to offset the misfire on Gardiner. If they keep their second-rounder instead of trading down for an additional pick, there’s always the chance of moving a veteran for additional capital — which Nill did at last year’s draft in moving Marchment to Seattle for a 2025 fourth-round selection (center Brandon Gorzinski) and a 2026 third, which was sent to Nashville at the deadline for rental Michael Bunting.

For those keeping score at home, Dallas must soon come to immediate terms with Jason Robertson’s next contract. Meanwhile, middle-six center Sam Steel is coming off a career year but looms as an unrestricted free agent after the 2026–27 season. It remains entirely within the realm of possibility that Nill moves Steel to clear salary-cap space and acquire additional draft capital, paving the way for a cost-controlled prospect or minor-league replacement to step into his role.

Thinking out loud: Nill and his scouts under McDonnell have earned a reputation as some of the sharpest operators on the draft floor, but keeping high-end talent moving is getting trickier by the year. Dallas has spent the better part of the last half-decade comfortably ensconced as a win-at-all-costs contender, which means retaining its first-round picks has become less of a priority. This has me a bit worried, but almost entirely because of how the remainder of the conference is closing in on them, while the other consideration is influenced by their thinned-out draft hauls in recent years.

Personally, I think the Stars are more than prepared for a short-term regression, regardless of whether Oettinger’s health is taken into consideration. The overall offense and the power play have been among the league’s best for the last four seasons, so it’s not like a worst-case scenario will collapse the franchise like a house of cards. Still, there were indications throughout the 2025–26 season that the Stars weren’t as good as their record indicated — something Nill himself alluded to in his end-of-season press conference. If you’re into cherry-picking, which I’m sure some of you are, Dallas claimed only 13 regulation wins over a 38-game sample between December 23 and March 31.

Thus, it could be argued that the Central Division was lost to Colorado during this time frame, and in turn, that prevented the Stars from opening the playoffs against a beatable wild card like Los Angeles or Anaheim rather than the frenzied Wild, who had legitimate Cup aspirations.

The next two months will be interesting to me because I had been touting their prospect pipeline for several years, only to dock them little by little for Nill’s desperation level reaching levels unseen during his first decade or so on the job. Again, this is neither wrong nor indefensible — just the reality of playing in a high-stakes poker game. If I were a betting man, I’d lean toward Dallas exhibiting an increased reluctance toward trading away additional draft capital for two reasons — one, the practice has been rampant without the desired end state, and two, they already traded their 2027 second- and third-rounders, and their 2028 first-round pick (from the Rantanen trade) can become unprotected in 2029.

Bottom line: The clock isn’t close to striking midnight on this talented roster, but an early playoff exit gives the Stars plenty to ponder this offseason. With dwindling draft assets and a thinning pipeline, management must now address long-term issues rather than simply patching over the parent club’s immediate shortcomings.

Record: 43-33-6, 92 points (19th overall) | Draft position: 31st overall (as of June 3)

2026 picks: 1st (UTA) | 3rd (UTA), 3rd (CAR) | 4th (UTA) | 5th (CHI) | 5th (UTA) | 7th (UTA)

Key dates: Scouting Combine (May 31-June 6) | Draft (June 26-27)

Situation: It took a while, but the Utah Mammoth, formerly known as the Arizona Coyotes, earned the franchise’s first playoff berth in six years and posted their best points percentage since 2012. Aggressive offseason moves — coupled with the ceremonial arrivals of several homegrown prospects — turned the Mammoth into a formidable Western Conference opponent; one that ranked in the top 10 in both goals scored (10th) and goals against (10th) for the first time since 1981-82, when the franchise was in Winnipeg after the merger from the WHA.

Critical to Utah’s success in its second season since leaving the desert was the Mammoth’s 8-2-0 start, but more important was a second-half uprising to counter a November swoon that some felt was derailing their playoff hopes. Instead, the Mammoth surged in the new year, winning 16 of their first 23 games en route to clinching a wild-card berth with a week remaining in the regular season.

Driving this swing was the play of three originals from the Arizona days -- Clayton Keller (88 points), Nick Schmaltz (33 goals and 74 points), and a 40-goal season from 22-year-old winger Dylan Guenther. Equally impressive was that this trio helped carry the offensive load while top-six center Logan Cooley missed time due to injury and headline-grabbing offseason acquisition J.J. Peterka struggled with scoring consistency.

With a fourth consecutive improvement in the standings and a nucleus just hitting its collective prime, the time is ripe for Utah to join the ranks of the Western elite. The Mammoth in recent years has accumulated more first-round draft capital than any of last year’s playoff qualifiers , and six — yes , six — have yet to play a full season in the league.

Of note: Utah had six 20-goal scorers to tie for the second-most in the NHL, with the Carolina Hurricanes the only team with more. Of the six, five were under 30 years of age and all will be under team control for next season.

Draft outlook: General manager Bill Armstrong has engineered a draft-capital empire, leading the entire NHL with 49 total selections since 2021. The sheer volume of darts thrown at the board has created one of the deepest pipelines in the sport -- since taking over in 2020, Armstrong has established a remarkably consistent rhythm, routinely alternating positional priorities year over year. He laid the foundation with Guenther (9th overall) in 2021; addressed center and right defense in 2022 with Cooley, Conor Geekie (the latter traded for Mikhail Sergachev), and Maveric Lamoureux, respectively; then pivoted to a towering Russian duo in Dmitry Simashev (left defense) and Daniil But (power wing) in 2023; before grabbing a dynamic hybrid forward in Tij Iginla two seasons ago at sixth overall.

This patient, multi-layered approach has already reaped benefits for the franchise, and additional three-zone centers Cole Beaudoin and Caleb Desnoyers are expected to join the AHL affiliate in Tucson as early as next season. Of course, there’s always the chance that at least one will earn a maximum nine-game trial with the parent club coming out of training camp, but the competition will be on a level unseen across the league, as Utah has yet to commit a full-time NHL job to six of its last seven first-rounders.

The gold standard for this developmental machine remains the historic 2021 class, which is rapidly tracking toward becoming one of the most productive single-year hauls of the salary cap era. A staggering four individual selections from that cycle -- Guenther, Josh Doan, J.J. Moser, and Emil Lilleberg -- established themselves as everyday NHL regulars during the 2025–26 campaign, with each already eclipsing the 140 career games-played milestone. This continuous influx of premium youth has fundamentally transformed the organizational depth chart, down to the minor-league affiliate in Tucson.

The Roadrunners operated as a tight postseason bubble team this past season, finishing at 34-28-10 and missing the AHL playoffs entirely, but the roster makeover was undeniable: the number of drafted prospects within Tucson’s everyday ranks jumped from seven to ten this year, and that excludes towering netminder Michael Hrabal, who joined them late last season following a dominant junior season at UMass Amherst.

Positional needs: If there is a potential vulnerability in an otherwise immaculate overall pipeline, it lives explicitly on the right side of the blue line. Armstrong has targeted an incredible 20 total defensemen since the 2021 — a number that easily paces the rest of the league — but that heavy recruitment drive has leaned overwhelmingly toward the left side of the ice. A quick glance at the reserve list reveals a structural imbalance, showing 12 left-handed blueliners competing for professional real estate against just five natural right-shot options. Finding a game-breaker on the right side of the defense should once again be a topic of discussion for Utah’s amateur scouts.

The organization’s draft-day strategy will be forced to adapt to a tighter, more concentrated inventory this summer. Utah currently controls seven total picks for the second consecutive summer, and while they successfully retained their premium first-round choice, they will walk away from the weekend without a second-round selection for the first time since 2020. This lack of a day-two safety net places an immense premium on their mid-round execution, especially when it comes to maintaining their heavy, specialized scouting presence in the Russian market.

Expect the front office to look heavily toward those Russian ranks to unearth that missing value. The franchise has shown zero hesitation when navigating the complexities of regional scouting overseas, selecting seven Russian prospects over the last five drafts. That aggressive stance has already paid massive dividends, as Simashev and But both celebrated their official NHL debuts last season while successfully transitioning to the North American game in between time spent with Tucson. If the board breaks favorably, Armstrong will almost certainly look to weaponize that proven developmental path again to address the structural holes on the right side of the depth chart.

Thinking out loud: Something tells me it’s premature to say the Mammoth have arrived, because we already learned a hard lesson from saying the same about the 2023 New Jersey Devils and the Calgary Flames two seasons later. But what Bill Armstrong has in place is bound to work just on the law of averages alone. Like I already mentioned, they have six first-rounders who have barely made a scratch on NHL ice, which in turn keeps them at an enviable pivot point most GMs would love to enjoy -- bank on their trade value as prospects remaining relatively high or identify the next-men up on entry-level deals while shaving off cap space on the veterans they supplant. I mean, it’s going to be hard for Bill and his operations staff to screw this up over the long haul, and unlike that deteriorating situation in Seattle, all signs point to the average NHL player wanting to play in Utah.

There’s more to this. Although I won’t go as far as calling their pro scouts masters of the trade, you can’t argue against their taste. The veterans Armstrong acquired in recent years — Mikhail Sergachev, John Marino, Sean Durzi, and Peterka —were painful departures for their respective fan bases that came at a high cost in futures, but their contributions to Utah’s ascension are significant, even if on brand recognition alone, as is the case with last summer’s blockbuster Peterka deal.

And if there is a common theme beyond taking on a veteran salary for picks and prospects, it’s that Armstrong struck each of the four deals right around the weekend of the draft. This year, he holds his own first-rounder (19th overall) plus two in the third, with the extra coming from the Hurricanes in the Shayne Gostisbehere trade from 2023.

Now, dealing the top-20 pick isn’t very Armstrongian — he’s held a Day 1 selection in each of his five drafts as GM. He did, however, trade Geekie (11th overall in 2022) to Tampa in the Sergachev deal, and any team that drafts almost 50 prospects in a five-year period is going to experience a logjam down on the farm, especially if the parent club is in playoff mode. With his top prospects already forming up to attempt a breach of the lineup’s seemingly fortified gates (But and Simashev, in particular), don’t be shocked if Utah’s war room on draft day is a beehive of activity on the trade front.

All that said, I still think taking Caleb Desnoyers at fourth overall last year was a hair too rich. Yes, he can play wing if necessary and he does have the kind of 200-foot acumen and energy to contribute without scoring. But after Lamoureux and perhaps last year’s second-round pick Max Psenicka, the right side of the defense lacks a brand name. Playmakers like Ryan Lin, Tommy Bleyl, or Adam Goljer would be my targets to check the block and then some, although mean-spirited lefties like Malte Gustafsson (a BPA type) or Maksim Sokolovskii (an on-brand Armstrong gamble) would make a threatening pipeline even deadlier.

Bottom line: The fact that Utah is already entering the conversation as a potential contender is a credit to Armstrong and his scouting staff. His ability to consistently execute draft-day trades for established veterans, while simultaneously identifying top-tier prospects, has completely altered the franchise's trajectory over the last six years.

Record: 50-26-6, 106 points (5th overall) | Draft position: 26th overall

2026 picks: 2nd (TBL) | 3rd (TBL) | 5th (SEA), 5th (TBL) | 6th (TBL) | 7th (TBL)

Key dates: Scouting Combine (May 31-June 6) | Draft (June 26-27)

Situation: The fortunes of the implacable Lightning have changed and it is not necessarily for the better. After their near-historic run of playoff domination in which they fell just two wins short of three consecutive Stanley Cups between 2020 and 2022, the Lightning have joined a handful of other recent champions who simply can’t get out of the first round. In Tampa’s case it’s been a double whammy, as the in-state rival Florida Panthers eliminated the Bolts in the opening round in both 2024 and 2025 en route to back-to-back Cup-winning runs, and each ouster took only five games. This year’s 50-win, 106-point outfit nearly broke through, but the upstart Montreal Canadiens outlasted them in seven games; four of which went to overtime.

What gives? Age, mileage, and the league’s much-maligned playoff format are the easier explanations, although there’s no denying Tampa Bay’s roster remains formidable — if not star-studded — at every position. But all of their COVID-era winning intensified the demand for success, which from an organizational standpoint remains the top priority. Still, change within the team’s veteran nucleus has been minimal, which some consider to be part of the problem — as goalie Andrei Vasilievsky, defenseman Victor Hedman, and most recently, Nikita Kucherov and Brayden Point have at one point or another been criticized for not carrying their regular dominance into recent postseasons.

Nonetheless, the Bolts are somewhat fortunate to play in a less-than-demanding Sunbelt market where football remains king. Also in their favor is the complete silence from a hands-off ownership group, which is in a transition phase but can still be construed as a vote of confidence for head coach Jon Cooper or general manager Julien BriseBois remains intact. The salary cap says they probably run it back, but with little to no help from their bulk-over-substance pipeline.

Of note: Consider this a microcosm of Tampa's developmental drought: Between 2011 and 2016, the Lightning drafted 10 players who went on to hit the 20-goal or 50-point plateau. Since 2017? That number stands at a flat, unyielding zero.

Draft outlook: The Bolts currently control six selections for the upcoming draft but will operate without a first-round choice for the sixth time in seven years. The premium pick (and potentially next year’s as well) was moved to the Seattle Kraken last season in the blockbuster deal that landed Oliver Bjorkstrand and Yanni Gourde, although the depth of the 2026 class coupled with two picks in the top 90 make for a better-than-usual scenario for their scouts. In fact, the last time that occurred was in 2022.

This aggressive trend of weaponizing early draft capital to sustain a championship window is further illustrated by a staggering organizational statistic: the Lightning have made only five first-round picks in 12 drafts, and only one of those selections — defenseman Cal Foote from 2017 — ever dressed for the parent club. Foote, who served as a depth option for parts of three seasons between 2021 and 2023, has been out of the NHL for the last two years.

A major overhaul of the pipeline over the last year saw significant prospect deletions, highlighted by the departure of 2022 first-round pick Isaac Howard, who was shipped out in exchange for center Sam O’Reilly. While many of the subtractions involved older American Hockey League players, several were original draft picks whom the front office chose not to qualify. This talent drain points to recent structural shortcomings within a scouting department that was once considered infallible. The staff that helped construct back-to-back Stanley Cup champions has been far less successful at unearthing late-round gems over the last decade. The numbers confirm this decline — of the 36 prospects selected by Tampa Bay between 2018 and 2022, only depth wingers Cole Koepke and Gage Goncalves have played at least one full NHL season, and Koepke has since departed the organization.

The impact of these draft-day struggles is clearly visible at the minor-league level with the affiliate in Syracuse. The Crunch managed to extend their postseason streak to eight consecutive seasons -- excluding the pandemic-impacted campaigns of 2020 and 2021 -- but suffered a quick exit in the opening round. The underlying concern for the developmental system is that only four regulars on the Syracuse playoff roster — Maxim Groshev, Dylan Duke, Ethan Gauthier, and Cooper Flinton — were original Lightning draft picks. This lack of homegrown, high-end depth is a direct byproduct of the team’s lack of early-round capital. Over the last five drafts combined, Tampa Bay ranks dead last in the NHL by executing a mere four selections within the first three rounds.

Positional needs: When the Lightning front office does step up to the podium on Day 2, their drafting trends suggest a heavy emphasis on specific player profiles rather than a textbook best-player-available approach. They appeared to alter course last season with a clear-cut desire to add skill while bucking the league-wide trend of size being the primary requirement — five of their eight picks can classify as having below-average size (6-foot-1 or smaller) and each prospect possessed undeniable puck skill.

Of course, their scouts have generally shown a clear obsession with wingers and overagers to fill out their depth chart, as as over 40 percent of the organization’s 32 total selections since 2021 have been used on natural wingers while the defense has been mostly shunned — only seven in the last five drafts. Furthermore, no NHL franchise in that span, regardless of their total volume of picks, has drafted more players in their second or third year of eligibility than Tampa.

Faced with a cupboard barren of blue-chip pedigree and justifiable constraints involving draft assets on the whole, the Lightning have to make every one of their six picks count, or at least make the organization better for the long haul. Premium positions like either side of the defense and goaltending are the screaming priorities — neither Caleb Heil nor Harrison Meneghin are AHL-caliber goalies. But Tampa’s long-standing affinity for older, physically mature overagers isn't just going away — not when they need cheap, plug-and-play depth to stoke the competitive fires in Syracuse. As such, expect a hybrid course-correction on the draft floor. While third-year scouting director John Rosso and his staff likely double-down on the skill-and-speed profile they coveted last June, the sheer depth of this year’s gifted 2008-born class means biting the bullet and walking away with a first-year-eligible majority.

Thinking out loud: The Lightning are playing with fire — and that isn’t a lazy play on words. Losing to Montreal should serve as an organization-wide wakeup call, regardless of the 50 wins and the 106 points, or how much better Tampa played in certain areas, or the fact that they held the Habs to single-digit shots in a Game 7 disaster. Julien BriseBois comes across as a smart executive, but he is now running dangerously close to letting an already passive hockey market lose interest entirely is what we’re witnessing the prelude to a massive, painful crash to the bottom of the standings.

This might sound like a knee-jerk overreaction after another early playoff exit, but the structural view is ripe for scrutiny. Nobody would be wrong in accusing this front office of sheer hubris for the way they routinely treat first-round picks like pocket change. We saw the warning signs with the disastrous Tanner Jeannot trade, and that desperation has officially peaked with the Bjorkstrand/Gourde miscalculation — a gamble that cost two more first-rounders (one in 2027 and another in 2028) for a forward duo that combined for just 21 regular-season goals before completely vanishing when it mattered most. In the postseason, the only number that should matter now that the smoke has cleared is zero.

As in, zero assists for Brayden Point. Zero goals from Anthony Cirelli, zero from the aforementioned Gourde and Bjorkstrand, and the exact same goose egg from Nick Paul. It is zero points from Corey Perry — who cost a 2028 second-rounder at the deadline — and zero games played from captain Victor Hedman, who left the team in March due to mental fatigue. That is nearly $35 million in AAV tied up in six frontline pillars and a franchise defenseman who combined for a single, solitary goal in the Montreal series. And there is no immediate help from within on the horizon.

If Tampa’s refusal to build an adequate pipeline through the draft triggers a total collapse, it will stand as the definitive failure of this era — especially if this veteran nucleus can’t turn back the clock. For anyone who thinks that sounds alarmist, look no further than Pittsburgh and Washington — two Eastern Conference titans who dominated the 2010s, yet neither has won a playoff series this decade. They concentrated all their efforts on postseasons that crashed on the runway, averaging 23 to 26 picks over a four-year span during their declines, and ultimately had no choice but to dump salary and hoard draft assets. The bill always comes due — and Tampa is running out of time.

Bottom line: The aging Bolts failed to meet expectations for a fourth straight postseason and are faced with the sobering reality that the bulk of the Atlantic Division has finally caught up to them. Youth is not on their side and their system of weighing the value of draft picks is in need of revision.

Record: 39-26-17, 95 points (13th overall) | Draft position: 31st overall (as of May 29)

2026 picks: 3rd (VGK) | 5th (VGK) | 6th (VGK) | 7th (VGK)

Key dates: Scouting Combine (May 31-June 6) | Draft (June 26-27)

Situation: It has been quite the spring turnaround for the Golden Knights after a puzzling post-deadline slump triggered the ruthless firing of head coach Bruce Cassidy in favor of John Tortorella. Everything since has been beyond tickety-boo, as Tortorella’s fire-and-brimstone guidance helped Vegas surge into the postseason on the back of an 8-0-1 heater. They proceeded to spank three consecutive conference foes to the tune of a 12-4 record and clinched their third Western Conference crown in nine seasons.

This result is more telling as it is surprising, serving as yet another masterclass in how the Knights continue to weaponize the salary cap by aggressively recruiting established, battle-tested veterans to Sin City. This year’s mercenary quest began with the blockbuster offseason acquisition of top prize Mitch Marner, rescuing him from the pressure-packed fishbowl of the Toronto market. They didn’t stop there, as management followed that splash with the in-season grab of exiled goaltender Carter Hart and coveted puck-moving defenseman Rasmus Andersson from Calgary for a king’s ransom in future assets.

Although this high-priced trio significantly upgraded the roster on paper, the Pacific Division title remained frustratingly unattainable well into March. A dismal overtime record repeatedly hampered the Knights in the standings, while a handful of emergent, highly competitive divisional rivals refused to cave once they bit deeper into the critical portion of the schedule. But as the playoffs have proven once again, the Golden Knights don’t care about regular-season banners; they build teams exclusively to survive the spring, and stand as the favorite to win their second championship in four years.

Of note: The Golden Knights will be faced with a major roster conundrum as leading goal-scorer and playoff stalwart Pavel Dorofeyev is a restricted free agent after a 37-goal season, while Andersson is one of eight unrestricted free agents on the current playoff roster. They are projected to have roughly $5 million in cap space for next season.

Draft outlook: This year, the Knights own only four picks and none within the first two rounds. They initially held their own second-rounder but had to forfeit the selection earlier when the league punished them for violating post-game media policies. As you’re about to read, there are holes to fill, but achieving the 75-percent solution appears unrealistic.

Of course, the business of winning in the desert has never been a patient enterprise, and the Knights have long treated their draft capital as a secondary currency, routinely sacrificed for instant gratification. Over the last five drafts, the organization has selected a mere 24 prospects — a paltry sum well below establishment that ranks 31st among 32 NHL teams. More damming than the loss of volume is the lack of premium positioning, as only eight of those 24 picks were made within the first three rounds. To understand the staggering depth deficit this philosophy creates, one needs only to look across the ice at the Golden Knights’ opponent in the upcoming Stanley Cup Final: the Carolina Hurricanes, a model of institutional patience, have drafted 48 prospects over that exact same span, with 19 of them landing in the top-96.

This sustained, aggressive reluctance to cultivate from within has finally caught up to the pipeline, leaving the local pool among the absolute thinnest around. For all the glittering success enjoyed on the regular marquee, Vegas has received an astonishingly low 21 combined NHL games played from its draft classes between 2021 and 2025. It is a striking reality that exposes the fragility of a win-now infrastructure, illustrating that while the varsity roster remains a heavyweight contender, the conveyor belt behind it has slowed to a crawl, thereby leaving the front office with little internal reinforcement when the inevitable wear and tear of the grueling NHL calendar takes its toll.

Yet, despite this organizational drought, a glimmer of resilience has emerged down on the farm, where the AHL’s Henderson Silver Knights managed a commendable climb up the standings on the backs of the few legitimate blue-chippers Vegas has kept in the fold. Leading the charge in Henderson was the dynamic wing duo of 2024 first-rounder Trevor Connelly, whose high-end pedigree is finally translating to the pro game, and 2022 late-round steal Ben Hemmerling. Reinforced by the steady development of playmaking puck-rusher Lukas Cormier (68th in 2020) and the center Kai Uchacz (UDFA), this handful of overachievers has kept the affiliate competitive, serving as a rare reminder that while the Golden Knights’ system lacks breadth, it still possesses a few isolated pockets of potential high-caliber talent.

Positional needs: When peering into the specific deficiencies of the Vegas pipeline, the wing position emerges as a barren landscape. The Golden Knights have drafted the fewest wing prospects of any NHL team since 2020, selecting a meager four wingers over the course of the last five drafts — a partially-concerning void that only the Colorado Avalanche have contrived to match. This double-thin crop leaves the organization with virtually no internal depth on the flanks, forcing management to continuously look outside the franchise via trades and costly free-agent signings to populate the wings of their top-six forward units for the foreseeable future.

This sort of structural negligence is equally pronounced on the blue line, where a complete failure to address balance has left the system entirely lopsided. Vegas has not drafted a single right-shot defenseman since 2021, and the six total blueliners they have taken over that multi-year stretch ties them with Toronto and Winnipeg for the fewest in the entire league. In an NHL where mobile, right-handed puck-movers are coveted, the Knights have completely ignored the commodity on draft day, creating an acute organizational need that will force their scouting staff to search desperately for balance on the back-end during the draft’s secondary rounds.

If there is a sanctuary of strength within this hollowed-out system, it resides comfortably in the crease, where Vegas continues to boast an enviable stable of goaltenders and centers. In Henderson, Swedish netminder Carl Lindbom has been a revelation, commanding the lion’s share of starts for a three-headed minor-league monster to post a sparkling 24-5-5 record while slashing .926/2.16. Lindbom’s stellar campaign anchored a crease that also utilized the tandem of Cameron Whitehead and Jesper Vikman before the latter was moved to Washington for checker extraordinaire Nic Dowd.

Meanwhile, 2024 third-rounder Pavel Moysevich has continued his steady maturation in Russia, serving admirably as a high-end backup to Philadelphia Flyers’ prospect Yegor Zavragin in the adult-age VHL. This muted wealth of goaltending talent provides the Golden Knights with a vital luxury, but it cannot mask the critical, undeniable need for fresh blood along the wings and the right side of the defense.

Thinking out loud: There simply is no reason to second-guess how the Knights run their organization from the top down, even if the hands-on approach of a West Point-educated owner like Bill Foley triggers memories of my clashes with ring-knocking, micromanaging field-grade officers who couldn’t understand how a blue-collar OCS guy like myself had to teach them how to do their jobs. It was a sobering reality for them, I’m sure, and it usually got me in the hot seat — but I digress.

How can one argue against such an unprecedented run of success, regardless of the methods used? Perhaps this is one example where a zero-defect approach actually works, as long as the subordinates — or in this case, the players — genuinely buy into the program’s overarching philosophy of winning no matter the cost. Take a step back and try to think about the risks both ownership and management have assumed since their inception, from a public relations standpoint to the tactical usage of each individual player.

This is the Vegas way of doing business, and good luck getting them to try anything else. They don’t care if you label them unscrupulous, and it clearly wastes their time to look for and occupy the moral high ground. Oh, he was accused of a crime? Shame, but can he stop the puck? A coach curses at players and humiliates them on the bench? Well, did it work? This isn’t the Peace Corps. This is the old-school NHL, where the nice-guy approach reveals a history of quitting before the finish line. As for the Knights, how do nine straight winning seasons with a .567 points percentage or better sound? Need more convincing? Vegas just reached its fifth conference final since 2018, winning three times, and is expected to be the favorite to win a second Stanley Cup in four years.

But the bigger story isn’t the how, the what, or the why, but the who. This entire run since the Golden Knights entered the league was both planned and driven almost entirely through trades and free agency. Many teams throughout the course of NHL history have tried to replicate, or in some cases pioneer, this hired-gun blueprint, only to fail miserably — ultimately forcing ownership to accept a full-scale rebuild where veterans are replaced with cheap labor, allowing a painstaking three-, six-, or eight-year process to take shape. This has happened to every NHL franchise in history. All except one, and they’re the ones who have never had the luxury of being out of the public’s crosshairs. As if they care.

So, I try to think of the draft as nothing more than a formality for the Golden Knights, and I would advise their prospects to do the same. Chances are, you’re not going to stick around long enough to be part of the brotherhood or fraternity. You’re expendable and on a short leash, so do whatever you can to enjoy the ride and hawk as much free gear as you can. Looking for a home? Try renting with a six-month lease instead. And who can blame the Knights? They have titles to win, and they clearly don’t have time for anything else.

Bottom line: The Golden Knights have their way of doing things, and there is no reason to see them changing course anytime soon. The draft will likely continue to serve as a short-term lender rather than a strategic reserve — and given their record, nobody can argue against it.

Record: 45-27-10, 100 points (8th overall) | 1st round position: 23rd overall

2026 picks: 1st (BOS) | 2nd (BOS) | 3rd (BOS) | 4th (PHI), 4th (BOS), 4th (TB) | 7th (BOS)

Key dates: Scouting Combine (May 31-June 6) | Draft (June 26-27)

Situation: Being a man of your word is a heavy currency in a demanding sports town like Boston — and the stakes only multiply when those steering a losing ship are perceived to be running out of rope. Yet, there they stood last April, as team president Cam Neely and general manager Don Sweeney faced their harshest critics and offered a coherent blueprint to immediately right the ship following the franchise’s most dismal season in nearly two decades.

The results? Consider a 24-point surge in the standings, an offensive awakening that vaulted their goal output from fifth-worst to the top 10, and a return to the Stanley Cup playoffs for the ninth time in 10 years. More importantly, the Bruins, unlike in the 2024–25 season, remained healthy almost to a man while receiving a Vezina-caliber season from Jeremy Swayman.

As such, the mechanics of this resurrection command real but modest reverence. The Bruins pivoted seamlessly from a necessary tear-down at the 2025 trade deadline to a calculated offseason shopping spree. There, Sweeney plucked critical, cost-effective depth pieces out of the market — unearthing the very catalyst for a rapid, cut-rate turnaround on Causeway Street.

Although Sweeney delivered this earnest vow of respectability in full, the celebratory music died earlier than expected, and at the hands of an old-school Adams Division rival who had (finally) surpassed them in the standings. The subsequent first-round exit against the upstart Buffalo Sabres — who faced the Bruins in the playoffs six times between 1982 and 1993 — provided a sobering reminder of where this organization really stood, just a season removed from the ranks of the downtrodden and disappointing. Is that enough justification to deny credit to Neely, Sweeney, and their staff for averting a disastrous, back-to-back regression — the kind of consecutive multi-season slide that invites the dreaded R-word, followed by a purge of the executive suite and a total institutional teardown? As they say, be careful what you wish for.

And even if everything isn’t hunky-dory out in the neighborhoods and suburbs — where bumping into the right person reminds you that the fanbase is well past the point of moral victories — this situation is far from becoming unglued. In 1993 or 2002, this type of Bruins season — a new coach, a 100-point campaign, a 100-point scorer in David Pastrnak, plus a Vezina nominee in goal — would have sufficed. But perhaps that’s the root of the concern, as those editions from the mid-1990s and mid-2000s eventually crashed and burned with little hope for stability. The Bruins last won the Cup in 2011, and the fanbase is beginning to consider that championship a get-out-of-jail-free card for the front office as much as it is a glorious moment in franchise history.

Of note: Barring any trades, the Bruins are slated to draft at least one prospect in the first four rounds in consecutive seasons for the first time since 1999 and 2000, when the draft went nine rounds deep. For those keeping score at home, those combined classes of 22 players produced only one full-time Bruin of note — defenseman Nick Boynton.

Draft outlook: The habit of trading picks to fuel playoff runs has shifted slightly from indiscriminate (only two first-round picks between 2018 and 2023) to protective, as the B’s are on track to grab a top-32 prospect for a third straight year and own six picks within the first four rounds. Additionally, one of their brightest hopefuls, mammoth center Dean Letourneau (25th overall in 2024) became one of college hockey’s top pivots and played frequently with James Hagens (7th overall in 2025) at Boston College. The system isn’t quite enviable just yet, but it’ll probably get there within the next 12 — 24 months.

This is far from hyperbole or exaggeration. Part of crafting a tenable long-term strategy is to possess a wealth of draft capital, and Boston is currently in possession of additional first-round selections in 2027 (Toronto via the Brandon Carlo trade) and 2028 (Florida via the Brad Marchand deal) — the former of which nearly transferred to the Bruins as a 2026 top-10 pick had the Maple Leafs not won the draft lottery.

Nonetheless, Sweeney’s reluctance to mortgage the future in recent years may not guarantee an improvement in next year’s standings, but it will present his scouts with the opportunity to accumulate more than just centers, which constitute nearly 50 percent (14/29) of their picks since 2021. As already mentioned, the Bruins are armed with seven picks in 2026 — six within the first four rounds — but there’s a thing or two about this draft that needs to be considered beyond the fact that Boston scouts will be busier than usual.

First off, they’ll have a greater pool of quality talent to choose from in their two favorite circuits — the NCAA and Sweden. Without question, this is the deepest Swedish class we’ve seen since 2009, when nine of the first 40 picks donned the yellow and blue. And the B’s have never hid the fact that they like their draft picks to marinate in the USHL for at least two seasons before tacking on another three or four in college.

Well, this year’s NCAA contingent is infinitely more talented and deep than what the USHL has to offer, largely due to the CHL rule that saw a mass exodus of major junior prospects join the collegiate ranks, albeit mostly as overagers. Still, the lure of a seasoned prospect who’s already survived at least one season of near-AHL-caliber play likely entices the Bruins to use at least a third of their picks on college types.

Positional needs: The Bruins are among the league leaders in centers drafted since 2021 with 14, but the wing position, with only four prospects taken in that same span, has created an obvious but unfortunate disparity.

Drafts under Sweeney and scouting director Ryan Nadeau have leaned heavily toward pivots and defenders, but the depth of wingers within the upper levels of this 2026 group will allow teams that cracked the 100-point plateau to snag first-round quality well into the middle of the second round.

Another consideration is a potential run of defensemen in the first half of the opening round, which in turn should plunge quality centers and those elite wingers into the mid-to-late 20s — precisely where the Bruins will open their 2026 draft.

Naturally, it should be implied that Swayman manning the pipes makes goaltending an organizational strength, but that isn’t the case at levels below their steamrolling AHL affiliate in Providence. While the loss of Brandon Bussi to Carolina last offseason (and his subsequent emergence on the NHL stage) stings only in the sense that the Bruins could have traded him rather than losing him for nothing in return, they still deleted a capable backstop from their rolls. The AHL tandem of 27-year-old minor-leaguer Mike DiPietro and Czech import Simon Zajicek, 25, is a capable one, but Boston has drafted only two goalies since 2021. They need new blood — or else.

Thinking out loud: The Bay State collective remains vocally, deeply frustrated by this ongoing inability to mount a deep springtime run, and the prevailing sentiment in the bars and talk radio waves is that the present-day roster still lacks the elite, multi-positional star power that defined the franchise’s gilded, relentless decade of dominance in the 2010s.

Where these types of players will come from over the next handful of seasons is anyone’s guess. Although rookie Fraser Minten quickly became a fan favorite as an everyday power center and Hagens in a brief call-up showed sporadic glimpses of his abilities as a playmaking center, the Bruins ranking near the bottom in total draft picks since 2016 mostly explains why so few of their prospects make the show.

Anyway, drafting from the nosebleed section was something the Bruins had grown accustomed to before joining last year’s lottery and taking Hagens at seventh overall. But now they’ll have the chance to complement these blue-chip centers with wingers who can finish — both from the first round and beyond — and the options are aplenty.

With their first pick (23rd overall), a finisher who plays a heavy game like Oscar Hemming or Ethan Belchetz is likely off the board somewhere in the late teens, if not sooner. If that’s what the Bruins are looking for, then perhaps the OHL’s Adam Novotny makes sense, especially since the Bruins haven’t been averse to mining the Czech talent pool. If they want more polish and flash from the flank, then any one of OHLers Nikita Klepov or Jaxson Cover, or the WHL’s Liam Ruck, would give them incredible scoring upside with high IQ to boot.

Then again, these are the Bruins we’re talking about, which means the center position will remain in play regardless of how disproportionate they are at wing. The college route could provide Miami’s Ilya Morozov, a dedicated two-way center who manned the top line with aplomb. A similar pivot is Simas Ignatavicius, who cut his teeth as a middle-sixer in the Swiss elite league. If Sweden’s group is more impressive in their eyes, then maybe they get lucky and Alexander Command slips to them, but countryman Adam Andersson screams black and gold — a big, nasty, heavy-hitting 200-foot center with soft hands and in-tight finish. Lastly, keep an eye on two Boston College-bound Latvian centers for the second day — the QMJHL’s Olivers Murnieks, who surged in the second half, and dual-threat USHLer Rudolfs Berzkalns..

Bottom line: The Bruins deserved credit for rebounding, even if it wasn’t close to the form they held as legitimate contenders three seasons prior. They have a solid foundation in place and the farm system has improved, but both need to expand well beyond their current level of quality.

Record: 34-39-9, 77 points (30th overall) | Lottery result: 6th overall (-2)

2026 picks: 1st (CGY), 1st (VGK) | 2nd (NYR), 2nd (CGY), 2nd (UTA), 2nd (55) | 3rd (VAN), 3rd (CGY) | 4th (CGY) | 5th (CGY) | 6th (CGY)

Key dates: Scouting Combine (May 31-June 6) | Draft (June 26-27)

Situation: The changing of the guard in the NHL’s annual playoff bracket was supposed to include the upstart Flames, who in 2024-25 improved by 15 points to nearly reach the century mark before falling short of the postseason in the final days of the schedule. The optimism that reverberated throughout last offseason was quickly doused by a crippling October in which Calgary posted only one regulation win in its first 13 contests. It became clear by Thanksgiving that the Flames — and their popgun offense — would be hard-pressed to challenge for the playoffs, and even their most loyal optimists realized the winning streak their club needed to improve its chances was never going to materialize.

Unsurprisingly, rumors swirled that another trade-deadline roster dump was inevitable, and general manager Craig Conroy — speaking of optimism — smartly opened his doors to the highest bidders, who would pay handsomely for the services of defensemen Rasmus Andersson (traded to Vegas), Mackenzie Weegar (Utah), and center Nazem Kadri (Colorado). This reduction — on the heels of previous sell-offs — resulted in a seventh-place finish in the Pacific Division, which was the team's worst since the organization’s inaugural season as the Atlanta Flames back in 1972-73.

For Conroy to remain true to his words regarding Calgary’s youth movement, he must continue to purge the roster of 30-somethings — nine of whom remain under contract for next season. In fact, of the 15 Flames skaters who appeared in 50 games or more in 2025-26, only two — leading scorer Matthew Coronato and center Connor Zary —were under 25, and Conroy has intimated that only his most prized possessions will be protected this offseason.

Of note: The Flames selected more first-rounders (five) in Craig Conroy’s first three drafts as GM than in predecessor Brad Treliving’s final six (four). Additionally, they grabbed three sub-six-foot prospects in 2025, which is the same total as Calgary’s previous four drafts combined.

2026 draft outlook: The Flames are admittedly rebuilding and their 11 picks heading into the draft — eight within the top 70 — are the most they’ve had in a single class in nearly 25 years. Their scouts under director Tod Button have a solid reputation in terms of discovering NHL talent in both the early and later rounds, but only Coronato, who led the team in scoring with 45 points, has proven himself as a legitimate NHL talent, at least among their most recent classes. That could change as early as next season, when the expected AHL graduations of their best prospects coincide with Conroy’s ongoing reduction of the veteran contingent.

Button and his staff deserve praise for their work over the years. However, Calgary’s all-in approach to offense, which included taking sublime puck rusher Zayne Parekh with the ninth pick in 2024, is an obvious case of pulling out all the stops to rectify their inability to score goals and operate an effective power play, which ranked 31st in the league. With promising Russian goalie prospects and starter Dustin Wolf’s four-year extension kicking in next season, the Calgary cage appears to be in good hands despite having taken only two backstops in the last four drafts.

Now, if their internal top tier involves only one of two wingers — Gavin McKenna and Ivar Stenberg — then Calgary’s best-player-available strategy should lead them directly to a blue-chip, two-way defenseman once the aforementioned duo are of the board. One would think that the righty Parekh’s riverboat-gambling style would need a positionally-cerebral partner on the left side, but in truth, any one of Keaton Verhoeff, Alberts Smits, Carson Carels, Daxon Rudolph, or Chase Reid deserves to run a pairing of his own.

Positional needs: An aggressive, forward-centric strategy has been an identifiable trait of Calgary’s three draft classes with Conroy at the helm. Unsurprisingly, the Flames have secured only nine defensemen since 2021 — and only two were within the first two rounds. But holding the sixth overall pick means their scouts should take a pure best-player-available approach, even if that develops into taking another center over the elite two-way defenseman that the organization’s pipeline currently lacks. Again, there isn’t anything wrong with that approach. Far from it, to be exact.

One certainty is the amount of firepower the Flames possess at the wing position, and not simply from high-round options. Although having a dozen draft picks likely eliminates any chance the scouts lean toward one particular position, Calgary’s wealth of snipers — coupled with last year’s run of pivots — could make 2026 their first defense-heavy class since 2020, when they snagged four blueliners.

Thinking out loud: I think the Flames are near the top of the list for a significant improvement in 2026-27 regardless of how many changes Conroy makes, beginning with the expected rebound season from Wolf. Another factor I’m considering involves Calgary’s pending free agents after next season and the customary trend of veterans playing their guts out in a walk year — not only for a bigger payday but a change of scenery as well.

One potential problem I foresee for Conroy is his team’s unattractive cost-per-point efficiency when opposing teams are scouring rosters in an attempt to improve their offense. This could require him to add more dead space on top of the $1.4 million hit he’s consuming from the Kadri deal until 2029, or include prospects and picks, which partly goes against what he’s trying to accomplish. Again, the assets he’s already secured are substantial.

But the Flames, with their $10 million in cap space and all, may have to eat the entire 2026-27 season in order to accelerate the rebuild Conroy admits to overseeing. This would actually be a good thing, even if the team is under pressure to have a competitive team in place when the new arena opens.

For starters, it allows more of their prospects to gain valuable NHL experience, and all while Jonathan Huberdeau’s horrific $10.5 million cap hit actually helps the Flames reach the cap floor despite icing a lineup loaded with kids on entry-level deals. It also puts Calgary in a position in 2027 to secure a top-three pick, which has never happened in franchise history. At press time, next year’s draft class looks as deep as 2026 but with more talent coming out of Russia and the NCAA.

Bottom line: Conroy has done most of the necessary lifting during this rebuild by fortifying his pipeline while reducing his long-term cap hit, but we won’t be able to call this a genuine youth movement until he unloads most of his remaining veterans — many of whom are under contract for at least another season.