Building an NHL Draft list is easier said than done — especially with multiple voices and opinions conflicting through the process.
But that’s what NHL teams must do every year, getting their scouts and executives together and debating players from different leagues to come up with a final draft list.
To simulate the challenges and compromises that go into forming a draft list, “The Athletic Hockey Show” Prospect Series crew — made up of The Athletic’s Corey Pronman, Scott Wheeler and Max Bultman, and FloHockey’s Chris Peters — spent Thursday’s episode working together to build a collaborative top 10.
Every panelist had to compromise, but the result gave both a consensus top 10 and a window into how different (and at times significantly different) preferences impact a final list.
Tier 1
RankPlayerPositionTeam
1
Gavin McKenna
LW
Penn State
2
Ivar Stenberg
LW
Frölunda
3
Chase Reid
RHD
Soo Greyhounds
Fitting for this draft class, the discussion began with Penn State winger Gavin McKenna, who has been the biggest name of this age group for years. The panel unanimously agreed Swedish winger Ivar Stenberg belonged in the same tier as McKenna, with Wheeler emphasizing the historical strength of his season in the SHL. Only Markus Näslund, Tomas Sandström and the Sedins have ever scored more than Stenberg’s 33 points this season as U19 players. That said, no one wanted to argue him for the top spot overall.
While defenseman Chase Reid finished third on the panel’s joint list, Pronman ranked him as the No. 1 player on his personal board. Peters highlighted Reid’s rise from playing in the NAHL as recently as 2024 to a top defenseman in the OHL in a short span, and said he thinks Reid could still be “on the front end of some of his best development years.” Pronman agreed, comparing his trajectory to Cale Makar’s.
“He kind of just exploded in his draft year,” Pronman said. “And then he goes to college, and he was really good, and had the great World Junior A Challenge. I think (Peters’) point about how little high-level experience Reid had before the half year of the OHL (he entered the league midway through the 2024-25 season) is very relevant.”
Wheeler had some minor hesitance with putting Reid into the top tier with McKenna and Stenberg, noting Reid’s age as a late 2007 birthday and the fact that Reid’s production, for an offensively inclined defenseman, wasn’t jaw-dropping at just over a point per game compared to past OHL defenders like Brandt Clarke, Zayne Parekh or Ryan Ellis. Wheeler still ranked Reid third, but drew a distinction there compared to McKenna and Stenberg’s historical context when it came to the tier grouping.
Pronman acknowledged that Reid’s offense may not be elite, but felt his skating and defending would make up for it compared to the more pure offensive defensemen Wheeler referenced.
Ultimately, though, the group agreed to put Reid in the top tier, albeit behind McKenna and Stenberg.
There were other players nominated for Tier 1, but none were able to get enough support from the rest of the panel for the final list.
Bultman nominated Carson Carels, citing his well-rounded profile as a physical defenseman who actually outproduced the other top CHL defensemen in this class, comparing him to Jake Sanderson and Charlie McAvoy, but could not get any support. However, Wheeler and Pronman both noted that there is some sentiment among NHL evaluators for Carels near the top of the class.
“My sense is that it’s very close between (Carels) and Reid in a consensus around the league, from those I’ve talked to,” Wheeler said. “I’ve talked to, maybe not just as many people who have as the top defensemen, but a number of people who have him ahead of Reid.”
Pronman suggested Latvian defenseman Albert Šmits for Tier 1, after a very impressive draft season that saw him play against men in Liiga, the DEL playoffs and even at the Olympics.
“You think of some of the best European defensemen to come into the draft in the last decade, you think of (Miro) Heiskanen, you think of (Moritz) Seider, I think what he’s accomplished in those leagues and against men is comparable,” Pronman said. “He’s not quite the skater Heiskanen is, he’s not as physical as Seider, he’s a different player. But I think to me he looks like a pretty good bet to become a top-pair defenseman in the NHL.”
Wheeler has Šmits as his No. 2 defenseman and loves the Latvian’s physical tools, but noted some questions on Šmits’ decision-making, and the panel overall decided to put him in Tier 2 instead.
Tier 2
RankPlayerPositionTeam
4
Alberts Smits
LHD
Jukurit
5
Caleb Malhotra
C
Brantford Bulldogs
6
Viggo Björck
C
Djurgårdens
7
Carson Carels
LHD
Prince George Cougars
8
Keaton Verhoeff
RHD
North Dakota
9
Daxon Rudolph
RHD
Prince Albert Raiders
Pronman indicated one more player he would have liked to advocate for in Tier 1, and that was Keaton Verhoeff, the big-bodied right-shot defenseman playing for North Dakota. He even tried to strike a deal, offering to compromise on his ordering of Šmits and Carels to ensure Verhoeff ended up in the top seven.
The panel did not make that deal, but Pronman still made his case for Verhoeff, noting his comparable college production to Zach Werenski and Noah Hanifin at 17, as well as his size, character and track record.
“To me, he just checks so many boxes,” Pronman said. “The body of work is so impressive, going back to his junior days. I don’t see the issue here. I think people are overthinking this one a little bit. I think he’s awesome.”
Peters, though, expressed a reservation on Verhoeff’s hockey sense, and Wheeler echoed that while also questioning the defenseman’s skating. That left Verhoeff behind both Šmits and Carels on the final list, despite Pronman’s objections.
Two centers disrupted the group of six defensemen ranked between Nos. 3 and 10, though: Caleb Malhotra and Viggo Björck ranked Nos. 5 and 6 for the group.
Wheeler labeled Malhotra — the son of longtime NHLer and now Vancouver Canucks head coach Manny Malhotra — as the No. 1 center in the class, and emphasized Malhotra’s skating, hockey sense, playmaking and two-way details. He acknowledged there was some question over whether Malhotra had enough offense to be a true No. 1 center, but even then, he felt Malhotra was a top-of-the-draft caliber prospect with future captain potential.
“I’m big, big on Caleb,” Wheeler said. “I think he’s going to be an important, winning centerman in a top six in the NHL and potentially even on a first line.”
Pronman, meanwhile, made the case for Björck as the draft’s top center, citing his excellent play for Sweden at the World Championship plus his skill, sense and competitiveness despite a smaller frame at 5-foot-9.
“To me, Viggo has the best hockey sense in the draft,” Peters said. “I think that he’s one of the smartest overall players. He just knows how to play. … He plays at a level that is above most of his peers, in terms of how he processes, the decisions that he makes, and also just that competitive drive that he has is special.”
The final Tier 2 name was another defenseman, WHL righty Daxon Rudolph.
“He’s a really exciting prospect because of the tools,” Pronman said. “Like, he’s 6-2.5, measured at the combine, he can skate, he’s got legit skill, legit playmaking ability.”
The concerns around Rudolph, Pronman noted, were some tentativeness defensively and a lack of physicality. But he analogized Rudolph to Dallas Stars defenseman Thomas Harley, and noted that Rudolph was right there with Reid as the best bets to run a No. 1 power play in the NHL. The group agreed he belonged in the second tier.
Because the group set out to construct a top 10, there was only one more spot available after the end of Tier 2, and each panelist nominated one player for that spot.
Peters suggested NTDP winger Wyatt Cullen, a major riser in this draft class who has had a significant growth spurt and now stands 6-1 and has maintained a high skill level and playmaking ability.
Pronman offered up Swedish defenseman Malte Gustafsson, a smooth-skating 6-4.5 defenseman with physicality and first-pass ability befitting a potential top-four blueliner.
Bultman nominated OHL power forward Ethan Belchetz, noting the scarcity of true power wingers with meaningful offensive ability at Belchetz’s 6-5 stature.
And Wheeler advocated for WHL defenseman Ryan Lin, a smaller puck-mover who he called the smartest defenseman in the class, while also praising his skating and competitiveness.
There was significant debate between the four, and in the end, the group was deadlocked between Cullen and Gustafsson, before Gustafsson finally got the edge.
The panel didn’t rank the other three players in order because the exercise was to construct a top 10, but all four got at least one nomination for that spot.
Here’s the final top 10 the group agreed on.
The Athletic Hockey Show top 10
RankTierPlayerPositionTeam
1
1
Gavin McKenna
LW
Penn State (NCAA)
2
1
Ivar Stenberg
LW
Frölunda (SHL)
3
1
Chase Reid
RHD
Soo (OHL)
4
2
Alberts Smits
LHD
Jukurit (Liiga)
5
2
Caleb Malhotra
C
Brantford (OHL)
6
2
Viggo Björck
C
Djurgårdens (SHL)
7
2
Carson Carels
LHD
Prince George (WHL)
8
2
Keaton Verhoeff
RHD
North Dakota (NCAA)
9
2
Daxon Rudolph
RHD
Prince Albert (WHL)
10
3
Malte Gustafsson
LHD
HV71 (SHL)
HM
HM
Wyatt Cullen
LW
U.S. NTDP
HM
HM
Ethan Belchetz
LW
Windsor (OHL)
HM
HM
Ryan Lin
RHD
Vancouver (WHL)