The 2026 NHL Draft season is officially underway with the conclusion of the Hlinka Gretzky Cup, the first major event on the prospect calendar.
This preseason top 32 (plus 39 honorable mentions, for a total of 71 players to watch) is my second of what will be seven rankings of the 2026 class. It comes after my way-too-early top 26 from April and will be followed by my preliminary top 64 (to be released in November), a midseason top 64, a March top 64, a post-U18 Worlds top 64 and my final top 100.
This class, made up of 2008s and late-2007s, is headlined by sensation Gavin McKenna, an impressive group of high-end CHL D prospects, a strong Swedish age group led by forwards Ivar Stenberg and Viggo Björck, a pair of giant OHL forwards in Ryan Roobroeck and Ethan Belchetz, Muskegon's Tynan Lawrence and Czech standout Adam Novotny.
As always, the ranking is packaged in our sortable user interface and broken down into tiers. This preseason list is divided into five tiers: 1, 2-3, 4-10, 11-14, 15-32-plus.
Note that while I consult scouts, coaches, general managers, team staff and those around these players (their agents, skills coaches, strength and conditioning coaches) throughout the year, the following evaluations and rankings are strictly mine.
Here are full reports on the top 32 (honorable mentions are sorted alphabetically).