The NHL draft is a long, exhaustive process for scouts and NHL teams. They spend years compiling comprehensive scouting reports and evaluations on a massive pool of players, only to make a handful of picks to improve their rosters over two to three years. 

The draft is a bit of a crapshoot at times. 

The ‘Team Ferrari’ exercise is essentially a multi-year continuous activity in which I choose an NHL club and draft in their position to build a prospect pool of my own. The team I’ve chosen is the Detroit Red Wings, a team that I grew up across the river from. 

It is worth noting that I make my selections before the Red Wings, so their decision or those of other teams afterward do not affect my decision. It forces me to bet that a player I like will be there the next time I get a selection or risk missing on them if I don’t select them at the current pick. 

This exercise is meant to force me to put my money where my mouth is – at least as much as I can while not employed by an NHL club – and choose a player at a given spot to put my name behind. This allows me to look back over the next few years, refine my process, and self-evaluate. It’s a fun way to see just how right or wrong I am on certain players and evaluate why.

The depth chart above for ‘Team Ferrari’ shows the players that have been added to the hypothetical roster over the years, including the players picked this year. You can find previous iterations of this exercise here. Let’s get down to business and introduce the newest members of ‘Team Ferrari’ as we conclude the 2026 NHL draft. 

Detroit Pick: JP Hurlbert, LW/RW, Kamloops (WHL)

The Red Wings initially had no first-round pick, but they traded Sebastian Cossa for the 23rd pick, which allowed me to add another high-end player to Team Ferrari. I don’t dislike Detroit’s selection of Hurlbert; I just felt like there was a much better version of him on the board in Mathis Preston. 

Hurlbert is a solid bet for skill and offensive zone prowess, but he’s not much of an impact player outside the offensive zone. That’s where Preston brings some added value, particularly as a transition machine. He’s able to rush the puck up the ice, attack on the rush and make life difficult on defenders by putting them on their heels. 

Preston’s ability to create for himself and for teammates is wildly impressive. He has the puck skill to open up space for himself, and he really seems to understand how to attack defenders’ weaknesses. He was a top-10 player on my board, and while I understood his fall to some extent, this feels like a steal to me. 

Detroit Pick: Victor Plante, RW/LW, U.S. NTDP (USHL)

This is a tough one for me because I hoped Plante would be there on my next go-around, given his undersized status. This decision came down to Hakansson and Plante, and ultimately, I went with the big, stout defender because there was a greater chance in my mind that Plante would be there at 79th overall.

Unfortunately, Detroit ensured that was not the case. Needless to say, I really like that pick for the Wings. 

The mindset behind taking Hakansson is that his defensive game and physical element bring something that every NHL team needs. His steady defensive mind isn’t flashy, and it isn’t the most exciting thing in the world, but you need defenders who can just shut things down. 

Detroit Pick: Michal Orsulak, G, Prince Albert (WHL) 

I don’t dislike taking Orsulak here; he’s a solid goalie who has drawn plenty of interest this year. I didn’t have any goalies on my radar in this range, which left my decision to be between big Swedish center Adam Andersson or undersized buzzsaw Adam Valentini. I was banking on Valentini potentially being there in the fourth round (spoiler: he wasn’t) when I’m back up, so I went with Andersson. 

Andersson is a 6-foot-4, defensive-minded center with some hard skills in his game. He projects as a bottom-six center who can be an important piece on the penalty kill as well as at 5-on-5. He’s a very solid center who doesn’t create problems for his team, making things easy and earning plenty of his coach’s trust. 

Detroit Pick: Adam Levac, C, Peterborough (OHL)

This pick is where I most differentiate from the Wings to this point. Levac is a defensive-minded center with a good motor, but he wasn’t a player that I had on my radar anywhere near this range. My pick of Landon Hafele gives me many of the same qualities in terms of work ethic, but he also brings plenty of speed and pace, along with eager physicality. 

Hafele is the kind of player who would fit perfectly into a team’s bottom six, with upside that could make him a second-line guy if he can refine his passing and improve his shot just a touch. He’s relentless at times, and I have a feeling that his high speed and pace will work better in college and at the pro level than they did in the USHL. 

Detroit Pick: Beckham Edwards, C, Sarnia (OHL)

The Wings going with Beckham Edwards here is actually pretty good value in my opinion. Edwards is a player who applies pressure all over the ice. He has a good shot, and although he didn’t improve his counting stats this past season, he has the skill to be better than he was this year. 

Personally, I felt like finding a goalie in this range, given what was available, made a ton of sense. Roberto Henriquez has been one of my favourites throughout this year. He’s a bit raw from a technical standpoint, but the Slovakia-Dominican netminder has some really impressive athleticism, and his skating is a strength as well. 

Detroit Pick: Luka Arkko, LW, Lahti (Finland)

In hindsight, this is a funny pick because I could have selected Brosnan with my next pick in the draft (as Detroit did). He’s a really interesting defender, and Detroit grabbing him as late as they did is excellent value. 

The Wings selected Finnish winger Luka Arkko with this pick, an intriguing forward with some size and power to his game. He loves to drive the net and makes quick, smart passes throughout the ice. He’s a nice, flashy player by any means, but he’s a tactician who can make the right play most of the time. He’s going to need to improve his puck skills and speed to really find an NHL role, though. 

Detroit Pick: Myles Brosnan, D, Dexter (USHS)

Detroit’s pick of Brosnan was my pick at the last pick. First coming to my attention at the USHL All-American game, the more I looked into him and watched him play, the more I liked his game. He’s a big, mobile defender with good gap control and some really intriguing puck-rush ability. There’s a chance that he’s the second-best American-born defenseman in the draft class behind Chase Reid. 

With my final pick in the draft, I took the flyer on Casper Juustovaara Karlsson. The undersized energy forward from Sweden impressed me every time I saw him. He plays with vigor in all three zones. He’s a gritty player who attacks the middle of the ice and battles for the puck along the boards.

At 5-foot-8, he’s not always the most effective against bigger players, but he’s found ways to mitigate his size disadvantage. He’s a seventh-round flyer, but one I’m excited about. 

This year’s draft was an interesting one. The Wings trading back up into the first round gave me some good ammo to grab a high-end player in Preston while adding others in the second and third rounds. One player that I had targeted and missed out on was Valentini. He was ranked higher than Hakansson on my board, but part of the drafting process is understanding where to value players and when to wait.

With Valentini, I had banked on the fact that he’s an undersized forward who NHL teams seemed to have soured on. Unfortunately, he was picked just a few slots ahead of my next pick. 

I was very happy to have landed mid-late round players like Hafele, Henriquez, and Brosnan. They were all players I targeted in the ranges I got them, and they were all taken within a round, so it was good timing when I selected them. I would have loved to grab Vertti Svensk and Wiggo Sorensson, but unfortunately, they were taken much higher than I expected, which meant that I missed out on them. 

Overall, I am quite happy with the haul I got at the draft. I helped fill some of the holes in the Team Ferrari pipeline and add some really nice swings on skill and talent deeper in the draft. I think there will be multiple NHLers who come out of this class, and I am excited to see how they develop moving forward.

See more of The Hockey News on Google and save us as a preferred source. Get the latest news and trending stories by subscribing to our newsletter here. And share your thoughts by commenting below the article on THN.com or creating your own post in our community forum.