Prospect mailbag questions are answered, including sleepers for the upcoming 2026 draft, World Junior Championshop dark horses, why Gavin McKenna might not go No. 1, and more.
The world of prospects is an interesting one. Fans can quickly look up stats or highlight reels to gain a quick opinion. They look at their team's best prospects and brag about the crazy goal they scored or the wildly impressive production they’re putting up for their junior team.
The reality is that aside from the players who are playing for your local junior team or the few players who get selected for a big tournament like the World Junior Championship, it’s not often that fans get to see prospects play for any extended period of time.
That’s where lunatics like me come in. I watch hours upon hours of hockey from Europe, the CHL, the NCAA, and so much more to stay as informed about the best prospects from around the world to help share my analysis of what I’ve seen across countless games.
One of the best ways to do that is to directly ask you what you want to know about. So let's dive into a mailbag to answer some of your questions.
What do you want to see out of the Europeans widely ranked in the teens (Suvanto, Gustafsson, Hermansson) for them to grab a top-10 spot
If I’m being completely honest, catch me on the right day, and Oliver Suvanto is already in the top ten. His intelligence, size, and ability to play in all situations are exactly what you want from a center.
Suvanto might not have the top-end speed or pure skill to be a top-line center, but his puck handling is underrated, and he has a heavy shot. His playmaking is precise, and he rarely makes mistakes.
Those all lead me to believe that there is a world where he’s a very solid number two center in a similar mold to Chicago Blackhawks prospect Anton Lundell.
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With Malte Gustafsson and Elton Hermansson, they need to refine their games - in very different ways.
Gustafsson is a very toolsy blueliner with great size at 6-foot-4 and impressive mobility. He can defend well and makes some really nice passes with the puck. On the other hand, he is fairly inconsistent, and he doesn’t really know what he wants to be quite yet.
Hermansson is an offensive force with a great snapshot and some silky mitts. His game is a bit more well-rounded than some of the other high-skill Swedish forwards in the class, but he has plenty of ways to go before you’d consider him a diversely talented player.
His fastball is great, but he lacks the secondary stuff to get him to the next level at the moment. He needs to develop more of a B-game to move up the board.
Could McKenna solidify the #1 spot at the world juniors?
Why is McKenna not #1?!
This question was asked a lot. Whether it was in the comment section of my rankings, in this mailbag or even just in conversation with people around the game. I need to make it very clear.
Gavin McKenna is an absolute stud. His offensive skill and creativity are wildly impressive. He has made some of the best passes I’ve seen from any player in the draft class.
When he is facilitating play at the junior level, he toys with his opponents at times. He can find an open man or put the puck into a spot where only his teammate can skate onto it. His shot isn’t half bad either.
It’s the off-puck game and lack of physical engagement that worry me on some level. I have always been an advocate for physicality being less big, booming hits and more body positioning and functional physical play along the boards, but McKenna lacks any of it.
Playing at the NCAA level has challenged him more than most anticipated. He’s no longer the consensus number one, but he’s very much still in play for the top spot. His upside is elite, but the concerns are valid.
As for whether he can solidify his standing at the World Junior Championship, not really. He’s shown that he can bully U-20 talent at the WHL level.
His play at last year’s world juniors was impressive, but challenging for a scoring title at this tournament just shows that he can still bring that elite-level skill when he’s not as physically challenged. He needs to prove it at the NCAA level to really lock down No. 1.
What do you think of Samu Alalauri?
I like Samu Alalauri. He’s a very good all-around defenseman for this year’s draft. He has a lot of really nice traits.
Alalauri is mobile, well-positioned, gets to the middle with the puck, and he shows flashes of skill at both ends of the ice. He can escape a forecheck from time to time, and he can puck handle himself into open space at the offensive end once in a while.
He’s not a true stud at either end of the ice, but he’s far from a liability. If we get to see him at the Liiga level, it should give us a bit more of a clear picture, but as of right now, he’s good, not great.
I wonder about how scouts view the strength of the WHL, OHL and QMJHL this year due to the massive changes that have taken place.
This is a really interesting conversation. Some scouts I’ve spoken with have said that they aren’t rushing to judgment and the CHL remains healthy because for every kid that leaves a year or two early to go to the NCAA, there’s a couple of others who would have gone to Jr. A or the USHL that are sticking around in the CHL.
Others have said that losing some of the 20-year-old talent and some of the top-end players is hurting the leagues because now the league will start to skew younger and less physical, which could harm the development and make the jump from the CHL to the pro levels.
My opinion is that although I believe the latter is occurring, that could be best for the individual player. This will help normalize the path of playing in the CHL until 19 or 20 years old before heading to the college ranks to play a couple of more years against bigger, stronger, and faster competition.
When players enter the NHL right out of junior, they have major strength and structural deficiencies. With the NCAA path open, that should help in that area.
At this point, who are your draft sleepers?
I love a good sleeper's question. When looking at the consolidated rankings on eliteprospects.com, some of the players that I am highest on compared to the consensus include Casey Mutryn, Adam Valentini, and Vertti Svensk.
Mutryn is a powerforward who has some really nice flashes of skill with a nose for the net. He loves to attack defenders head-on and make things happen around the net. Mutryn is probably the closest thing to this year’s draft to a Matthew Knies.
A lot of the early-season distaste for Valentini comes from his decision to head to the University of Michigan a year early after committing to play in Kitchener in the OHL. The timing of the decision wasn’t the greatest, but it also arose because Michigan had an extra roster spot as the season approached, when that wasn’t anticipated before the summer.
Valentini is the second-highest scoring draft-eligible in the NCAA with 17 points in 20 games. He’s highly intelligent and incredibly skilled.
Svensk might be the most interesting of the bunch. His skating is truly high-end, and he flashes some really impressive play at both ends of the ice. He leverages his mobility in the defensive end quite well, closing down gaps and reading rushes with efficiency.
Offensively, he shows some nice puck-moving ability and slick puck skills. He’s certainly on the raw side, but the upside is quite intriguing.
Who could be the dark horse team at the WJC?
The big five are favored to win a medal. Canada is looking for redemption. USA is seeking a three-peat. Sweden is hoping to get off the schnide. Finland wants to capture gold after settling for silver last year. Czechia is looking to medal in their fourth straight tournament. Cracking that group is going to be tough.
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Slovakia has some intriguing young talent. Switzerland is usually fairly pesky. The team that might be the sneakiest dark horse is Latvia.
We’ve seen them upset Canada in recent memory, and they have some of the most high-end talent that they’ve had in years. Alberts Smits is a legitimate difference maker on the back end, and he’s always been a stud against junior-aged talent.
Olivers Murnieks and Bruno Osmanis could be the scoring talent needed to upset one of the top nations. They always receive some of the most unexpected goaltending at the tournament. They shouldn’t be expected to medal, but don’t be surprised if they upset a team or two.
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