The 2027 NHL Draft’s crown jewel heads to Ann Arbor. After a historic WHL title run, the elite defenseman joins a loaded Wolverines roster as college hockey’s premier centerpiece.
After visiting multiple NCAA programs, the projected first overall pick in the 2027 NHL Draft, Landon DuPont has made his decision, committing to the University of Michigan for the 2026-27 season, per multiple sources.
DuPont, who is just 17 years old, arrives in Ann Arbor as one of the most decorated junior defensemen in recent memory and the most coveted prospect in his draft class.
The numbers he has put up over the past two seasons with the WHL's Everett Silvertips have been nothing short of remarkable. At just 16 years old, DuPont was already operating at a near point-per-game pace, recording 17 goals and 43 assists for 60 points in 64 regular season games before taking his game to another level entirely in the playoffs, adding five goals and ten assists for 15 points across ten postseason contests.
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This past season at 17, he posted 18 goals and 55 assists for 73 points in 63 games, then somehow raised his game further when the stakes were highest, putting up five goals and 18 assists for 23 points in 18 playoff games.
That postseason run helped carry Everett, alongside Detroit Red Wings prospect Carter Bear, all the way to the WHL Championship, where the Silvertips claimed the Ed Chynoweth Cup for the first time in franchise history and punched their ticket to their first ever Memorial Cup appearance.
DuPont will be stepping into a Michigan program that is assembling one of the more talented rosters in college hockey. The Wolverines are also adding defenseman Cameron Reid, the Nashville Predators first-round pick and captain of the Memorial Cup champion Kitchener Rangers, as well as winger Jack Nesbitt, a former top-12 pick in the 2025 NHL Draft by the Philadelphia Flyers. The pieces are coming together in Ann Arbor, and DuPont figures to be the centerpiece of all of it.
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