Michigan's Adam Valentini is 'an absolute dog' and shouldn't be a 2026 NHL Draft underdog

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The most productive under-18 player in the regular season this season in goals (11), assists (15), points (26) and points per game (0.68) was Adam Valentini, who NHL Central Scouting ranked 109th on their mid-term list. This — pacing his 2008 age group across levels — isn’t new for Valentini. He led the Chicago Steel in scoring as a 16-year-old with 39 points in 58 games last season. That November, he also had nine points in five games as Canada White’s leading scorer en route to a gold medal at the World Under-17 Hockey Challenge in Sarnia. Last summer, he wore an “A” for Canada at Hlinka and registered five points in five games. He was a star in minor hockey and the GTHL Player of the Year in his OHL draft year. The Brampton Steelheads drafted him 13th in the OHL draft, even though there was some risk he’d go the college route. So why is that player viewed more as a second- or third-round pick than a first-rounder? A lot of it starts with his 5-foot-9.25 NHL Central Scouting listing. He says he’s 5-foot-10, though — an important three-quarters of an inch — and that’s what Michigan lists him at. He’s also a sturdy 187 pounds and is quick to point out that his dad is 6-foot-2, and he’s hopeful that he’ll keep growing. And then there’s this: “Adam Valentini is an absolute dog.” That’s the way Michigan head coach Brandon Naurato describes him. Seven months ago, Valentini had a decision to make. The CHL-to-NCAA pathway had opened up, his rights had been traded from the Steelheads to the Kitchener Rangers, and he’d signed on with the OHL club, posing in their jersey on an announcement on their website and social media. Then Michigan called. They had an open roster spot, and they wanted to accelerate his commitment from 2026-27 to 2025-26. “Honestly, it was just an opportunity I couldn’t pass up on,” he explained of the decision to The Athletic in advance of the Frozen Four. “It was unfortunate timing, but they (Kitchener) did know that my first commitment was Michigan, and if they were going to take me early, then Kitchener knew they weren’t going to have me.” And then he delivered. He delivered in the Albany Regional final with a big shot block and a power-play goal in the first period of Michigan’s 4-3 win over Minnesota Duluth. And he delivered again on Thursday in the second semifinal of the Frozen Four, picking up a primary assist on the 2-1 goal after, even if it wasn’t enough, his Wolverines losing in double overtime to Denver. (Had they made Saturday’s national championship, he would have played it on his 18th birthday.) From the opening day of training camp with Michigan this year, assistant coach Kevin Reiter said Valentini “has been fantastic.” They don’t just talk about his production when they talk about him, either. Naurato will point to other moments in games, including a shift in the regional final where he got “run over” near the Michigan bench by 6-foot-5, 220-pound defenseman Brady Cleveland and then got up and did the same to someone else. “He’s a winning hockey player,” Naurato said of Valentini. “You think that these young talented players it’s about points and their stick skills, and with how we roll our lines, he’s not playing 25 minutes a night, but watch his backchecks. Watch him blocking shots. … And this isn’t an endorsement for the draft … But start watching him and dive deep because he’s a guy that you want to bet on.” On top of the big plays he made for the Wolverines as their youngest player, Reiter describes Valentini as smart, fearless, abrasive, hard and relentless. “He has overexceeded my expectations,” Reiter said. “How he has been able to handle himself in all three zones and at all three forward positions, he has provided so much. And he’s on our first power play and our best players want to play with him, so kudos to him.” Even when he has been knicked up over the course of the season and the games have gotten harder, Reiter argued his “heck of a B game” has helped him make an impact. “Just puck battles, wall play, all that stuff as a 17-year-old playing against grown men in the Big Ten, he has done a hell of a job, he really has,” Reiter said. “He scores in a lot of different ways, too. He arrives to the net on time, he picks up offensive rebounds and he’s got a sneaky and undercover shot.” Mike Garman has been on both sides of Valentini. Last season, he was his head coach and general manager in Chicago with the Steel. This season, he coached against him in the Big Ten as an associate head coach with Notre Dame. Asked over text about Valentini’s play as a 17-year-old freshman with Michigan, Garman wrote this earlier this week: “I loved coaching him. I’m a little surprised (by his impact at 17) because college is a big jump for an underager but not so because of the type of kid he is and his approach.” Valentini feels he has earned that respect and describes himself as a “200-foot forward who plays every inch of the ice really hard.” “I take pride in the defensive zone, and I feel like I have a really high motor and I’m very reliable in the D-zone, but also I think I’m very offensive. One of my best abilities is to make plays and see them develop early, but I’m also not afraid to let the puck rip on net,” he said. And no matter what happens on draft day, or what could have happened had he played in the OHL, he knows he made the right choice to challenge himself at Michigan this year. “I’m super grateful and fortunate to be in the spot that I am today. I have no regrets,” he said. “Everything happens for a reason, and I couldn’t be happier with the decision that I made.” He has also enjoyed the academic challenge. An only child (unless you count dogs Coco and Daisy) from the Toronto neighbourhood of Lawrence Park to parents, Paula and Sam, who work in real estate, he grew up attending the prestigious Toronto French School (which also led him to being a Habs fan in Toronto with all of his classmates), and chose the NCAA path at Michigan after visiting with multiple schools. “Academics is a big thing for me, and I went to a really good school,” he said. He knew after a second visit to Michigan that there wasn’t anywhere else he wanted to make that happen. He knew he had a chance to become a high-level hockey player when he played at the famed Brick Invitational. Reiter thinks he has a real chance to live out that dream in the NHL, too. “People are like, ‘If he played in a different spot, would he have been better (for the draft)?’ but I think this helps him prepare for pro hockey,” Reiter said. Spot the pattern. Connect the terms Find the hidden link between sports terms Scott Wheeler covers the NHL draft and prospects nationally for The Athletic. Scott has written for the Toronto Star, the Globe and Mail, The Toronto Sun, the National Post, and several other outlets in the past. He's also the author of ‘On The Clock: Behind the Scenes with the Toronto Maple Leafs at the NHL Draft’. Follow Scott on Twitter @scottcwheeler