Projecting the careers of 2026 NHL Draft's top 12 prospects: Optimist vs. pessimist

When projecting teenage hockey players ahead of the NHL Draft, I am aware that a range of outcomes could occur, that my evaluations are far from perfect and that my grading of players’ traits may be wrong. I don’t love the terms ceiling and floor, but today I’m going to take a look at some of the top 2026 prospects and discuss what their NHL outcome could be if a certain set of assumptions goes according to plan, and if they don’t.Advertisement