Elite Prospects Preliminary 2026 NHL Draft Ranking & Players to Watch List

Draft season is back, and Elite Prospects scouts are back earlier than ever! 

With a new draft cycle underway, we’re switching things up with our first-ever September ranking and a roughly 400-strong ‘Players to Watch List' to keep an eye on.

Everyone knows this is the Gavin McKenna draft, but he's far from the only top prospect. 

Hockey genius Ivar Stenberg looks the part of a first-overall-calibre prospect, while Keaton Verhoeff, Ryan Lin, Ethan Belchetz, and a couple others are locked in a tight race for the other top-three spots. 

This is really a draft that has everything: The franchise cornerstone, ultra-dynamic wingers, strong blueline creators, plug-and-play detailed forwards, and more. Well, almost everything, as the lack of centre depth will be a storyline throughout. 

Still, we've id