USHL Stock Watch: Jack Hextall emerging as one of the smartest 2026 draft-eligible prospects

Nearly a month into the young 2025-26 USHL season, a number of players have already set themselves apart as potential breakout stars league-wide.

Without the league's best player, Tynan Lawrence, the reigning Clark Cup champion Muskegon Lumberjacks have already established themselves as a powerhouse, winning all six of their games to start the campaign, and remain the only undefeated team alongside the Dubuque Fighting Saints.

We start at the easternmost bounds of the USHL, as a certain Youngstown Phantom has been gaining momentum with every game, opening up games with his skill and locking down opponents with defensive habits that far exceed the polish of most draft-eligible talents.

Stock Rising 📈 

Jack Hextall, C, Youngstown Phantoms (2026 NHL Draft)

Finding the scoresheet in all but one of his first six games of the season, Jack Hextall has been the dictionary definition of consistency so far this season. His intelligence has ripple effects on all areas of his game.

Offensively, he scans more frequently than any other draft-eligible in the league, painting a mental map of his surroundings with tremendous detail. His understanding of delaying his routes to arrive at the right place at the right time has directly contributed to most of his five points through six games.

But it’s the way his smarts elevate high-end skill that makes him a can’t-miss prospect contending for a top-25 spot in the 2026 NHL Draft.

Hextall can handle and pass with the best of them, and though his shot isn’t individually brilliant, his scoring instincts, routes to the net front with his stick glued to the ice, and physical details in the thick of things have led to more goals than assists so far.

He’s been among the best two-way forwards in the league so far and shown flashes of taking over shifts through confident skill and pacy link-up play. If one player has impressed NHL scouts to start the USHL season, it’s Hextall. Expect him to grow even more influential on a strong Youngstown team as the season progresses.

Cooper Simpson, LW/RW, Youngstown Phantoms (Boston Bruins)

You wouldn’t even need one hand to count more individually skilled players league-wide than Cooper Simpson. One of my steals of the draft last year, the Boston Bruins took a grand slam hack on his handling, creativity, and dual-threat scoring at the top of the third round.

On a new team this year in Youngstown, it took a few games for Simpson to get settled, but he’s looked best playing centre in between high-motor wingers who he can send streaking toward the net with deft saucer or slip passes. He solves one-on-one problems with fluidity and grace that most of his competitors could only dream of possessing.

His seven points are joint fourth in the league at the time of writing, but are pumped up by a single dominant night where he found his way onto the scoresheet four times against his old team, the Tri-City Storm.

Skill was never going to be the question in Simpson’s game this season. His physical details, intensity, and middle-drive remain relative weaknesses. Still, he’s impressed with an improved give-and-go game, connecting plays with more haste and refraining from solo rushes into traffic. With more focus on ironing out his deficiencies, there may be no more uncontainable creative forward in the USHL this season.

Landon Hafele, C, Green Bay Gamblers (2026 NHL Draft)

A depth checker on the U18 NTDP last season, Landon Hafele aged out of the program without ever getting many opportunities in offensive situations. The Green Bay Gamblers viewed his mix of relentless intensity, defensive details, and offensive runway as worth trading up to the #1 pick in the Phase 2 Draft this summer, and he has done nothing but confirm their beliefs so far.

Hafele’s game is tailor-made to light up the USHL, where pace, middle drive, and hard work are king. His six points through five games are joint top among draft-eligibles, and he’s got all the assets to finish top ten in league scoring.

Here’s a game report excerpt from his violent display against Sioux Falls on September 19:

“One never gets bored watching Landon Hafele play. He flaunted physical grit in this one, finishing his checks with violence and getting caught for two late hits in the exact same spot at the boards by the right circle in the offensive zone in the first and third periods[...] No player in this game more quickly turned defence into offence than Hafele, whose defensive details are among the best in this year’s draft-eligible USHL class.”

He’s not a large prospect, but with a style built for a bottom-six NHL projection, Hafele could establish himself as a hard-to-play-against top 100 option on draft day, with improved playmaking vision and deception.

Casey Mutryn, RW, NTDP U18 (2026 NHL Draft)

A man mountain, Casey Mutryn doles out pain on nearly every shift for the NTDP. His checking skills are already refined for the USHL standard, and his ability to create off the wall upon turning over possession is among the best of USA-based 2026 draft-eligible talents.

Mutryn’s flashes of playmaking vision and precise cross-seam passes through multiple layers of defensive sticks have yet to translate to USHL production – with just a pair through four games – but few players on the program have been able to keep up with his rate of creating chances.

Add in reliability on the penalty kill, and at times dominant possession-winning and retention abilities, and you have yourself a power playmaking profile that could garner interest as early as the mid-first-round in June. To continue his rise, the Boston College commit will need to add a greater East-West dimension to his game to gain unpredictability.

Stock Steady ↔️

Sammy Nelson, C/RW, NTDP U18 (2027 NHL Draft)

A rare draft-minus-two player to make appearances for the U18 NTDP last season, Sammy Nelson is emerging as one of the program's best players this season. Born just three days past the September 15 cutoff for next June’s draft, his early performances have been the very best shifts from any of his team’s noteworthy prospects.

Consistency and stamina are still being built, however, as we wrote in a report of his three-point performance against Lincoln.

“The best player on the ice in the first period by a fair margin, Sammy Nelson's pace, speed bursts, and two-way support habits created chances and stifled Lincoln's attacks alike. By the back half of the game, however, his energy level and speed dropped off. His quick bursts of speed lost regularity, and he settled into a more defensive role. His stamina is clearly still catching up to season form. Intelligence is his best quality. He thinks the game quickly, takes supportive routes, and times his arrival into space really well.”

He looks the part of a can’t-miss prospect for the 2027 draft. With a few little tweaks and conditioning improvements, Nelson should play a key role in helping the NTDP earn wins and have tournament success this season.

Stock Falling 📉

The Lincoln Stars

Arguably the steadiest and most structured defensive team in the league last season, the Lincoln Stars are the only organization yet to secure a win in 2025-26.

Losing one of the league’s top netminders in Yan Shostak, best play-killers in Jacob Rombach, and goal-scorers in Bruno Idzan certainly hurts, but this is not a team lacking talent. Brady Sloper's steady defending, Brayden Hughes' unrelenting violence, and Nate Pederson's speed and scoring ability should all help the Stars improve their fortunes.

As of now, the Stars are the only team to lose to the NTDP, getting blown out 7-3. This is not a playoff-calibre lineup by any stretch of the imagination, but the early returns of the young season have been worse than expected.

However, Lincoln’s coaching and development staff is among the best in the country at building defensive habits and structure in young players. The hope is that by the new year, this inexperienced group gains consistency and mitigates slot chances to a higher degree to improve their on-ice results.