We have reached the big day as the 2026 NHL Entry Draft takes place tonight in Buffalo, and by the time I finished writing this sentence, another top-10 pick was traded. Someone has to draft those players, though, and fantasy managers will want to get a headstart on who those players are, which is where Dobber's 2026 Fantasy Hockey Prospects Report, now available in the Dobber Shop, comes in handy. Read up on all the names you need to know heading into the 2026 Entry Draft, as well as a dive into each team's prospect pool, which includes player upside and their estimated arrival time in the NHL. Order the Prospects Report, sit down, and enjoy tonight's draft with the best fantasy hockey prospect analysis around.

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The Buffalo Sabres announced a contract extension for winger Zach Benson, totaling seven years at $7.5M per season. Benson turned heads in the playoffs with nine points in 13 games playing a gritty style, but he has shown very good playmaking and defensive skill through the early portions of his career. He has yet to round into an offensive force, and won't be a significant fantasy asset until he earns regular top PP time, but he just turned 21 years old in May and crossed the 200-game threshold late in the 2025-26 season. It shouldn't be long until he's a regular 20-goal, 40-assist forward with upside far beyond that with a bigger role.

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The Columbus Blue Jackets traded for winger Valeri Nichushkin, and I wrote about that trade here.

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Speaking of prospects, I wanted to offer some thoughts on this year's group. Before that, a few notes.

First, I am not a prospect person. My job is writing about the NHL, and while I do have to get to know the prospects, I am not out here grinding Swedish league game tape. I watch the World Juniors, some games from the various NCAA playoffs and Memorial Cup, and that's about it. Analyzing and writing about the NHL every day is my focus.

For that reason, I rely on things like the Dobber Prospects Report to catch up on what I need to know. It is very helpful for getting a read on players further down the draft board, changes to the skills of certain prospects, or whatever else I might need to know. I cannot thank the Dobber Prospects team enough for all they do.

The second note is that because much of my writing covers fantasy hockey, and success in fantasy hockey is about value, that is how I evaluate prospects. I don't really care who the top few picks are (unless my beloved Montreal Canadiens are making one of those picks). What is important are the prospects with top-10 talent that fell down the draft board for whatever reason (Jakob Chychrun in 2016 and Zach Benson in 2023 come to mind), or the small players with a world of skill who'd be a top-10 pick if they were 6'2, but because they're under 6'0, they are drafted in the second round (Logan Stankoven and Lane Hutson are recent examples of this).

Aside from the Prospects Report, I do read other rankings such as Scott Wheeler and Corey Pronman at The Athletic, as well as the Hockey Prospecting model from Byron Bader.

With all that said, here are some 2026 prospects who stuck out to me.

Tynan Lawrence

In fairness, there is a bit of a bias here because Lawrence is from my hometown of Fredericton, New Brunswick, and I will always root a bit harder for a hometown guy.

What immediately sticks out to me is his birthday. Lawrence is an August birthday, which means he won't turn 18 years old for two more months. As a teenager, an 8- or 10-month difference in age is significant for development, so that he's projected to be a pick in the top half of the first round despite being on the younger side of the development curve is a big plus in his column.

Every scouting report highlights two strengths: skating and transition play. While I'm less concerned with the skating ability of prospects, being a good skater buys a player time to develop other skills. Whether we're talking about playmaking, hockey sense, or whatever else, those other issues can be improved because the great skating temporarily makes up for those shortcomings.

Lawrence is a name to watch for his landing spot. He may not have the offensive upside right now to be a high-end fantasy producer in five years, but his young age and great skating will give him time to add those skills, and that he's already a solid offensive player means there's some real upside here if he adds pieces to his toolkit in the coming years.  

Lavr Gashilov

This is the type of player that always sticks out to me. A top offensive player in a secondary league (the MHL) with a wide array of opinions: Scott Wheeler rated him 46^th overall, the Dobber Prospects' final rankings has him in the second half of the second round, Steven Ellis of Daily Faceoff ranked him in the third round, Corey Pronman didn't rank him at all in his top-112 players, and the Hockey Prospecting model has him as the 10^th most likely forward to turn into a star at the NHL level.

One concern is he's an older prospect, being born in September of 2007 (Lawrence, for example, was born in August of 2008). Gashilov will be 20 years old at the start of the 2027-28 season, so he's further down the road than most and should be more of a polished player, which he's not.

There is also the issue of having a KHL contract. Mikhail Gulyayev was drafted by Colorado at the end of the first round in 2023, and he was a player I was high. He has yet to come to North America and just signed a two-year extension in the KHL. If Gulyayev makes his way to Colorado, it may not be until the 2028-29 season, five years after he was drafted. This isn't always the case – Ivan Demidov made it to the NHL as a teenager – but it is a concern.

All the same, Gashilov has the skill and physicality that teams dream about for their centres. It may depend how far he drops, but if his name is still on the board in the third round, it's the type of home-run swing teams should take.

Tommy Bleyl

There are a handful of defencemen projected to go inside the top-5 picks but, depending on the source, Bleyl is rated anywhere from the bottom-third of the first round to sometime in the second round. All the reports indicate that the QMJHL's top point-producing defenceman is an elite skater already, possessing the skills not only to move the puck with efficiency and precision, but skate the puck if necessary. That he's a shade under 6'0 is working against him, which also makes him the type of player I take note of.

I don't have many hard-and-fast rules regarding prospects, but one thing I do believe is that defence prospects are difficult to project, which is why we see so many elite defencemen not taken in the top-5: Quinn Hughes and Evan Bouchard were both drafted in 2018 between picks 7-10, Thomas Harley went 18^th overall, Adam Fox was a third-round selection, and on the list goes. There are exceptions like Miro Heiskanen, Cale Makar, and Rasmus Dahlin, but focusing on skilled defencemen that aren't expected to be top picks is a good way to stock the cupboard, and that fits Bleyl's profile. If I'm a team with a pick at the end of the first round or top of the second round, he's a name I would circle.

Lars Steiner

A small winger who was over a point-per-game as a 17-year-old in the QMJHL, is a high-end skater with a high-end shot, and is projected to go somewhere in the second or the third round? That checks a lot of my boxes.

According to the Hockey Prospecting model, Steiner is one of the top-10 forwards by probability of turning in a star forward in the NHL. The percentage isn't high (32%), but that is exactly the type of player a rebuilding team needs to draft, adding high-skill potential for 3-5 years down the road, but without needing them to be an impact player in the next year or two. Steiner signed a contract to head back to his native Switzerland for the 2026-27 season, but a smaller forward going to a European men's league isn't a bad thing. It will allow him to develop his game around bigger players.

If I'm a rebuilding NHL team with a lack of skill up front, looking years down the road, and possessing a slew of second- and third-round picks, Steiner is a player I take with one of those picks. Looking at you, Calgary Flames and Chicago Blackhawks. 

Tomas Chrenko

The last name I'll mention is Chrenko. Playing in the Slovakian league means he might go overlooked, but the scouting reports describe a player who is a good skater, is deceptive with the puck, and the big thing holding him back is he's 5'11 and not 6'3. Again, that is the type of player I look for, and while he'll have to get stronger to be an NHL regular, it is much easier for a player to add 20 lbs. of muscle over 3-4 years than it is to add NHL-calibre skating, passing, or shooting, which are things he has already. As with Steiner, this is a guy to take a chance on with a second- or third-round pick.