The 2026 edition of the NHL Draft unfolds Fri., June 26 and Sat., June 27. And if there’s one thing we’re sure of, it’s that we’re going to be in for a wild couple of days. That’s not just because of the bevy of trades we’ve seen across the league lately, but also because of the utter lack of consensus in the public draft rankings beyond the first couple of players.

To help you – and me – follow along, we’re bringing back our annual aggregated consensus rankings.

The lists we looked at

Our method is simple: we collected 10 public draft lists by 10 different, intelligent sources. We assigned points in inverse order for players ranked in the top 32 – 1st gets 32 points, 32nd gets 1 point – and aggregated things into a handy consensus ranking in an attempt to average out the wild swings in opinions across this draft class.

Here are the 10 lists we examined:

The aggregated top 32

Here’s the top 32 players on our consensus list, listed with their position and team according to Central Scouting, as well as the number of public rankings they appear in top 5, 10 and 32.

Rank	Player (Pos)	Primary Team	Top 5	Top 10	Top 32
1	Gavin McKenna (LW)	Penn State University (NCAA)	10	10	10
2	Ivar Stenberg (LW)	Frolunda HC (SHL)	10	10	10
3	Chase Reid (D)	Sault Ste. Marie (OHL)	9	10	10
4	Caleb Malhotra (C)	Brantford (OHL)	7	10	10
5	Carson Carels (D)	Prince George (WHL)	7	10	10
6	Viggo Bjorck (C)	Djurgardens IF (SHL)	2	10	10
7	Keaton Verhoeff (D)	University of North Dakota (NCAA)	2	9	10
8	Daxon Rudolph (D)	Prince Albert (WHL)	0	9	10
9	Alberts Smits (D)	Munchen (DEL)	2	8	10
10	Wyatt Cullen (LW)	U.S. National Development Program (USHL)	0	4	10
11	Ethan Belchetz (LW)	Windsor (OHL)	0	2	10
12	Tynan Lawrence (C)	Boston University (NCAA)	1	1	10
13	Malte Gustafsson (D)	HV71 (SHL)	0	3	9
14	Ryan Lin (D)	Vancouver (WHL)	0	2	10
15	Alexander Command (C)	Orebro HK (U20 Nationell)	0	1	10
16	Oscar Hemming (LW)	Boston College (NCAA)	0	0	9
17	Nikita Klepov (RW)	Saginaw (OHL)	0	0	9
18	Adam Novotny (LW)	Peterborough (OHL)	0	0	9
19	Elton Hermansson (RW)	MODO Hockey (Allsvenskan)	0	0	9
20	J.P. Hurlbert (LW)	Kamloops (WHL)	0	0	9
21	Oliver Suvanto (C)	Tappara (Liiga)	0	0	9
22	Liam Ruck (RW)	Medicine Hat (WHL)	0	1	9
23	Xavier Villeneuve (D)	Blainville-Boisbriand (QMJHL)	0	0	8
24	Maddox Dagenais (C)	Quebec (QMJHL)	0	0	8
25	Ilia Morozov (C)	Miami University (NCAA)	0	0	9
26	Tommy Bleyl (D)	Moncton (QMJHL)	0	0	9
27	Markus Ruck (C)	Medicine Hat (WHL)	0	0	4
28	Mathis Preston (RW)	Vancouver (WHL)	0	0	4
29	Yegor Shilov (C)	Victoriaville (QMJHL)	0	0	5
30	Jack Hextall (C)	Youngstown (USHL)	0	0	4
31	Gleb Pugachyov (RW)	Chaika Nizhny Novgorod (MHL)	0	0	3
32	William Hakansson (D)	Lulea HF (SHL)	0	0	5

So, we’re pretty sure that McKenna and Stenberg go 1 and 2. We’re fairly sure that some combination of Reid, Malhotra and Carels go in the top five or six. Beyond that, it’s anyone’s guess.

You’ll notice that the number of top 32 lists several players down the rankings appear on vary wildly. That’s because a few players appear on a handful of lists, but those scouting agencies really like those players, while some others appear on more lists… but frequently around 30 or 31, so the points system rewards a few rankings really valuing a few guys.

But consider that an example of how things could be a bit all over the place this weekend; there’s not a ton of separation once you get beyond the top dozen or so players here.

Next up

In addition to that top 32, another 28 players – nearly another full round’s worth of kids – appear on someone’s top 32, but just not enough go crack the consensus first round.

Here they are, from closest to the consensus first round to furthest, and with number of top 32 appearances in brackets.