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FN Draft Profiles: Olympian Alberts Smits could add balance to the Flames’ young blueline
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Photo credit: Sergei Belski-USA TODAY Sports
Ryan Pike
Apr 29, 2026, 10:00 EDTUpdated: Apr 28, 2026, 22:30 EDT
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The 2026 Winter Olympics were a lot of fun.
Held in scenic Italy, the event featured men’s and women’s hockey tournaments that were highly entertaining, despite having endings to their respective gold medal games that were sub-optimal for us living north of the 49th parallel. But there were a few draft eligible players that managed to play key roles on their national teams during the men’s tournament.
And one of the most fascinating was Latvia blueliner Alberts Smits, who is quietly one of the most interesting players available early in the 2026 NHL Draft.

Scouting report

A product of Valmiera, Latvia, Smits is a left shot defender with a December 2007 birthday. His older brother, Halijs, plays second-tier pro hockey in the Latvian league system.
After moving his way through Latvian hockey, Smits moved to the Finnish system midway through 2021-22. He spent two and a half seasons with Karhu-Kasset before moving over to Jokurit at the start of the 2024-25 season. He spent two seasons with Jokurit, then finished off 2025-26 on a loan to Germany’s DEL, where he played with EHC Munchen.
Here’s what Sportsnet and Pro Hockey Group’s Jason Bukala wrote about Bukala back in March:
There isn’t a prospect in this draft class who has played more hockey this season than Smits. He’s suited up at the J20 and pro level in Finland for Jukurit, as well as representing Latvia at the WJC and the Olympics. He is now on loan to EHC Munchen in Germany’s top pro league.
Smits is a big body who moves very well and projects as a two-way defenceman who could produce secondary offence. Despite his young age, Smits averaged over 17 minutes of ice time for Latvia at the Olympics, while being used in all situations. He ended the tournament with a very reasonable two assists and minus-2 rating in four games.
Victor Nuno at Dobber Prospects analyzed Smits more from a fantasy perspective, but also had positive things to share in April:
Smits has continued to build momentum as one of the more intriguing fantasy names in this draft class, combining size, skill, and strong underlying play-driving results in a way that points to real upside. He is difficult to handle in traffic, protects pucks well, and has started turning those tools into more consistent offense as the season has gone on.
In April’s draft rankings, Daily Faceoff’s Steven Ellis praised a lot of Smits’ game:
Šmits was a big part of Latvia’s World Junior and Olympic teams this season. The 6-foot-3 blueliner moves well for his size and makes so much happen with the puck. It’s always nice seeing an 18-year-old who plays with a ton of confidence on the power play. He also has plenty of pro experience under his belt, highlighted by a strong first half with Jukurit in the Finnish Liiga. He was loaned out to München to close out the campaign and has recently lit up the playoffs after watching his ice time stabilize in the 17-18 minute range. I really, really like Šmits’ game.
For such a young guy, it’s pretty impressive that Smits performed so well in two different highly-regarded men’s leagues. Oh, and the Olympics. He was really solid in the Olympics.

The numbers

During the 2024-25 season, Smits played in three levels of Finnish hockey. He had 20 points in 20 games in Finland’s top under-18 league, the U18 SM-sarja. He had nine points in 21 games in their top under-20 league, the U20 SM-sarja. And he had two points in nine games in the Liiga, their top pro league. He also represented Latvia at the Under-18 Worlds.
This season, he had 10 points in five games in the U20 SM-sarja and 13 points in 38 games in the Liiga. He closed out his regular season on loan to the DEL’s EHC Munchen in Germany starting in late February, where he had one point in five games. He produced more in the DEL post-season, though, with six points in 11 games.
Smits also represented Latvia at the World Juniors and the Olympics.

Availability and fit

If you look at the Flames’ defensive prospect depth chart, there’s a ton of high-end righties like Zayne Parekh, Hunter Brzustewicz and Henry Mews. The left side is a bit leaner. Yeah, Kevin Bahl and Yan Kuznetsov seem to have carved out clear roles, but it would be awesome to find a leftie with a bit more offensive upside that could help round things out. Could Smits be that guy?
In terms of availability, Smits shows up quite frequently on public draft rankings just behind Gavin McKenna and Ivar Stenberg. He’s been ranked as high as fourth (Scott Wheeler), fifth (The Hockey News) and sixth (Corey Pronman), which is very much in the wheelhouse of where the Flames would be selecting if they don’t win a lottery draw.
Between his physical maturity, pro experience and international experience, the Flames could do worse than nabbing Smits with their first pick in this year’s draft.

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