I had higher hopes for New England prep in the 2026 NHL Draft.
Maybe that was naive. After all, only two prep players went in 2023, one in 2024 and two last year. It should be a win that four current prep players were taken this year, right?
Well, sort of.
There were more prep draft prospects than in years past. It was the strongest crop of NHL Draft hopefuls in my four years covering the level, which was encouraging given the changing landscape of players leaving earlier and earlier for junior hockey.
When NHL Central Scouting released its final rankings, Dexter Southfield defenseman Myles Brosnan (Winchester, Mass.), Thayer defenseman Brian McFadden (Holbrook, Mass.), St. Mark's forward Will Manchuso (Concord, Mass.) and Winchendon's Charlie Puglisi were all tabbed as fourth-round candidates.
That comes with some context: This was among North American skaters (there are still those pesky international skaters), and every team has its own draft rankings. But all four were roughly fourth-round candidates. One would think at least one or two would go in the fourth round.
McFadden went first, going to the Washington Capitals in the middle of the fifth round. The Northeastern commit is 6-foot-5, which most definitely helped his draft stock. It wasn't until the seventh round that Brosnan (pick 196; Detroit) and Puglisi (pick 202; Nashville) were taken. Manchuso went undrafted.
READ MORE: Six New Englanders picked in 2026 NHL Draft
The first prep player off the board was Deerfield goalie Elliot Lennon in the fourth round to the Ottawa Senators. Surely, the Senators liked him quite a bit. But 10 goalies had already been taken before him, which is staggering for an entire NHL Draft, let alone just the first half. That likely explains why the Senators grabbed him in the middle of the fourth.
That made it all the more peculiar that Hotchkiss goalie and Northeastern commit Neilan Johnson wasn't taken.
Last year, St. George's defenseman Everett Baldwin (Providence, R.I.) went in the fifth round, while Phillips Andover forward Grayden Robertson-Palmer went in the seventh. St. Sebastian's forward Ben Merrill (Hingham, Mass.) went in the sixth round in 2024, while Dexter Southfield defenseman Sean Keohane (Milton, Mass.) and Taft goalie Rudy Guimond both went off the board in the sixth round in 2023.
It's become clear that teams value thriving in junior hockey over thriving in prep. It's also clear that teams realize they can wait.
Take Brosnan, for example. The 6-foot defenseman was the best defender in prep this winter with 51 points. He was at the All-American Prospects Game and was called up for U.S. National Team Development Program games and did well. He's a phenomenal skater and puck mover. I had him as a fourth-round candidate, and many NHL teams likely did, too. But they had other players listed as fourth-round candidates and likely figured they could wait until the later rounds to snag him because of the "He's in prep" stigma.
This seems like the new reality for NHL Draft prospects playing their first draft year in prep.
What's also clear is that NHL teams value doing well at higher levels. Nowhere is that more true than with the former prep players taken off the board.
Casey Mutryn (Norwell, Mass.) left prep after his sophomore year to play for the U.S. NTDP. That's always been a typical move for someone of his caliber, and he went early in the second round to the Seattle Kraken.
But Cushing defenseman Tommy Bleyl, Dexter Southfield forward Rian Chudzinski (Needham, Mass.) and Rivers forward Justin Graf (Lincoln, Mass.) all left prep after last season before playing their senior year.
READ MORE: The future of NHL Draft prospects playing their draft year in prep
Bleyl won Defenseman and Rookie of the Year in the QMJHL and was taken by the Nashville Predators with the 31st pick of the first round. Chudzinski had a strong year with the QMJHL's Moncton Wildcats and was snagged by the Anaheim Ducks in the middle of the third round. Graf exploded for 55 points in 52 USHL games with the Cedar Rapids RoughRiders and was picked in the fourth round by the Predators. All went around where they were supposed to, and that can likely be explained by putting up big seasons in junior hockey.
NHL teams feel they're a safer bet.
Last season, after graduating with 57 points as a senior from Trinity-Pawling, Liam Lefebvre wasn't on any NHL Draft radars for June 2025. Come this year, the 6-foot-3 forward put up 59 points in 59 QMJHL games and went in the second round to the Los Angeles Kings.
Salisbury forward Connor Davis was on NHL Draft boards last season but wasn't picked. The late '06 went to Cedar Rapids upon graduation and tore it up with 55 points in 59 games. He was snagged in the fifth round by the Vancouver Canucks.
And then there was Dartmouth defenseman Cooper Cleaves (Riverside, Conn.). He was talked about a bit as an NHL Draft prospect in 2023-24 when he led Brunswick's blue line, but wasn't picked. He also wasn't picked after splitting last season between the BCHL and USHL.
But he found an important role with Dartmouth this past winter, so the 6-foot-3 defenseman, after proving he could thrive in college, went in the third round to the Montreal Canadiens.
Maybe this tells us that it's not over after not being drafted as a first-year eligible player. Someone like Graf was eligible to be taken last June, and I'm not sure I heard an NHL scout mention his name once while at Rivers, and he had 56 points in 28 games.
Someone like Manchuso may go to juniors, have a big year and get picked somewhere in the middle rounds next season. Brosnan was taken in the seventh round. I could see him either establishing himself at Harvard next season or, if he wanted to, going to the QMJHL and having a Bleyl-like season. A year from now, I could see NHL scouts saying, "Gee, looking back, Brosnan was probably more of a second- or third-round pick."
NHL teams could try to get ahead of players like Baldwin, Merrill and Guimond having success at higher levels. As of now, those three look like steals for when they were taken. Teams could advocate to take them earlier.
READ MORE: How many players drafted out of prep make the NHL, AHL?Â
But that likely won't happen given the volume of draft-eligible players producing at high rates in juniors and college.
And teams seem to be fine with waiting it out on current prep players — whether that means drafting them late or waiting until future drafts entirely.
