2027 NHL Entry Draft Thread

[LGR4GM]

Welcome to draft season 2027. First big event is the Hlinka tourney in August where the top guns will get their first draft year games out of the way. Scouts put big value on the Hlinka for their early rankings (they come out in September). 

For now, let's take a look at a way to early mock draft where the Sabres draft 21st. 

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7320608/2026/07/06/nhl-draft-2027-prospects-mock-landon-dupont/

We draft a guy named Jamie Glance who is super old for his class with a Sept 23rd bday but who put up 56pts in the USHL last year. He's only listed at 5'11" and from what I see from Buffalo, I don't think they go this route. Instead I would look at Shaeffer Gordon-Carroll, the 6' rw out of the WHL. His 12 playoff pts tied with Liam Ruck and were 5th on a loaded team.

Landon Dupont is the bell of this ball. The slick skating 6' RHD dropped 73pts last year in the WHL and will play at the University of Michigan this season. Dupont dropped 73pts in the NHL in his D-1 compared to 78pts by our very own Daxon Rudolph... my point is he is really good. 

Here's a list of names from the only ranking I have, daily faceoff

Landon DuPont (D)

Nazar Privalov (C/LW)

Alexis Joseph (C)

Sergei Skvortsov (LW)

Carter Meyer (C)

Sammy Nelson (F)

Brock England (C)

Petr Tomek (C)

Dima Zhilkin (RW)

Jaxon Jacobson (C)

Timothy Kazda (F)

Luca Santala (C/W)

Max Calce (C)

Jonah Neuenschwander (F)

Milan Sundström (C)

Brock Cripps (D)

Yevgeni Yakunin (C)

Andrei Pustovoy (RW/C)

Levi Harper (D)

Boston Tait (D)

Bosse Meijer (C)

Diego Gutierrez (D)

Vladimir Shtyrkhunov (D)

Nolan Fitzhenry (C)

Rocco Pelosi (C)

Ryerson Edgar (C)

Jamie Glance (RW/C)

Noah Davidson (F)

James Scantlebury (C)

Kohyn Eshkawkogan (D)

Shaeffer Gordon-Carroll (F)

Douglas Johnsson (D)

[LGR4GM]

Last thing to note, while the 2026 NHL Draft was noted for the number of high end defenders available (5 went in the top 10), this draft will probably only have 2 go in the top 10 and maybe only 1. You want center help though, this draft is for you. 

[#freejame]

The Athletic just did their first preview recently and said it’s a much better draft class. Are you of the same opinion? 

[LGR4GM]

15 minutes ago, #freejame said:

The Athletic just did their first preview recently and said it’s a much better draft class. Are you of the same opinion? 

Idk, it is hard to tell this far out. I typically only know about a few of the top guys at this point because I don't have the bandwidth to track multiple years of guys. I can say that from the preliminary stuff I have red, this draft certainly appears deeper at forward. Unsure if that will translate over the full draft year but I think one thing about 2026 is that really after Stenberg and McKenna, there was a lot of "yea that forward has these traits so they will be good" as opposed to what you see in other drafts (2023) where they say "they have these traits which allowed them to do X and that is why they have such good production at the jr level and it will transfer". 

Basically I think this draft has more potential to be deeper at forward than 2026 was. 

basically 2026 required a lot of prediction based on traits and less on production whereas I think 2027 will have those things line up better. There is a reason taking Rudolph at 4 didn't freak me out as much as some online commentators, the production was there. 

[Hoss]

Do we have a prospects thread? Curious to gauge what people’s top 5/10 prospects in the pipeline are right now.

[dudacek]

1 hour ago, Hoss said:

Do we have a prospects thread? Curious to gauge what people’s top 5/10 prospects in the pipeline are right now.