Now six games into his career at Penn State, left wing Gavin McKenna remains the top prospect for the 2026 NHL Draft. (Photo by Chris Coduto/Getty Images)
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A power shift is underway in the world of hockey’s top prospects. But as the rankings begin to formalize for the 2026 NHL Draft, the Canadian Hockey League retains its status as the primary feeder for hockey’s top league.
Of the 27 players who received ‘A’ grades as first-round candidates when NHL Central Scouting released its 2025-26 Preliminary Players to Watch list on Monday, 16 are currently playing in the CHL and 19 spent time in one of the three member leagues.
While most NCAA players are above the NHL’s draft age of eligibility, the list of top prospects who have played in college over the years before being drafted includes Macklin Celebrini (No. 1, 2024), Adam Fantilli (No. 3, 2023), Owen Power and Matty Beniers (Nos. 1 and 2, 2021) and Jack Eichel (No. 2, 2015).
This year, the two NCAA players who received ‘A’ ratings both played last season in the Western Hockey League — presumptive No. 1 Gavin McKenna, who’s now skating with Penn State, and defenseman Keaton Verhoeff with the University of North Dakota.
The Nittany Lions are 5-1-0 to start the season, and are ranked fifth in Week 4 of the USA Hockey Men’s Hockey Poll, also released on Monday. McKenna has six points so far, including the game-winning goal against Arizona State University on Oct. 4.
Verhoeff, a big defenseman who scored 21 goals for the WHL’s Victoria Royals last season, has two goals and an assist in his first four college games. After failing to qualify for the NCAA tournament last season, the Fighting Hawks are 3-1-0 so far and sit eighth in the USA Hockey poll this week.
While much has been made of the exodus of talent from CHL teams to NCAA programs, the Players to Watch list serves as a reminder that the pathway now extends in both directions.
Players who were previously required to bypass the CHL in order to retain their NCAA eligibility are now free to play major junior, which opens options outside the USHL or Junior A for college-bound players.
After spending last season with the U.S. National Team Development Program, Texan J.P. Hurlburt has taken the WHL by storm. In his first 11 games with the Kamloops Blazers, Hurlburt’s 11 goals and 24 assists lead the league in both categories, earning him an ‘A’ grade on the Players to Watch list.
Caleb Malhotra has also successfully changed course. The son of former NHLer and recent AHL Calder Cup-winning coach Manny Malhotra of the Abbotsford Canucks, Caleb spent last season with the BCHL’s Chilliwack Chiefs with the NCAA in his sights. Committed to Boston University in 2026, Malhotra earned his ‘A’ grade after posting 16 points in his first 10 games with the OHL’s Eastern Conference-leading Brantford Bulldogs, who have started the season 8-0-1-1.
Russian-born center Egor Shilov is also committed to BU, for 20267. He made the USHL’s Green Bay Gamblers in his first North American season in 2024-25 but is now tearing up the QMJHL, two points off the league scoring lead with 19 points in 10 games for the Victoriaville Tigres.
Finally, there’s Nikita Klepov, the Russian-American forward who won gold with Team USA in August at the 2025 Hlinka-Gretzky Cup. After spending some time in Russia, Florida-born Klepov returned to North America and spent last season with the USHL’s Sioux City Musketeers before jumping to the OHL’s Saginaw Spirit this fall. The Spirit have struggled to earn wins but Klepov has been outstanding, earning his ‘A’ rating with help from 18 points in 11 games, just one off the OHL scoring lead. He’s committed to Michigan State for 2027.
With the deck re-shuffled, the CHL has had a hand in developing 17 of Central Scouting’s 27 ‘A’ players, and 17 of 19 who are listed as North American skaters. Only two haven’t gone through their program at some point: North Carolina-born defenseman Luke Schairer of the U.S. National Team Development program and Tynan Lawrence, a highly-regarded center from New Brunswick who suffered an injury during training camp that has delayed the start of his second season with the USHL’s Muskegon Lumberjacks.
In 2025, 21 of 32 picks from the first round hailed from the CHL, with five more coming from the NCAA, two from the USHL and one from Minnesota high-school hockey for 29 in total from North America. On the European side, two Swedes were selected in the first round, and one Russian — an unusually low representation.
Of the eight international skaters who received ‘A’ ratings on Monday, four hail from Sweden and four from Finland. One notable Swede wasn’t included: Viggo Bjorck, who has been mentioned as a top prospect for 2026, came in as a ‘B’ player, which would project to a second or third-round candidate.
Listed at 5-foot-9 and 177 pounds, Bjorck is on the small side for a top prospect. The bigger concern is that even though he’s known for his dazzling skill, he has sputtered a bit at the beginning of this season, bouncing between the top-level mens team at Djurgardens in Sweden and their affiliated junior club.
Central Scouting will release two more lists before the 2026 NHL Draft, which is expected to follow the decentralized format that was adopted in 2025. The first numeric ranking will come out in January, not long after the World Junior Championship, then the final rankings will be unveiled in mid-April.