Entering this season (after noticing some difficulties against older and bigger opponents in 2024/2025), we were somewhat uncomfortable projecting Viggo Bjorck‘s junior success to the NHL Not like his production suffered much from it, but we did see him ineffective and pushed around in some situations. He was still in our top tier and higher than on most lists, but not number #1.
What happened in the 2nd half of this season, particularly when playing center with Djurgarden in the SHL, pretty much erased those mild concerns.
And how effective he was at adjusting vs men, overcoming the early difficulties, became part of our fascination for this player.

Impressive smarts aside, Bjorck is also far from a soft player, in spite of his size.
And to bring up something we haven’t seen stressed yet, his stick work when the opposition has the puck is exceptional. That aspect alone is a testament to his attention to details and to his attitude on the ice.
With the swift way he processes plays, one could argue the NHL pace should represent more of an opportunity land than a challenge for Viggo.

After the men’s World Championships we still thought we would be the only source having Bjorck at the top of this European class, but we noticed our old friends at Hockeyprospect.com even have him #1 overall, so here we end up a bit late to the party for a 5-foot-9 center. That’s something.

Ivar Stenberg dropping from his #1 pre-season ranking to #2 has obviously nothing to do with his season, you couldn’t have asked for more from him. He looks like a can’t miss prospect, the only one we have in the same tier with Viggo.

As for can’t miss prospects, there seems to be one more at #3 with Alberts Smits, and not for many Euro-based draft classes you can name three ‘can’t miss’ kind of prospects, with at least two of them likely ready for NHL action.

The only other member of our second tier with Smits is tall Swedish defenseman Malte Gustafsson. We loved Malte enough last season to rank him at #4 already in our pre-season rankings and in his draft year he has only confirmed our early impression. He seems to have more room for improvement than Smits and probably carries a higher upside than the Latvian.

The third tier looks much larger.
Deciding the ranking from 5 to 16 was a challenging balancing act between upside and risk, with the most talented players in that group also carrying relevant red flags. The three Swedes, Hermansson, Nordmark and Elofsson, are a prime example of that. Command, Suvanto, Hakansson, A. Andersson are among those that fall in the opposite category. Solid prospects (to a different degree obvioously) that are however somewhat lacking in terms of pure skill.

This is a draft class that may turn out to be better than most think today depending on how things will come together for quite a few talented players that look like question marks as of today. We actually like the top 20 better than in most past years despite the numerous risky profiles that are part of it.

Speaking of the uncertainty surrounding this list, it’s fair to acknowledge that this was not a regular year for Draftin Europe.
Our staff’s access to videos was reduced when the platform we were using was shut down and Dir. of Scouting Mik Portoni’s scouting endeavours led him to often look elsewhere rather than on the 2026 draft class. This means we had less viewings than usual and than ideal, which may have affected some decisions.
For example, we had very conflicting viewings for players like Vanhatalo and Shcherbakov.
While for the Finn that might just reflect the way he currently is, for the Russian D-man it might be a case of bad luck picking a couple of stinkers in the few games of his we watched at the MHL & VHL level. Some of his KHL performances were however really encouraging and enough to keep him in our top 10 (having to make a decision without further viewings).

Disclaimer: as usual, the ranking only pertains to skaters who completed their draft season in Europe.

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*Update with thoughts ahead of Day 2 of the 2026 NHL Draft*

No major surprises on day 1 when it comes to selections out of Europe. That a 5-foot-9 centerman dropped further than he should have doesn’t qualify as such.

The highest player on our list that is still on the board is Viktor Fyodorov, which was expected (little doubts that a physical speciman like Pugachyov would be gone way before him). We give Fyodorov 2nd round value, but it’s far from guaranteed he will go in the next 31 picks (Vegas’ pick was forfeited), although Carolina having two 2nd round picks might help his case.

One of the things we like with Fyodorov is, going by our viewings over multiple years, he basically never have bad games.  There may be games where he is not right in the middle of things offensively, and a bit too often this season he left you wanting more, but he was still always bringing a positive contribution to his team overall. He is smart, skilled, and prioritizes making the right play over constantly looking to create offense. Sometimes to a fault, but that should help him to remain effective and trusted when transitioning to the top level of competition. For that matter, his first showings in the KHL this season were encouraging.

Sure, his offensive production at the junior level this season was disappointing, but we don’t feel it’s the result of skill limitations. For example, even if his shooting this season was mostly ineffective and there is room to improve it, we actually don’t mind his shooting mechanics. His shooting % in the regular season was 6.5%, almost cut in half from the previous year, and if our viewings were a fair indication, him and teammate Pugachyov had terrible puck luck this year in terms of putting up the points. After a while, it looked like it also became a matter of confidence for Fyodorov when it came to put the puck in the back of the net. So we feel like his lack of offensive production came from the combination of these aspects (what he prioritizes, bad luck and lack of confidence) more than limitations in his skillset.

The main thing we felt was lacking, and behind the lack of progress from last year, is that to be more of a play driver while playing his all-around game (like, to find his way through opponents and successfully complete more plays through their challenges) Viktor will probably need to take another step in his physical power. He is not one of those green kids that still have a lean body, so that may be easier said than done. At this stage though, we still think there is the potential for a middle-six center here.

Fyodorov makes players around him better, and at the moment that’s something you can’t tell about the other players that remain available in Europe. That probably sums up why he is the highest ranked player left on our board.

Still, as hinted at the beginning of this write-up, he is unlikely to be one of the first players selected on Day 2. Look for sized defenseman like Shcherbakov and Hakansson or Lithuan winger Ignatavicius to go early on Saturday instead.

Beyond that, one of the most interesting things to look for will be, as usual, see how far undersized talented players drop. The main suspects here are Tomas Chrenko and moreover (being a defenseman) Axel Elofsson.

Two comparisons come to mind for the two most talented Swedish defensemen in this class.

The first time we saw Malte Gustafsson play years ago we wondered: “do we have another Edvinsson coming up here”. Fast forward a couple of seasons, at least on the surface you can probably look at him as a less sexy version of the Red Wings defenseman. But there is a clear difference in their mindset (at least when approaching the game in juniors). Edvinsson was very poised with the puck, but he was constantly looking for the (way to execute the) play that could make the most difference in each given situation, even when the risk/reward ratio was suggesting otherwise. Gustafsson is more patient and content to just take what’s given to him, especially in terms of his pass selection.

The mindset is instead the key match between Axel Elofsson and the player he reminds us of, Erik Karlsson.  Axel may be the first defenseman to come around that thinks the game the way Karlsson does.  Erik was more dynamic on his skates, Axel on the other hand is even more poised than Erik was (sometimes to a fault, you could fairly say). While that doesn’t mean he will come close to Erik’s level and success (in fact, he is far from being a guaranteed NHL regular to begin with), he tries to be the same kind of player, and their strengths and flaws are similar. Both look for, and can see or create, lanes that open up space and opportunities for their teammates.

Speaking of smallish defensemen, this will be the third year of our (painful) Tomas Galvas watch.

Back in the day, we pushed for Janis Moser to be drafted for four straight years and he ended up going in the 2nd round in his fourth and last year as a draft eligible player.

Will Galvas last as much (or even more eventually), going undrafted again? Maybe he is never going to get drafted? We still think someone will spend a pick on him this year, but if not he’ll just have to earn an NHL contract as a free agent down the road instead.

That’s what Artemi Panarin did, for example.

And as another reminder that our ranking doesn’t reflect our expectations of who will get drafted and who won’t,  we have small Russian winger Mikhail Melikov on our list. We don’t think he’ll be considered relevant (yet?) for the draft, but with the added power to his lower body and to his skating that he showed this season, he became relevant to us. He is a mercurial and talented offensive player, but unlike Panarin he also brings a presence on the forecheck (the combination of his reads with the added speed allowed him to create offensive zone turnovers like few other players in the MHL this season), so it’s not necessarily going to be big offensive numbers or nothing for him. Still a real long shot to ever make it to the NHL, but adding strength to his upper body and raising his intensity to a more consistent level could turn him into player in the long term.

Late picks are long shot to make it anyways, so why not swing for talent?