2026 NHL Draft: December Watch List

Into my second month of looking at potential draft picks that could be on Toronto's radar next summer, I'm finding this year's players to be more fun and interesting than the previous couple. So of course, Toronto doesn't pick until the third.... sigh. Still, I'm finding some interesting names come up on my radar.

At this point, I'm mainly looking at "glitter players" who I was not aware of but noticed make good plays in games I was watching for someone else. Other than that, there's been some names I've seen scouts I mostly agree with get ranked that no one else has (so far), who also seem like good targets for potential third rounders I'd actually be interested in.

FORWARDS

Wyatt Cullen

Son of Matt Cullen, who played 1500+ games and got more than 700 points in a 21 year long NHL career, Wyatt comes from a hockey family. His two brothers are hockey players, his two uncles were NHL/AHL tweeners before making careers in Europe, his grand father played for Michigan in the NCAA, his great-grandfather Barry Cullen actually played for the Toronto Maple Leafs for two seasons in the late 50's, and he has a bunch of great or great-great uncles who also played in the NHL for brief periods.

Wyatt has some hype going for him. He's on the US National Development team, and even if this year's squad is weaker than recent years he's still considered one of their better players. His issue is that he's missed multiple chunks of the season due to various injuries. He's played in only 9 games for the regular season, then two games for the CHL vs USNTDP top prospects game... where he was one of the best players for both teams from what I saw. But of course, he got hurt in the second game. He's another guy who, if he returns and finishes the season healthy will most likely not be a third rounder, but I still have my eye on him for now.

Cole Zurawski

He's a 6'1", 190 lb right shot winger playing in the OHL on the Owen Sound Attack. I've noticed him while watching Harry Nansi's games. Zurawski wasn't really a "glitter" guy for me until I saw him on Nansi's wing, during his brief trial at center. He has 16 goals and 29 points in 29 games, and being a point per game player in your draft year is a good sign of offensive effectiveness – for me, especially because he's not a top line, top powerplay guy. He's 3rd on the team in goals, 4th in points, and 5th in powerplay points. He's fifth in the OHL for U18 players.

I think he could be a third round guy because he isn't a dominant player even in junior, but I like a lot of the little parts of his game. He plays with a lot of energy, he back checks, works hard to steal pucks, he battles along the boards, all that kind of stuff. The plus is that he flashes some higher level skills with his shot and playmaking. His issue is consistency and putting all of that together.

Funny story, Zurawski came to Owen Sound in January of last season when they traded Sam McCue to Flint.

Alexander Command

Great name, he's a 6'1" 183 lb center from Sweden with a June 16th birthday. In Sweden's U20 junior league, he has 12 goals and 26 points in 18 games. That's a tie for the most points in the league for points by U18 players. He's also played in 10 games internationally for Sweden's U18 junior roster, where he has 6 goals and 12 points in 10 games – good for 7th, though six of the players ahead of him have played 16 games, by points per game he'd be 3rd.

Command's point production is interesting, but what I've liked about him in the bits I've seen and from his scouting reports is his intelligence and his effort. He will battle, and while he doesn't flash any elite skill he just makes smart plays to get the most out of his abilities. His red flags are his skating and physical strength. Not that he's an awful skater or very small, but his current levels create consistency issues with him being able to execute on all the plays he tries to make with and without the puck. His overall ability could pull him out of the middle rounds and into the top two, but if he does fall he looks like he'd be an interesting pick. Some scouts already have him in the top two rounds.

Vilho Vanhatalo

Vanhatalo is a 6'4", 194 lb left shot winger from Finland, and came into this season with some hype. He was a prolific goal scorer last year in Finland's U18 junior league, and had a decent though not great Hlinka Gretzky appearance with 3 points in 5 games to help his country win the silver medal. So far this season, however, things haven't been as strong. He has 9 goals and 16 points in 22 games, good for 11th in Finland's U20 junior league. He's also gotten into 5 games in the Liiga, but has no points.

His play style is definitely as a power forward. His biggest strengths are along the boards, in front of the net, and imposing his physical size and strength against opponents. Other than that, he's got a good shot but that's about it. He's not a guy who wants the puck on his stick for very long, making him weak on driving transitions or building offense. He's more of a supporting winger who creates space and finishes around the net. If he can become a strong defensive winger with that size who can kill penalties at a high level, I can see him making for an interesting project.

Ryder Cali

Mitch Brown recently released his first batch of tracking data for all prospects, and I did my usual thing of filtering to this year's draft eligible players and looking for hidden gems. I came across Cali's chart and everything I saw was something I liked. He's a 6'2", 209 lb left shot winger. He's got a very late birthday of September 6th, making him 10 days away from not being eligible until next year's draft. If you haven't heard of him, it's likely because he's only played in 13 games and none since October 25th when he separated his shoulder.

Cali's got 7 goals and 11 points in 13 games for the offensively anemic North Bay Battalion. Their leading offensive players all have 19 points or fewer in 30+ games. His points per game leads the team by a pretty large margin. His strengths as a player are in his combination of size, energy and skill. He's a good skater, he skates hard, he plays a solid two-way game and does a lot of the little things to drive play in his team's favour. Elite Prospects has him as a first rounder and I can see why. He probably won't wind up as a third rounder unless he basically misses all of this season. But hey, a guy can dream... the games I looked up recently, I liked what I saw.

DEFENSE

Landon Nycz

Nycz is a 6'3" left shot defenseman playing in the NCAA this season for UMass. He only played around 10-12 minutes on average into November, but that's been trending up. His last four games he played 15:58, then 17:08, then 18:04, and his most recent game was a season high 21:55. I've seen a few of his games, first because he played two games against Malinoski and Providence that I was already watching and a couple of others while I followed Vaclav Nestrasil who I love and am still angry that Chicago drafted him before we could.

Anyways, Nycz only has 2 points in 18 games, and offense doesn't seem to be the biggest strength of his game. But he looks like a very good skater, plays a solid and smart defensive game, and can make good passes to push the puck up the ice. He flashes a heavy shot from the point but isn't a big offensive creator. He's on the older side of this draft with an October 2007 birthday, but I'm quite interested in him and I could see him being a third round pick easily unless he has more of an offensive breakout with his bigger ice time.

Yaroslav Fedoseyev

Fedoseyev is a 6'2", 187 lb right shot defenseman playing in Russia. He's played in all three levels in Russia this season, with big or at least meaningful minutes in each. He has 12 points in 17 games in the MHL, Russia's junior league, which is the third highest points per game pace for defensemen in his age group. He also has one goal in 10 games in the VHL, Russia's second tier pro league, and one goal in 6 KHL games.

His standout trait is his skating, with good speed but also agility in terms of his ability to switch directions – including defensively. He also looks pretty solid to me in terms of being able to break the puck out of his own end, something I value a lot as both a defensive and offensive skill. He doesn't get very high projection from scouts because of limited offensive skills and being too skinny right now. I never worry too much about weight, especially when a guy seems skinny for his height. Could be an interesting mid to late round pick with his combination of potential size, mobility and puck movement.

Jiri Kamas

Kamas is a 6'2" right shot defenseman from Czechia, playing this season in the WHL. He's another guy I spotted when going through Mitch Brown's tracking data, which you can see below. Obviously I'm interested in a guy that flashes a high level of defensive and transition impacts but also a good amount of the little things. Mind you, it's only two games tracked but this is what led me to checking him out myself. He has 6 points in 19 games in the WHL, and his usage seems to have been as a depth/rotation defenseman to start the season. Since then, as he's adjusted he's gotten into more games but his role has bounced between the second and third pair, with the occasional top pair start sprinkled in.

From what I've seen, he's a very mobile defenseman and is both aggressive but still effective as a defenseman. He kills rushes, mostly with a good stick but also by imposing himself physically. The mobility also helps him on retrieving dump ins and getting to loose pucks, where he can evade forecheckers and make simple plays to get it out. He doesn't look very flashy in terms of high level skill, but he has enough of it with his physical tools and an awareness for how to use them all to be a highly effective defenseman in junior. He's showing good improvements and adjustments through this season, I think he could make for a good project pick in the middle rounds by the end of this season. He's definitely one to follow for the rest of the year, as his size and current flashes alone could already be enough to make him a top two round pick. But then with the potential to be a third rounder maybe...?

Maxim Sokolovsky

Sokolovsky is a 6'8", 238 lb left shot defenseman. He's a behemoth from Kazakhstan and Russia, but playing for the London Knights in the OHL. He's only played in 15 games this season, but Dale Hunter is pretty well known for bringing younger defensemen along very slowly. I've seen a few scouts all make a very similar remark about him, along the lines of "he makes the most out of his limited minutes".

Despite being so tall, he gets good grades for his skating. Not that it can't use improving, but he doesn't seem to have an issue keeping up with faster players. Right now, he's an all-potential pick that would very much be a long term project, but with an NCAA commitment that's actually ideal for being able to keep his rights for longer. He flashes effective impacts in every part of his game, his issue is consistency of execution.

Thanks for reading!

I put a lot of work into my prospect articles here, both for the draft and Toronto's prospects. I do it as a fun hobby for me, and I'd probably do it in some capacity even if PPP completely ceased to exist. But if you like reading my work, some support would go a long way! I pay for a few streaming services (CHL, NCAA, USHL, the occasional TSN options for international tournaments that are broadcast) to be able to reliably watch these prospects in good quality streams. I also pay for some prospect-specific resources, such as tracking data and scouting reports from outlets like Elite Prospects, Future Considerations, McKeen's Hockey, The Athletic, and more.

Being able to get paid for this helps me dedicate more time and resources to it, rather than to second/third jobs. And whatever money I make here, a lot of I reinvest back into my prospect work through in those streaming and scouting services. Like I said, I'd be doing whatever I can afford for this anyway, so any financial help I get through this is greatly appreciated!