2026 NHL Draft Profile: Giorgos Pantelas

Remember all the things I've said about what I like in a defenseman, and what I consider to be valuable 'defensive' skills? That's very relevant to today's profile.

THE BASICS: STATS AND CONTEXT

• Position: Right-shot defenseman
• League(s): WHL
• Height: 6'3"
• Weight: 211 lbs
• Birthdate: Apr 24, 2008

Here are his draft rankings, as of writing this:

• TSN NHL Scout Poll: Not ranked
• Cam Robinson NHL Scout Poll: Not ranked
• Corey Pronman: 82nd
• Will Scouch: Not ranked
• Elite Prospects: 32nd
• Scott Wheeler: 63rd
• McKeen's Hockey: 57th
• Upside Hockey: 48th
• NHL Central Scouting: 46th (North American skaters)

Pantelas was a first round pick by Brandon in the WHL back in 2023, originally born in Quebec but raised in Victoria, BC. In that draft year, the league he played in had other defensemen who are now ranked in the first round, others who are ranked lower but are known for their offensive production. In that season, across two leagues, he had 57 points in 61 games in the CSSHL which was second for defensemen behind only Keaton Verhoeff, and in the other U15 AAA league he finished with 38 points in 28 games which was also 2nd behind Daxon Rudolph but ahead of Verhoeff, Ryan Lin, Carson Carels, Ben MacBeath and Brek Liske.

The next season, playing in an U18 AAA league with all those same top defense prospects, Pantelas' production dropped to 11th among his age group with just 16 points in 30 games. But the next season, he played the full year for Brandon in the WHL as a 16 year old rookie. He played in 61 games and had 10 points, but his biggest impact was already on defense and on transitions.

This season, Pantelas started the year as their top pair, right-shot defenseman and didn't relinquish that spot for the whole year. He was a high leverage, all situations leader for a mid-tier team this year. He was their go-to defenseman when they were holding a lead or playing a tight game late, and he was their top penalty killer. He was also one of the main powerplay defensemen used, but I can't really tell if he was ever the PP1 or PP2 guy aside from the fact that he had the second most powerplay points on the team for defensemen.

Pantelas finished this season with 37 points in 68 games – 12 of those game on the powerplay. Among that same group of U18 defensemen who also played the full season in the WHL, that result was tied for 8th best and right behind the guys who finished 5th-6th. Funnily enough, four of the defensemen who finished ahead of him are a year younger and not eligible until next year. So looking at only his age group, he was in the second tier of point producing defensemen in the WHL this year.

Aside from his play in the WHL, Pantelas has also had a bit of experience with Team Canada on the international stage. He played in the World Under-17 Hockey Challenge for one of Canada's two teams, where he had 1 point in 5 games. This year, he played for Canada at the Hlinka Gretzky but was used mostly as the 7th defenseman. So he didn't have a big role or a lot of ice time. Though, Canada's right side was packed with talent – Keaton Verhoeff who will go top 10 in this draft, maybe top 5; Ryan Lin, who is a lock to be a first rounder and could go top 15; and Landon DuPont who is the latest exceptional status player and not eligible until next year's draft but is an absurd talent already.

So it's understandable that Pantelas played behind those three. He doesn't have the same talent as them, even if he has that "reliable defensive defenseman" label attached to him that Canada usually likes. There is a good reason why Pantelas is considered to be a second/third rounder and not a guaranteed first round guy like the others. But since I'm talking about the Leafs potentially taking him in that range, let's get into why I think that's a good idea.

THE GOOD: ELITE RUSH DEFENSE, PHYSICAL PLAY, MOTOR, PROACTIVE DEFENSE

By far the biggest strength to Pantelas' game is his defense – and again, I am counting zone exits as a defensive skill. His coaches reportedly loved him for his smart, proactive defense – even when his mechanics got wild, his 'hockey IQ' was so good he didn't need to have precise and smooth mechanics to shut things down. The proactive part refers to his ability to anticipate play, and move ahead of time to close off passing opportunities or jump into the lanes to intercept them.

Pantelas is widely considered one of the best defenders against the rush. He keeps a tight gap, matches the speed and angle of the puck carrier as he skates backwards, denies them the middle and herds them to the boards to cut off their space and make it easier for him to knock the puck loose with his stick. He has one of those never ending motors and is highly competitive, and he doesn't often lose puck battles.

With Pantelas' size and reach, he is described by some scouts as having one of the best sticks in this draft, using sweep checks, poke checks, stick lifts, getting his stick in passing lanes to break it up, anything and everything like that. That isn't to say he isn't also physical, because he is. He's decently tall and already a good weight at 214 lbs, and he plays a heavy, suffocating physical defense along the boards and is capable of boxing out and/or shoving away forwards in front of the net.

The potential Pantelas has a two-way defenseman comes from his ability to move the puck up the ice and to act as a capable playmaker. On retrievals, he has good mobility with above average acceleration, four-way mobility, and edgework that makes him agile and elusive on his skates. His skating isn't elite, but it is good enough as of now and he has time to improve with physical maturity and practice with skating coaches. He is quick to get to the dump ins first, establishes his body positioning to protect the puck, absorbs the first hit with his size and strength on his feet, and then seals off the forechecker from being able to get at the puck.

Is play in the offensive zone is similar to Pantelas' skating. It's above average, good enough for the level he plays at now for him to be used on the powerplay, have a decent number of points and good tracking data for his playmaking. His passing rates and accuracy are both solid, he has a good brain to activate into the play more than occasionally but less than frequently. His background shows he has had offensive potential to be not quite elite, but a tier or two below that. I have a thought that he could have stagnated in his offensive development because he was committed to focusing on his defense – something he admits in a video I'll link below. I can't say if there's this big untapped potential for him to still realize, but I do think he has more potential as a puck moving play maker than other guys who are more pure defensive specialists.

THE FLAWS: PUCK HANDLING, CARRYING THE PUCK, NO SHOT

When it comes to Pantelas' flaws, I'd say he has one issue that is borderline "glaring" and then a bunch of smaller things that he just needs to work on improving, but are not significant problems that will hold him back.

The big one is Pantelas' puck handling. He's very raw in this area, and it is particularly problematic when he's dealing with pressure. It's also something that degrades more than most when he's out on an extended shift and playing tired. Some of it is his mechanics, scouts point to his stiff posture and how he uses his hands on his stick that makes it harder for him to handle the puck out in front of himself – he is easier to take the puck away from, or prone to losing the handle on his own.

Some of that is also due to problems with Pantelas' skating. His mechanics tend to get messy when he's carrying the puck, and it's the same issue – he looks stiff, his balance is off, and he looks at the puck in front of him too much. He just needs a lot of time to practice handling the puck in general so he gets more loose and comfortable doing it, and then doing it at speed until he can replicate that with mobility.

Otherwise, I think like most prospects it would be good for him to improve his explosiveness with his first two steps. It's pretty good now, but any defender I think could always use better acceleration and quickness to deal with changes of speed, pivots, and getting to loose pucks/dump ins faster and then pull away from forecheckers.

OVERALL ASSESSMENT

Over the season, there were some noteworthy areas that Pantelas improved by a lot. Most importantly was how his mobility improved. At the start of the year scouts were referring to his skating as something that was actively hindering him and his potential. By the end of the year, he looked much smoother, quicker, more explosive, and even dynamic at times in his speed and agility. It took his defense to another level, as he could handle just about any speedy puck carrier trying to get by him on the rush.

The other ways he improved that I care about was Pantelas' ability to retrieve the puck on dump ins and break it out of his end safely. He was better at shoulder checking and scanning the ice, and he could deal with pressure from forechecking much better. A lot of that was from his skating, but it also had to do with an improved hockey sense as he learned how to problem solve in the moment. Scouts were calling him ridiculous in transition for his instincts, head fakes and slip passes through narrow lanes to kick start the offensive counter-rush.

I view Pantelas as a similar type of defenseman as Ta'amu, who I profiled yesterday. The difference in their games has more to do with stylistic differences – Ta'amu is much better at using his strength in his defense, and I think he's a better puck mover already. Pantelas is a bit more cerebral and stick-based in his defense, but I think the slight difference in their skating (now and projected) makes me like Ta'amu more.

But hey, I wouldn't be unhappy with either.

Thanks for reading!

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