2026 NHL Draft Profiles: Re-Entry Defensemen

This year there's an interesting group of defenders who are re-entering the NHL draft this year, some for the third (and final) time. That said, the number of them this year is shorter for me than it has been in previous seasons. I started out wanting to have a round ten in total to profile, but after I did the first eight I really struggled to find two more. Rather than adhere to an arbitrary number I set for myself, I cut it off there. The ones that are left, however, I found pretty darn interesting.

ETHAN MACKENZIE

• Position: Left-shot defenseman
• League(s): WHL
• Height: 6'1"
• Weight: 189 lbs
• Birthdate: Sep 2, 2006

This is MacKenzie's third time being eligible for the NHL draft, and if you're wondering whether or not I'm bitter that Toronto could have taken MacKenzie as a D+1 re-entry last year with a late round pick instead of, oh just picking a random name off the top of my head, someone like Hlacar when I included him as a potential re-entry to take because of his stellar numbers... I plead the fifth. Anyways, this year he was even better. He made Team Canada's World Juniors squad and was one of their best overall defensemen. His point production almost doubled, and his goal rate improved by more than four times while maintaining his elite tracking metrics.

MacKenzie is still the same elite skating, highly competitive two-way defender he turned into last year. His impact and quality of play are at a high level, which you'd expect from a guy in his final junior year. He makes excellent decisions when activating offensively while maintaining strong defensive ability to kill plays and win battles along the boards despite being an average size. Ultimately, I'd put it this way... if the Leafs had drafted him two years ago with a mid to late round pick, and he turned into what he is now, I'd be ecstatic. As it is, he'll probably be one of the first re-entries taken this year, maybe as early as the second round. His upside is probably still that of a mid to bottom pair defenseman, and he's still not a sure-thing to be an NHLer at all. But you could make worse picks, especially once you get into the middle rounds.

TIMOFEI RUNTSO

• Position: Right-shot defenseman
• League(s): WHL
• Height: 6'2"
• Weight: 187 lbs
• Birthdate: Jul 06, 2007

Runtso is an interesting case who was on the younger side last year (July 2007 birthday), and went undrafted after playing all season in the NAHL. This year, he joined Victoria in the WHL and had a breakout season and/or he happened to be noticed in a more scrutinized league. He had 11 goals and 44 points in 68 games as one of Victoria's top defensemen, though they were one of the bottom teams in the league and missed the playoffs. He was one of their lone bright spots, and will join the NCAA next year so he'll have some years of control yet.

Runtso's biggest strengths are his rush defense, offensive impact and using physical play to his advantage. He creates chaos offensively, the good kind most of the time, but has strong two-way impacts and can transition the puck at a good level. Like MacKenzie, he is not projected to be a high-level defenseman overall, but he has projectable skills and habits. If he works on improving his explosiveness, his decision making (just needs to rein in that chaos-causing a bit), and the consistency of his defensive play in his own end, he'd make for a solid mid round pick.

COLE TUMINARO

• Position: Right-shot defenseman
• League(s): USHL
• Height: 6'4"
• Weight: 229 lbs
• Birthdate: Jan 24, 2007

Tuminaro is an interesting re-entry defenseman because of his size, and because he missed all but one regular season game in his draft year due to an injury. Stylistically, he's much different than MacKenzie or Runtso. Where they have more flashy or smooth two-way skill, Tuminaro is more of your defensive specialist. He had only 16 points in 54 games for Chicago in the USHL, but that isn't a very high scoring junior league... especially for defensemen. He's got a commitment to Cornell University in the NCAA, not a top program or conference but one of the better teams in that conference. He was invited to the USA All-American game for the top prospects playing in the US this year, and played as the top pair right defenseman for Team Blue.

Tuminaro is already huge, and his skating improved a lot this year to catch him up from so much missed time. The size, reach, and skating make it almost impossible for most junior competitors in the USHL to beat him off the rush. He's strong positionally and a good shot blocker if that's your thing, and all of that combines to make him someone that can deal very well with high paced play. The downsides of his game, likely influenced at least somewhat by how much missed time he had last year, is his skill with the puck tends to be very simple and passive plus his skating mechanics could be refined to add better fluidity and explosiveness.

DAKODA RHEAUME-MULLEN

• Position: Left-shot defenseman
• League(s): NCAA
• Height: 6'0"
• Weight: 185 lbs
• Birthdate: Dec 18, 2006

Rhéaume-Mullen is on the older side for a D+1 re-entry, but he's coming off of a strong sophomore season for Michigan in the NCAA – one of the top teams in college this year in arguably the toughest conference. His freshman season was slower, with less of a role where his play on the ice didn't really warrant more time. This year, his point production doubled (from 9 to 18) and his ice time increased as well, and you can see his overall impacts in his tracking data from last year (left) to this year (right). It mostly came with his offensive and transition game, but his "little things" also improved.

Rhéaume-Mullen projects as a bottom pair defenseman, mostly because he isn't so good offensively or defensively that you can see a specialized role like that. He can help offense a bit, especially driving good transitions, and he has good mobility as a defenseman. But he's only average in size which hurts his defensive impact in his own end, though in the NCAA he's noted as a dog against the cycle. His skating helps him defend against rushes much better. I feel like I'm including him mostly because I saw how painful it can be to have defensemen who aren't able to move the puck out of their own end, and that's one of his strengths. I wouldn't take him before the late rounds though.

ALEXANDER SAPOZHNIKOV

• Position: Left-shot defenseman
• League(s): MHL / KHL
• Height: 6'6"
• Weight: 209 lbs
• Birthdate: Jan 17, 2007

It's easy to see why Sapozhnikov may have some hype as a re-entry prospect – he's a 6'6" defenseman who has above average mobility. He went unknown last year because he didn't even play in the MHL, he was a level below that in the NMHL. This year, he not only got to the MHL but after only two games he was called up to the KHL directly. He only got onto the ice for 5 games, but dressed for 30 KHL games in total. It's not really ideal for a guy who barely played in a not-so-great junior league to not play much like that this year, but it is a sign that his pro team took his value seriously. When he was playing back in the MHL, he did very well and was eventually traded from a very bad/lowly program to a top program in SKA-1946 St Petersburg. In the MHL, he had 15 points in 19 games, which is a very good rate for even a D+1 defenseman in that league.

The easiest strengths scouts have identified with Sapozhnikov are his skating and reach. Those alone already give him value, and when he leans into his size and physical advantages he is defensively dominant in junior. His play in junior also showed some interesting offensive capabilities, where he was their top powerplay quarterback, showcased creative playmaking and a bomb from the point, smart activations into the offense, and a lot more calm and controlled decision making. Despite that, Sapozhnikov's projection likely will be almost entirely based on his defense. It's hard to ignore just how little he's played in more competitive leagues when he's already in his D+1 season, and there is still a lot of rawness to his game as a result. If you believe he can be a late bloomer because of that and want to bet on that size/skating combination, he'd make for an interesting late round swing.

OWEN CONRAD

• Position: Left-shot defenseman
• League(s): QMJHL
• Height: 6'3"
• Weight: 207 lbs
• Birthdate: Mar 10, 2007

For those who remember, I had written about Conrad as a late round pick option before the draft, and he wound up being one of the highest consensus ranked players to go undrafted last year. After that, he was an undrafted invite to the Leafs' rookie tournament in Montreal this past summer, and I wrote about him again as one of the standout players on Toronto's roster even among their older, drafted defense prospects. He returned to the QMJHL this year where he more or less replicated the previous season. He was a top defenseman, had slightly more points with more of them coming at even strength this year, and produced a lot better in the playoffs.

I didn't watch Conrad as much this season, but from what I did see I still like him. Depending on how you feel about other prospects available when you're into the later rounds, I think you can do worse than giving Conrad a chance (cough Hlacar cough). He has that size-mobility combination, decent defensive instincts and some ability to move the puck up the ice without treating the puck like a live grenade.

MATUS LISY

• Position: Left-shot defenseman
• League(s): WHL
• Height: 6'1"
• Weight: 192 lbs
• Birthdate: Jun 15, 2007

Lisy is another defenseman I wrote about as a late round option last year. I liked him them as a potential puck moving, two-way defenseman even if his big point totals playing in Slovakia last year made you think he was more offensively inclined. Actually, now that I think about it, he seems like the defenseman version of Holinka! For this season, he came to North America as an import pick with Red Deer in the WHL. What I said last year came true – the points weren't as gaudy (22 in 52 games, none in 5 playoff games) in Canada like it was against Slovakian competition, but he was showcasing exactly that puck moving and two-way potential. He did also make Slovakia's roster for the World Juniors this winter.

Like Conrad, I haven't seen as much of Lisy this year since he is a re-entry. But from the WHL games I caught of him, what improved the most this season was his defense. He maintains better gaps on rushes coming at him, and he had much better positioning in the defensive zone. He also adapted well to the faster and more physical style of play in the WHL compared to Slovakia. His puck movement stayed at a high level, which helped his team a lot in breaking out of their own end. The question marks that remain for him are tightening up his defense and improving his explosiveness. He's another guy that would wind up as a depth, third pairing defenseman if he ever makes the NHL. So call him a late round swing if he gets taken at all.

ETHAN WEBER

• Position: Right-shot defenseman
• League(s): WHL
• Height: 6'0"
• Weight: 196 lbs
• Birthdate: Dec 10, 2006

Weber is a California-born right shot defenseman who played in Canada the first time this year for Penticton in the WHL. Before now, he had been playing for the Lincoln Stars in the USHL, where he was down the depth charts behind older and/or already drafted to the NHL defenders. His scouting reports gave him decent grades for his defense, but he was an average-sized guy without showing eye-popping offense, so it's not the most surprising he went undrafted. This year, his defense improved and his offense really improved with a year's worth of physical growth, experience, and more playing opportunity. He put up 14 goals and 51 points in 68 points despite being their PP2 defenseman for most of the year – only 16 of his points came with the man advantage. He's committed to Penn State in the NCAA next year, which has become one of the better programs in college in recent years.

What scouts saw from Weber this year was a style of defense that projects well to the NHL. He uses physical play intelligently and can hold his own even against bigger players, and he'll meet dirty in kind when the situation calls for it. He defends the rush at a very high level with a good use of stickwork, good positioning, and intelligent play-reading. He was relied on heavily in all situations by Penticton, with good positioning all over the ice. His offensive game bloomed this year, especially his reads of when to jump into the play and in handling the puck. It probably isn't enough to carry him to the NHL as an offensive guy, but it's enough that it gives some confidence he can use those skills to push the puck in the right direction. The question is if he can refine his tools and skills to a high enough level to make him a decent bottom pairing defenseman who can pitch in on both special teams.

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!