> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.pensionplanpuppets.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # 2026 T25U25: Alexander Bilecki is #9 - URL: https://www.pensionplanpuppets.com/2026-t25u25-alexander-bilecki-is-9/ - Published: 2026-09-03T12:00:46.000Z - Updated: 2026-09-03T12:00:49.000Z - Description: Toronto added a new top defense prospect to their pool this summer, and he debuts in the T25U25 this year in the top 10. - Author: Brian S - Tags: Top 25 Under 25 You'd think that after singing praises and hyping up Bilecki even before Toronto picked him in the draft, it would be easy for me to write this. But it actually hasn't been. | Alexander Bilecki | Vitals | | ----------------- | ------ | | Age as of July 1 | 18.15 | | Position | LD | | Height | 6'2" | | Weight (lbs) | 181 | | Shoots | L | | Draft Year | 2026 | | Draft Number | 60 | ### The Player If you want to know about who Bilecki is as a player, I recommend reading the profile I wrote about him before the draft if you haven't already. It's as unbiased a take as I could manage since he wasn't actually a Toronto prospect at the time. [2026 NHL Draft Profile: Alexander BileckiBilecki has been buried in the depth chart for a strong Kitchener defensive group, but he’s made the most of his time and stepped up when needed.![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/34/01/3401a938-f468-4c02-a227-9bc4cc09bad4/content/images/icon/PPP-Goalie-Logo_RGB-6b45289d-03d2-497a-a350-1a3c8a08b8eb.png)PPP LeafsBrian S![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/34/01/3401a938-f468-4c02-a227-9bc4cc09bad4/content/images/thumbnail/photo-1484312152213-d713e8b7c053-e3b31b45-c358-410c-b868-eb5e5c7f4f2e)](https://www.pensionplanpuppets.com/2026-nhl-draft-profile-alexander-bilecki/) What I want to talk about when it comes to Bilecki and specifically his ranking among Toronto's young prospects and players, is not really about Bilecki himself. It has more to do with what I value from a defenseman. I've been struggling to write an article, or series of articles, that tries to pin down my always evolving thoughts on what is actually valuable skills for defensemen. In the past couple of years I've had the strong thought that a lot of people don't really know how to watch, analyze, and appreciate defenseman and how they can impact the game. I've said before that what I look for in a defenseman, in terms of prioritizing the potential skills they could have, starts from his own end and moves outwards. Be good at defending your blueline to prevent clean zone entries by the other team. Stop the cycle and breakup/prevent quality scoring chances in your own end. Then, once you get the puck back by forcing a turnover or a change in possession, be good at moving the puck out of your own end with control. Then be good at driving transitions through the neutral zone and into the offensive zone. Finally, once you're there, if you can also be good at having a positive impact on the offense and contribute to scoring chances in some way, that would be swell. While Bilecki's defense isn't his ***biggest*** strength, it's something that I think is still ***a*** strength and something that could project into being above average. On top of that, I think that even if Bilecki isn't at Ben Danford's level for traditional defensive skills, I think his game lends itself well to driving positive possession for his team. And what's the best way to not get scored on? Not letting the other team have the puck! This isn't a profile, so here's a quick list of things I think Bilecki is good at to help drive possessions. They're all ways that basically just mean he isn't turnover prone. - **Retrievals -** Bilecki has good mobility to get to dump ins first helping him win possessions vs forechecks. - **Contact absorption -** This comes up on retrievals but in other areas where he gets to loose pucks first. He pre-scans and shoulder checks to see where forecheckers are coming from and where his outlets are, if he can't elude them outright he will initiate contact on battles for inside position to get the puck and then spins off pressure with control. - **Composure under pressure -** The elusiveness and contact absorption hint at this, but Bilecki shows little panic when dealing with heavy forechecking which helps him avoid panic-induced turnovers and make good decisions with the puck. No turnovers = keeping possession. - **Passing accuracy -** Bilecki has good accuracy with his first passes out of his zone that his teammates can handle. They aren't behind them, in their feet, or in locations that are more difficult to receive cleanly, again helping avoid turnovers. - **Blueline walking -** Bilecki's mobility, decision making and composure helps him walk the blueline with the puck so he can keep it in with delays and manipulating passing lanes to extend offensive zone possessions without turning it over – something that's especially dangerous at the offensive zone blueline that could lead to the other team having a rush chance. ### The Votes Here's how the other voters ranked Bilecki: | Voter | Vote | | ---------------- | ----- | | Cathy | 6 | | Species | 9 | | Hound Line | 9 | | Shinson93 | 12 | | Cameron | 12 | | Sclodiggity | 11 | | Brian S | 4 | | Svalbard38 | 10 | | Zone Entry | 15 | | Hardev | 8 | | Adam | 16 | | Weighted Average | 10.18 | | Highest Vote | 4 | | Lowest Vote | 16 | I was by far the one who ranked him the highest, and I figured I would be. For reference, I ranked him only behind McKenna, Knies and Cowan – so I ranked him ahead of both Koblar and Danford, who were the other two "top prospects" Toronto has who were the more obvious choices to be considered at fourth. Why did I rank Bilecki so aggressively? The simple answer is because I see his potential as being greater than both of them. Koblar and Danford are prospects I really like, but both are also limited in their projection because they are – ***relatively –*** lacking in some areas. But with Bilecki, he also has his areas for improvement, but he a more broad array of skills while also having some high level potential in very valuable areas... at least to me. I also think Bilecki is going to have a big year for Kitchener. They're coming off a Memorial Cup championship and are losing a lot of their top talent, some they already had and others they traded for as they went all in for their playoff run. It looks like every defenseman they were using in their regular lineup for that run are all moving on except for Bilecki and Andrew MacNiel who was another bottom pairing guy and didn't play every playoff game. One of the reasons why I really liked Bilecki and thought he was underrated is because there were multiple times last year where he had a chance to play higher in the lineup. Players were still at NHL training camps, at the World Juniors, from injuries, and so on. And in those periods of time, Bilecki stepped up and looked even better. I have a good amount of trust that, given an even bigger opportunity with his tools and skills, Bilecki will look even better as a year older, bigger, stronger, and more experienced. In the end, despite me really, ***really*** liking both Danford and TLK as prospects, I just think that Bilecki has an even higher potential. Maybe he and Danford both wind up being a second pairing guy in the NHL, but I could see Bilecki being more valuable as the guy to drive the pairing where Danford remains more specialized. ### The Opinions Here's what the other voters think about Bilecki: > **Shinson93**: Bilecki seems to have a lot of things lining up to allow for a breakout D+1 season. I’ll be watching to see how he handles more responsibility and a bigger spotlight. I have him in the middle of my maybes, giving him the benefit of having a longer runway. I’m skeptical that he’ll blow us away, but he could be a little more fun to watch compared with the other defensemen I have in this range. > **Svalbard38**: When I first watched Bilecki I wasn’t impressed. He carried the puck well but he looked aimless and disinterested in his own zone. When the playoffs rolled around, I watched Kitchener games to see Hlacar, but since Hlacar didn’t play a ton, a lot of my focus shifted to Bilecki, and I started to really like what I was seeing. The game that sticks out to me is the last game in the Soo series. After game 4, Travis Hayes of the Greyhounds said “We have \[Kitchener’s\] number right now and they’re shivering”. Then Bilecki had a slick pass for the primary assist while he was being tripped up, goaded two separate guys (including Travis Hayes) into taking a misconduct against him in the same stoppage (in an elimination game), and then had the primary assist on the empty netter. And in Bilecki’s interview after the game? “We definitely weren’t shivering after one loss like they said”. By the time draft day came around, I was all-in on Bilecki. The night before day 2, I had a dream we drafted him. I’m very happy to have Bilecki in our pool. > **Sclodiggity**: Bilecki looks like a very solid prospect and, of course, benefits from being the top non-McKenna pick from the most recent draft. Biases aside, he had strong tracking data from Kitchener last year and looks ready to step into a much larger role for them. He doesn’t do it all, but no one does (well, very few people do). As a defensemen in a prospect pool with few strong defensive prospects (Danford being the only one with a strong chance at a long NHL career; MacKenzie and Gudmundsson, please prove me wrong) makes him more valuable still. > **Cathy:** I did not vote for Bilecki over Danford because I am a hardcore believer that defence comes first. A defender has to be as good as some of the best in the NHL at offensive aspects of the game before they are allowed to be bad at defence, and so I have to rate Danford higher. That says, potential wins in all other ways, so I bumped Bilecki up as far as I could. Now it's your turn. Let us know what you think of Bilecki!