On the latest episode of Blackfish, Tyson Cole and Dave Hall gave their top-16 prospect rankings for the 2026 NHL Draft, ahead of Tuesday night’s NHL Draft Lottery.

Both Tyson and Dave agreed on the first two rankings, which are the two wingers who have been at the top of the draft board for nearly the entire draft process.

But then, we saw them differ in rankings on the next two rankings, but just had them flipped.

Tyson: “I go back to one thing that you said, Dave. That if Carels were a right-shot, he’d probably be the first defenceman taken. So, that makes me think that maybe he should be the best-rated defenceman. I got to watch him at the WHL Top Prospects game, and the way he took the game over was unbelievable. I was so impressed. I didn’t know he was going to be as physical as he was.”

Dave: “Reid’s got that dynamic vision and that dynamism in his game. Like his skating, to be a difference-maker on the offensive side. This is a guy who’s going to run a top power play; he’s going to be your number one offensive defenceman as a right-hand shot. While I love Carson Carels, there have been moments where I’ve toyed with it. I just think at the end of the day – aside from maybe Xavier Villeneuve, who has a lot of question marks in him – he undoubtedly has all the tools to be that next offensive defenceman, number one guy. I just can’t pass up on a right-hand shot that can run it all.”

The next three picks saw the same clump of players, but in far different orders. This is where the centres start to come into play.

Tyson believed that the criticism of Verhoeff may have gone a little too far, referencing the 2016 draft he explained in the last episode and in article form here, as something to be wary of in the process. However, Dave was more hesitant to have him that high due to his skating and questionable decision-making that extend beyond the NCAA level. Dave noted that he’s seen similar issues from Verhoeff from the U18 tournament for Team Canada.

Contrary to most draft rankings, both Tyson and Dave ranked Viggo Björck as their best available centre. Björck’s high-end motor, dog-on-a-bone forechecking ability, and top-line deployment at every level he’s played at are what they pointed out as major factors when choosing between him and Caleb Malhotra.

Malhotra is the one drawing all the buzz of late, shooting up the draft boards, and will ultimately be selected ahead of Björck because of his size. However, Malhotra’s one year of production, along with questions about his true ceiling as a top-line centre, is what gave Björck the edge.

Tyson and Dave agreed on their eighth ranking, noting that this might be the most NHL-ready defenceman in this draft class, but may not have the same high-end upside as the defenders ahead of him.

Here are the entire draft rankings below:

To listen to more of the reasoning behind their rankings, you can watch the full show below!