Michael Hage, Gavin McKenna and Keaton Verhoeff Target the Frozen Four
Junior and collegiate seasons have now come to an end. We are therefore entering the heart of the matter for several prospects eligible for the 2026 NHL Draft. This week’s Lapointe’s Notes will take a look at a few names, including Gavin McKenna and Keaton Verhoeff, while also revisiting the top of the 2022 draft.
Michael Hage, Gavin McKenna and Keaton Verhoeff Still in Action
(1) The NCAA Frozen Four is around the corner. Wednesday (tonight), the 16-team tournament leading to the event will begin. Every game is single elimination. There are no best-of-three or best-of-seven series. Teams therefore have no margin for error. Michael Hage, for example, will play his Round of 16 game on March 27 against the Bentley University Falcons. Obviously, the University of Michigan is favored to win that game (and every other games to reach the Frozen Four), but it’s not uncommon to see top programs get upset by lesser-known schools.
Even if there’s a large gap in talent, those teams are often made up of older, more mature players. This year, Bentley has a lineup with an average size of 6 feet and 185 pounds, along with an average age of 22.58. Michigan, meanwhile, sits at 6 feet and 187 pounds, but just 20.68 years old on average. Talent will always be an important factor, and Michael Hage should not lose this game. Still, maturity should not be underestimated.
(2) For the 2026 NHL Draft, only Gavin McKenna (Penn State), Adam Valentini (Michigan), and Keaton Verhoeff (North Dakota) are still in action. It’s more than interesting to continue gathering data on these three prospects. While McKenna and Verhoeff remain in the race for first overall this summer, Valentini is clearly looking to build a case to convince a team to select him late in the first round.
Lapointe’s Echos is a recurring series of articles addressing current hockey news. The topics covered are quite broad and touch on the Montreal Canadiens, the draft, the NHL, trades, social media debates, and more.
(3) In addition to the two Canadians in the NCAA, Ivar Stenberg is now in the second round of the SHL playoffs with Frölunda. Meanwhile, Alberts Smits has advanced directly to the second round of the DEL playoffs in Germany (Munich), and Chase Reid will begin his OHL postseason next Thursday. The debate that has been raging since the start of the season is far from over. We still don’t know who will be the first overall pick in the 2026 NHL Draft. Each player’s playoff performance could allow them to pull ahead in the race. It should be exciting.
(4) Aside from NCAA prospects signing their first professional contracts following elimination, a few names eligible for the 2026 NHL Draft are now either on vacation or awaiting the IIHF U18 World Championship. Ilia Morozov (Miami University), Tynan Lawrence (Boston University), Oscar Hemming (Boston College), Landon Nycz (UMass), and Lincoln Kuehne (Arizona State) are among those eliminated prospects in their first year of NHL Draft eligibility. I would have liked to continue collecting data and viewings on them, but they are not names I currently project as potential first-overall candidates. As a result, the debate surrounding them is somewhat less important in the overall evaluation of the class.
Juraj Slafkovsky and the 2022 NHL Draft
(5) Evaluating prospects, building lists, and sharing my observations for NHL drafts are among my passions. Whether through written articles, podcasts, television, or radio appearances, the discussions generated by this side of hockey are always meant to inform the audience. I don’t watch thousands of games and targeted shift-by-shift video clips of prospects just to feed my ego years later. Whether I’m right or wrong in my projections, every ranking and evaluation must serve to improve the process.
In 2022, there were three common candidates for first overall: Juraj Slafkovsky, Logan Cooley, and Shane Wright. The fact that the Montreal Canadiens held the first pick made the atmosphere on social media quite toxic. Regardless of allegiances, arguments, insider information, or “gut feelings,” there were always waves pushing in the opposite direction (and plenty of unpleasant comments). I’m not innocent in that climate. I wasn’t always relevant or constructive in my own contributions to the debate. I learned a lot about managing social media in 2022. Still, even though my pick was Shane Wright, I wrote and said several times that any of the three prospects would have been a good choice for the Canadiens (for different reasons).
(6) My ranking started with Shane Wright, followed by Logan Cooley and Juraj Slafkovsky. Three and a half years later, it seems the Montreal Canadiens made the right selection. Normally, I wait about five seasons before making a judgment on a draft class, but we have to face the facts: the Slovak forward is in a class of his own among those three. It hasn’t been a smooth ride. Each season, the big winger has had ups and downs.
Early on, there were injuries. Then came consistency issues and slow starts to campaigns. This year, however, the power forward is simply dominant. He makes everyone around him better and has finally found his identity. It’s a pleasure to watch, and it’s encouraging because Slafkovsky is far from a finished product. We once saw a power winger with a ceiling of around 70 points and intangibles boosting his value. Now, we see much more, and almost all the “ifs” that defined him in 2022 have shifted in a positive direction.
(7) Shane Wright didn’t have a bad season last year, but he has been relegated to a secondary role since the start of this campaign. Despite solid production, veterans are being favored over him, even though the team is not competitive. Trade rumors actually excite me, because I don’t believe they’ll be able to properly develop him. I’m not saying he’s without blame—he has his share of responsibility—but the context is far from ideal. As for Logan Cooley, his first two NHL seasons were very promising. This year has been more complicated, with injuries certainly playing a role. I don’t view it as stagnation or regression. Moreover, his team is currently in a playoff position. For now, the American remains at the top of this draft class.
(8) I’ll avoid doing a full evaluation of the entire 2022 class, since it’s only been three and a half years since these players were drafted. Still, I can already see a few individuals who make me look bad—and I’m happy about that. Cutter Gauthier is definitely someone I could have ranked higher than 19th. I questioned his vision. I saw all the physical tools, but too often he gave me a Joel Armia-type impression on certain nights. He’s managed to overcome that and significantly improve his consistency. Lane Hutson ranked 32nd on my list after starting the season at 26th. I’m glad I had him in the first round, but looking back, all the risks tied to his selection and concerns about his size were pointless. What a player!
In short, in about two seasons, we’ll be able to properly revisit what I need to learn from my hits and misses. I’ll also be able to do the same for the 2020 and 2021 drafts in the coming months when time allows.
Craig Button’s March 2026 Ranking for the NHL Draft Still Has Gavin McKenna at the Top
(9) Craig Button of TSN released his March rankings for the upcoming June draft. The analyst doesn’t have unanimous support, and I can’t say I often agree with his lists or comments. Still, he takes risks and isn’t afraid to move a prospect from one end of his rankings to the other depending on the time of year. In his top 64, Button ranked Gavin McKenna first overall, followed by Carson Carels, Chase Reid, Ivar Stenberg, and Keaton Verhoeff. There’s nothing particularly surprising there. Most of those names are widely considered top-of-the-draft talents. Nothing to write home about.
(10) However, Viggo Bjorck at 6th overall is a bit more aggressive. The presence of the Ruck twins at 10th and 12th is also notable, as is Tynan Lawrence at 17th. Beyond that, rankings vary so much from one evaluator to another that it’s hard to truly question whether a prospect is too high or too low. Do point totals carry a lot of weight in his rankings? Possibly—but everyone has their own approach. Personally, even if my list doesn’t resemble his, I’m glad to see diversity in evaluations. We’ll see in the final rankings.
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