Why Landon DuPont chose college for his draft year

University of Michigan defenseman Landon DuPont will make his U.S. college hockey debut next week as the 2026-27 NCAA season kicks off.

The 17-year-old is the top prospect for the 2027 NHL Entry Draft, and after two dominant seasons in the Western Hockey League with the Everett Silvertips, the Calgary native announced in June that he would spend his draft year in Ann Arbor and suit up for the Wolverines.

On Friday’s episode of Leafs Morning Take, Nick Alberga and former NHL forward Jay Rosehill chat with DuPont to discuss why he chose to make the switch from the Canadian junior ranks to the U.S. college system.

Jay Rosehill: This is new, relatively speaking, as far as a guy being able to go from the CHL to the NCAA. Some guys are choosing to do this exercise, some high-end guys like Gavin McKenna comes to mind, and now yourself.

Can you take us through a little bit of your reasoning and rationale for wanting to go that route and make the jump?

Landon DuPont: The main reason for me was just the competition and the guys you surround yourself with, and the guys you’re playing against. Obviously, it’s an older league and guys are stronger and faster. I think that was the biggest thing for me.

The WHL is a great league, and I had a blast the last two years, and I was able to win a championship there in my last year. But looking forward, my main goal is to play in the NHL one day, and I feel like the NCAA is going to push me to learn and grow aspects of my game that will really push me to try and get to the next level.

Nick Alberga: How excited are you for the college hockey experience? The atmosphere, the bands, everything that comes with it?

Landon DuPont: Yeah, I’m pumped for it. Just watching videos of all the college rinks and hearing about it from all the teammates. Especially our rink, we have a pretty cool student section.

You can watch the full segment and the rest of the episode here…