Mammoth selects Ethan Belchetz No. 17 overall at the 2026 NHL Draft
The Utah Mammoth have selected left winger Ethan Belchetz with the No. 17 overall selection of the 2026 NHL Entry Draft.
The pick originally belonged to the Los Angeles Kings, but the Mammoth traded up to take Belchetz. In exchange, the Kings received the 19th and 83rd picks in this year’s draft.
Belchetz was projected to be selected around 11th overall on average across all of the main draft rankings, going as high as 5th and as low as 16th. He was also ranked 9th among North American skaters by NHL Central Scouting. Daily Faceoff prospect analyst Steven Ellis projected him to go a bit lower at 13th overall.
Ellis had this to say about Belchetz in his most recent draft rankings:
“Belchetz’s season ended back in March after he broke his left clavicle. He had really started to push himself up draft boards to the point where it felt like he was going to be a top-10 pick. Belchetz has never lacked confidence – and you have to have loads of it when you’re the Tasmanian Devil on skates. He plays with so much power, which allows him to carve through the middle of the ice with little regard for human life. An injury wasn’t the only reason he slipped, though – some scouts worry that he doesn’t have any high-end traits beyond his size.“
Belchetz spent the entirety of his 2025-26 season with the Windsor Spitfires of the Ontario Hockey League. He played 57 games in the regular season, where he accumulated 34 goals and 25 assists for 59 points, as the Spitfires finished second in the Western Conference with a 44-15-6-3 record record. The Oakville, Ontario product was fifth in scoring on Windsor, and second in goals behind New York Rangers prospect Liam Greentree.
Belchetz missed the end of the regular season and the playoffs for the Spitfires due to an injury to his left clavicle. Windsor still had a solid playoff run without him, sweeping their opponents in the first two rounds before facing the eventual J. Ross Robertson Cup and Memorial Cup champions, the Kitchener Rangers, in the Western Conference Final, losing in five games.