Will the 2027 NHL Draft be weaker than normal?
It’s becoming an annual tradition at this point for the start of the regular season in all levels of hockey to be a time where some cold water is poured on the hype of the upcoming NHL Draft class.
A class can have a lot of promise multiple years away, but some of that luster can quickly start to wear off when the action starts in the players’ actual draft year.
Earlier this week, Scott Wheeler of The Athletic was the first major voice to spark that discussion about the upcoming 2027 class by summing up his opinion of the group as “not high.” While University of Michigan defenseman Landon DuPont looks the part of a No. 1 overall pick, could the other teams who land in the top five of the draft come June wind up disappointed a few years down the line?
On Friday’s episode of Daily Faceoff Live, host Tyler Yaremchuk was joined by Daily Faceoff prospect analyst Steven Ellis to discuss whether or not the emerging narrative about the quality of the upcoming class has any truth to it.
Tyler Yaremchuk: One of the things I saw floating around, and listen Steven, I don’t follow the draft closely. That’s why I rely on you, but there seems to be a sentiment that 2027 could be a weaker draft class than some of the previous ones. On your first glance into this thing this season, do you agree with that?
Steven Ellis: I think so. It was brought up by Scott Wheeler on Twitter recently. He said this doesn’t feel like a great draft, and I said I agree with this. Landon DuPont is going to be a gamechanger. This is the true prize this year. Last year, Gavin McKenna and Ivar Stenberg, they had a really good battle until the end. I think at a certain point the year before, Matthew Schaefer kind of took over. The year before that, Celebrini was a clear choice, and this year it’s DuPont that’s the clear choice. He’s already looked so good for the University of Michigan. He looks like a player that’s going to be in that Norris Trophy conversation for a very long time… I know that’s a lot of expectations… I think in general, he’s the huge prize here. Beyond that, though, yeah, there’s some decent wingers. I like the two guys out of Russia in Sergei Skvortskov and Nazar Privalov. Are those guys going to be 80-90-point guys in the NHL? Are they true first-line players? I’m not convinced at this point. There’s a lot of centers, but I don’t think there’s a number one center in this draft. There’s some decent depth to it, but there’s not going to be a lot of high-end talent… I think we’ll see what happens, but I know a lot of scouts around the league are not too excited about it.
You can watch the full segment and the rest of the episode below…