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The Official 2026 Off-Season Thread: Revenge of the Nerds

This draft kind of feels like the 2008 draft, where Steven Stamkos is the consensus #1 as a forward with a pack of similarly-rated defensemen in the next tier below him. And if you pass on Stamkos and take one of those D, you've got strong odds of ending up with a Bogosian or Schenn instead of the Doughty or Pietrangelo you were hoping for.

Except McKenna's pre-draft numbers blow Stamkos's out of the water, and there's no guarantee any of the D available this year become as good a #1 defenseman as either Doughty or Pietrangelo.

Don't overthink it. Just take McKenna.
 
I know. My question wasn’t apple for apple

If he's Taylor Hall, he left a lot of his potential on the floor. Because Taylor Hall pretty much performed to expectations for his pre draft pedigree.

These are Taylor Hall's closest pre draft offensive comparables

Marc Savard
Wyatt Johnston
John Tavares
Matthew Tkachuk

Very, very similar offensive production to the guys he produced similar to in his D season.

We've already gone over McKenna's comparables. It's mostly generational monsters and Bedard. I'd call someone with "Taylor Hall" as the floor a can't miss #1 pick personally.
 
I'd call someone with "Taylor Hall" as the floor a can't miss #1 pick personally.

That was my question. Apologies for not being clearer.

Tho I'm not such a devout believer in floors. Occasionally, even if rarely, things get lost in translation.
 
I just meant can't miss ppg guy. And yeah nothing is ever 100%, and there is a first time for everything. But so far, McKenna's pre draft numbers suggest ppg guy has a very high probability. I didn't mean that I think that he'll for sure be the best player in the draft or anything. I'm not into witchcraft. It's probably pretty likely but idk the future.
 
I just meant can't miss ppg guy. And yeah nothing is ever 100%, and there is a first time for everything. But so far, McKenna's pre draft numbers suggest ppg guy has a very high probability. I didn't mean that I think that he'll for sure be the best player in the draft or anything. I'm not into witchcraft. It's probably pretty likely but idk the future.
Prestoquivication
 
The best part is this wasn't even a debate about whether to draft McKenna or not. And now I talked zeke out of it. That's honestly awesome. I'm the best.
 

Start the 2026 thread, zekie!
 
Last 20yrs of Top-5 pick forwards that played their D-1 year in CHL (asterisk - QJMHL)

#1 G.McKenna 72gms, 50gls, 167pts (57gl/190pt pace)
#1 S.Crosby* 68gms, 61gls, 151pts (74gl/182pt pace)
#1 J.Tavares 74gms, 43gls, 134pts (48gl/149pt pace)
#1 A.Lafreniere* 74gms, 46gls, 128pts (52gl/142pt pace)
#1 C.McDavid 70gms, 32gls, 118pts (38gl/138pt pace)
#1 C.Bedard 62gms, 51gls, 100pts (68gl/132pt pace)
#1 N.Yakupov 65gms, 49gls, 101pts (62gl/127pt pace)
#1 T.Hall 83gms, 54gls, 126pts (53gl/125pt pace)
#4 C.Desnoyers* 75gms, 44gls, 114pts (48gl/125pt pace)
#1 S.Stamkos 67gms, 45gls, 98pts (55gl/120pt pace)
#1 N.MacKinnon* 75gms, 44gls, 106pts (48gl/116pt pace)
#2 N.Patrick 93gms, 54gls, 132pts (48gl/116pt pace)
#3 A.Galchenyuk 68gms, 31gls, 83pts (37gl/100pt pace)
#2 T.Seguin 72gms, 26gls, 83pts (30gl/95pt pace)
#4 S.Wright 58gms, 39gls, 66pts (55gl/93pt pace)
#2 S.Reinhart 77gms, 35gls, 86pts (37gl/92pt pace)
#3 J.Drouin 50gms, 16gls, 55pts (26gl/90pt pace)
#5 B.Schenn 72gms, 30gls, 74pts (34gl/84pt pace)
#2 M.Misa 84gms, 33gls, 86pts (32gl/84pt pace)
#2 Q.Byfield 72gms, 32gls, 69pts (36gl/79pt pace)
#1 RNH 71gms, 24gls, 67pts (28gl/77pt pace)
#4 B.Pouliot 53gms, 25gls, 49pts (39gl/76pt pace)
#4 M.Marner 73gms, 16gls, 68pts (18gl/76pt pace)
#3 L.Draisaitl 68gms, 21gls, 62pts (25gl/75pt pace)
#3 K.Dach 52gms, 7gls, 46pts (11gl/73pt pace)
#2 G.Landeskog 81gms, 32gls, 69pts (32gl/70pt pace)
#3 B.Senneke 66gms, 21gls, 56pts (26gl/70pt pace)
#3 P.Dubois* 61gms, 12gls, 50pts (16gl/67pt pace)
#3 M.Duchene 69gms, 31gls, 52pts (37gl/62pt pace)
#3 M.McTavish 57gms, 29gls, 42pts (42gl/60pt pace)
#5 M.DalColle 72gms, 17gls, 53pts (19gl/60pt pace)
#4 S.Bennett 64gms, 18gls, 43pts (23gl/55pt pace)
#4 C.Lindstrom 65gms, 19gls, 43pts (24gl/54pt pace)
#3 J.Huberdeau 82gms, 26gls, 53pts (26gl/53pt pace)
#3 D.Strome 74gms, 13gls, 48pts (14gl/53pt pace)
#2 B.Ryan 72gms, 23gls, 42pts (26gl/48pt pace)
#4 E.Kane 75gms, 25gls, 44pts (27gl/48pt pace)
#2 J.Staal 80gms, 14gls, 38pts (14gl/39pt pace)
#5 B.Martin 63gms, 11gls, 30pts (14gl/39pt pace)
#5 R.Strome 66gms, 8gls, 30pts (10gl/37pt pace)
#5 B.Hayton 72gms, 11gls, 29pts (13gl/33pt pace)
 
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Last 20yrs of Top-5 pick forwards that played their D-1 year in CHL (asterisk - QJMHL)

#1 A.Lafreniere* 74gms, 46gls, 128pts (52gl/142pt pace)
#1 C.McDavid 70gms, 32gls, 118pts (38gl/138pt pace)
#1 C.Bedard 62gms, 51gls, 100pts (68gl/132pt pace)
#1 N.Yakupov 65gms, 49gls, 101pts (62gl/127pt pace)
#1 T.Hall 83gms, 54gls, 126pts (53gl/125pt pace)

#WideRangeOfOutcomes
 
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