Will McLaughlin

September 2026 – Will McLaughlin is a big, mobile, puck-moving defenseman the Vegas Golden Knights selected 159th overall, a player who rose up boards late in the process. He was Portland’s top-scoring blueliner as a rookie, posting nine goals and 30 points in 68 games with a plus-11 at even strength, and finished top-eight in scoring among all Western Hockey League rookie defensemen on his way to a Prospects Game selection. The appeal is the combination of size, mobility, and some offensive pop, most of it flashed on a power play he quarterbacked, backed by sound defensive checking and an active stick rather than a punishing body. Vegas praised his hockey sense and how he added layers to his game as the year went on. A dual citizen from Canmore, Alberta, he won Hlinka Gretzky Cup gold with Team USA and ran the top unit in the final. He returns to Portland for 2026-27. For fantasy he profiles as a depth, puck-moving defenseman whose ceiling depends on the offense continuing to grow, so treat him as a deep-league monitor, with another step in his power-play production the thing to watch before any add. Andrew Epps