Defensemen
Kirill Kudryavtsev
A creative defender who brings a little bit of everything to the table. Despite being a seventh-round pick, carries sneaky NHL upside
Elias Salomonsson
A smooth skating, an offense-minded defenseman with excellent vision and passing skills. Has the potential to be a top-four NHL defenseman and can run a powerplay unit. The defensive side needs some work, as being over-aggressive in his end leads to missed coverage. High-risk, high-reward player.
Santeri Hatakka
Smooth-skating two-way defenseman with good speed and vision. Lack of skill is a bit worrisome.
Simon Nemec
Strong two-way defender who controls the ice in all three zones. Has the potential to grow into a top pairing defenseman at the NHL level.
Tom Willander
Fleet-footed right-handed defenseman who excels defensively. Limited puck skills, but has second-pairing upside in the right hands.
Jackson Dorrington
Offensive and intelligent defenceman. Will need to improve hands and areas of skating.
Ville Heinola
An offense-minded defenseman with top-four upside who can run a powerplay unit. An excellent skater but needs to get stronger to improve in the defensive zone. Undersized, which limits his ability to play a physical game. Provides very little in the hits and blocks categories.
Roman Shokhrin
A hyper-aggressive shutdown defenseman who has flashes of offensive upside and puck-handling ability.
Noel Fransen
Offensive-minded defenseman with sharp skating and a higher-than-average hockey IQ.
Daniil Karpovich
Bottom-four, two-way defenseman with size, mobility, and underrated offensive tools. Strong shot and flashes of a strong first pass. Will have most of his value in category leagues that value hits and PIM.