- Daily Faceoff named 10 draft-eligible prospects who raised their stock at the Hlinka Gretzky Cup
- Canada’s Jaakko Wycisk led all 2027-eligible players with 10 points in five games
- Read below for the full list of risers from Edmonton
The 2027 NHL Draft cycle has started, and the first real look at it just wrapped up in Edmonton.
Steven Ellis of Daily Faceoff picked out 10 draft-eligible prospects who helped themselves at the Hlinka Gretzky Cup, the tournament Canada won 8-1 over the United States on Saturday.
Jaakko Wycisk topped the group. The Canadian winger finished first among draft-eligible skaters with 10 points in five games, mostly setting up Kayden Stroeder and Ben Veitch. Ellis had him as a favorite going back to his AAA days, and he put up 43 points as a rookie in Guelph.
Stroeder went the other direction and climbed. The Edmonton Oil Kings forward scored in every round-robin game he played, then added a goal and two assists in the final on home ice.
Here’s the full group:
| Player | Pos | Country | Tournament note |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jaakko Wycisk | RW | Canada | 10 points in five games, first among draft eligibles |
| Kayden Stroeder | C | Canada | Point in every round-robin game, 1G-2A in the final |
| Lukáš Kachlíř | RHD | Czechia | Two goals vs. USA, three assists vs. Germany |
| Maxmilian Mareš | C | Czechia | 6-foot-6 and Czechia’s No. 1 center |
| Lenni Kokkonen | RHD | Finland | Three points in two round-robin games |
| Jakub Husár | G | Slovakia | Rated among the top goalies for the draft |
| Tomáš Selič | RW | Slovakia | Four goals and six points in a 6-2 win over Switzerland |
| Jonah Neuenschwander | C | Switzerland | Switzerland’s best two-way forward |
| Gavin Burcar | C | USA | Hat trick vs. Czechia, four points vs. Slovakia |
| Jake Prunty | RHD | USA | Four assists in the round robin |
Tomáš Selič had the loudest single game of the week. The Slovak winger put up four goals and six points in a 6-2 win over Switzerland that pushed his country into the medal round, and he finished on top of the round-robin scoring charts.
Jakub Husár kept Slovakia in games all week and even took a run at a goalie goal against the Swiss. He also took the loss in the bronze medal game, stopping enough to post a .923 save percentage while Finland came back to win 3-2.
Two of the tournament’s biggest scorers didn’t make the list at all. Liam Pue and Maddox Schultz both finished near the top of the charts, but they were born in 2028 and aren’t eligible until the following year.
Gunnar Conboy, Landon Dupont, Camryn Warren, Max Calce, Patrik Rychlik, Milan Sundström, Alessandro Domenichelli, Ethan Sung and Gerry DiCunzolo also drew mentions out of Edmonton.
One caveat worth holding onto. The Hlinka is three games in three days to open, played in August, and Ellis was blunt that a summer showcase is a small sample of a long season. The risers earned the look, not the ranking.
