2026-27 Impact Rookies
Skaters with under 25 career NHL games projected to play a real role, ranked by projected fantasy points. The projection is role-anchored: ice time comes from each rookie's lineup slot, the scoring rate from his minor-league numbers translated to the NHL and pulled toward what players in that role actually produce — so a hot junior sample can't run away with it. Backtested to be conservative on thin samples.
| # | Player | Tm | Pos | Role | TOI | NHL GP | GP | Proj P | G | A | PPP | SOG | HIT | BLK |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Gavin McKenna TOR · L | TOR | L | F2 · PP2 | 16.8 | 2 | 88 | 58 | 17 | 41 | 12 | 200 | 62 | 30 |
| 2 | Roman Kantserov CHI · R | CHI | R | F1 · PP1 | 19.2 | 2 | 88 | 57 | 32 | 25 | 20 | 244 | 75 | 37 |
| 3 | Ivar Stenberg SJS · L | SJS | L | F3 · PP2 | 14.7 | 1 | 87 | 48 | 16 | 32 | 11 | 181 | 60 | 32 |
| 4 | Porter Martone PHI · R | PHI | R | F3 · PP1 | 14.7 | 11 | 83 | 47 | 23 | 23 | 16 | 182 | 161 | 27 |
| 5 | James Hagens BOS · C | BOS | C | F3 · PP2 | 14.7 | 4 | 82 | 45 | 22 | 23 | 10 | 180 | 78 | 28 |
| 6 | Anton Frondell CHI · C | CHI | C | F2 · PP1 | 16.8 | 14 | 87 | 44 | 32 | 13 | 16 | 228 | 63 | 57 |
| 7 | Konsta Helenius BUF · C | BUF | C | F3 · PP2 | 14.7 | 10 | 81 | 34 | 11 | 23 | 8 | 121 | 87 | 33 |
| 8 | Nikita Klepov ANA · R | ANA | R | F2 · PP2 | 16.8 | 0 | 87 | 34 | 13 | 21 | 8 | 167 | 78 | 38 |
| 9 | Carter Yakemchuk OTT · D | OTT | D | D3 · PP2 | 17.3 | 4 | 86 | 34 | 8 | 25 | 7 | 115 | 73 | 97 |
| 10 | Trevor Connelly VGK · L | VGK | L | F3 | 14.7 | 2 | 76 | 33 | 9 | 24 | 4 | 116 | 52 | 30 |
| 11 | Cole Hutson WSH · D | WSH | D | D3 · PP2 | 17.3 | 15 | 85 | 31 | 10 | 21 | 7 | 123 | 103 | 79 |
| 12 | Ilya Protas WSH · L | WSH | L | F3 · PP2 | 14.7 | 5 | 75 | 29 | 13 | 16 | 4 | 106 | 65 | 29 |
| 13 | Victor Eklund NYI · R | NYI | R | F2 · PP2 | 16.8 | 2 | 81 | 27 | 7 | 20 | 6 | 97 | 71 | 36 |
| 14 | Viggo Björck WPG · C | WPG | C | F2 · PP2 | 16.8 | 1 | 86 | 26 | 10 | 16 | 6 | 143 | 51 | 33 |
| 15 | Sandis Vilmanis FLA · L | FLA | L | F3 · PP2 | 14.7 | 21 | 80 | 25 | 11 | 14 | 6 | 78 | 140 | 25 |
| 16 | Michael Brandsegg-Nygård DET · R | DET | R | F4 | 11.4 | 15 | 74 | 25 | 11 | 13 | 2 | 101 | 160 | 23 |
| 17 | Alberts Smits NYR · D | NYR | D | D3 | 17.3 | 3 | 67 | 25 | 11 | 13 | 2 | 81 | 43 | 60 |
| 18 | Tristan Luneau ANA · D | ANA | D | D1 · PP2 | 23 | 15 | 88 | 24 | 6 | 18 | 5 | 119 | 73 | 110 |
| 19 | Luca Cagnoni SJS · D | SJS | D | D3 · PP1 | 17.3 | 10 | 84 | 22 | 4 | 18 | 8 | 63 | 64 | 97 |
| 20 | Adam Engstrom MTL · D | MTL | D | D3 | 17.3 | 15 | 66 | 20 | 6 | 14 | 2 | 71 | 33 | 50 |
| 21 | T.J. Hughes COL · R | COL | R | F3 · PP1 | 14.7 | 1 | 79 | 20 | 8 | 12 | 7 | 94 | 66 | 31 |
| 22 | Alex Bump PHI · L | PHI | L | F4 | 11.4 | 19 | 71 | 20 | 8 | 12 | 2 | 105 | 86 | 28 |
| 23 | Samuel Honzek CGY · L | CGY | L | F3 | 14.7 | 24 | 69 | 16 | 6 | 10 | 2 | 83 | 109 | 28 |
| 24 | Theo Lindstein STL · D | STL | D | D2 | 20 | 18 | 84 | 15 | 6 | 9 | 2 | 85 | 52 | 86 |
| 25 | Owen Michaels EDM · R | EDM | R | F3 | 14.7 | 2 | 69 | 9 | 5 | 5 | 1 | 59 | 62 | 26 |
| 26 | Hayden Hodgson OTT · R | OTT | R | F4 | 11.4 | 19 | 68 | 7 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 57 | 145 | 26 |
| 27 | Travis Mitchell ANA · D | ANA | D | D2 | 20 | 10 | 64 | 6 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 43 | 69 | 57 |
| 28 | Cameron Crotty OTT · D | OTT | D | D3 | 17.3 | 8 | 65 | 6 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 34 | 44 | 58 |
| 29 | Adam Jiricek STL · D | STL | D | D1 | 23 | 1 | 10 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 10 | 7 | 9 |
| 30 | Filip Hallander PIT · C | PIT | C | F3 | 14.7 | 17 | 14 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 15 | 9 | 6 |
| 31 | Tyson Hinds ANA · D | ANA | D | D3 | 17.3 | 7 | 14 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 14 | 11 | 16 |
| 32 | Noah Warren ANA · D | ANA | D | D3 | 17.3 | 1 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 4 |
| 33 | Zach Dean STL · C | STL | C | F4 | 11.4 | 9 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 7 | 2 |
| 34 | William Trudeau NSH · D | NSH | D | D3 | 17.3 | 0 | 72 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 35 | Tyrel Bauer WPG · DTHIN | WPG | D | D3 | 17.3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 36 | Judd Caulfield ANA · RTHIN | ANA | R | F4 | 11.4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 |