High picks to be within the All-Star highlight

Patrick Williams, TheAHL.com Options Author

Loads of excessive NHL draft picks will probably be available for the 2026 AHL All-Star Basic offered by BMO, set for this week in Rockford.

The AHL All-Star Expertise Competitors will probably be Tuesday (8 ET/7 CT) with the AHL All-Star Problem, a 3-on-3 round-robin competitors among the many AHL’s 4 divisions, following on Wednesday (8 ET/7 CT). NHL Community (United States) and TSN (Canada) will broadcast the sport on tv whereas AHLTV on FloHockey could have streaming protection. Chicago Sports activities Community will produce the sport and air it as nicely.

The occasion will characteristic 18 gamers who had been first- or second-round draft picks within the NHL. Right here’s a take a look at a number of the members of that group:

Conor Geekie – Syracuse CrunchPursuing the Stanley Cup 12 months after 12 months has meant that the Tampa Bay Lightning have needed to deal away draft picks. However they bought again a very good ahead prospect in Geekie once they acquired him in 2024 as a part of the Mikhail Sergachev deal.

Geekie, now 21, was chosen by the Arizona Coyotes with the eleventh total choose within the 2022 Draft. He performed 52 video games final season for the Lightning, and this 12 months he ranks second on the Crunch in scoring with 41 factors (13 targets, 28 assists) in 40 video games.

Matvei Gridin – Calgary WranglersAt 19 years outdated, Gridin is certainly one of two youngsters taking part on this 12 months’s All-Star Basic, and he has confirmed that he can skate with the sport’s high younger expertise. The ahead got here into the AHL and racked up 11 factors (4 targets, seven assists) in his first eight video games with the Wranglers. Chosen twenty eighth total by the Calgary Flames in 2024, he additionally has gotten into 13 NHL video games this season and has six factors (three targets, three assists). By means of 34 video games for the Wranglers, he has 28 factors (10 targets, 18 assists).

Gridin’s rise has been fast as nicely. In 2023-24, he led the US Hockey League with 83 factors (38 targets, 45 assists) for Muskegon. He went to the Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League final season and received the rookie of the 12 months award after he had 79 factors (36 targets, 43 assists) in simply 56 video games with Shawinigan.

Konsta Helenius – Rochester AmericansThis 12 months’s different All-Star teenager, Helenius was additionally part of the 2024 NHL first-round class going 14th total to the Buffalo Sabres. As has develop into a typical transfer for the group, they opted to deliver the ahead on to Rochester, the identical method used not too long ago with the likes of Jiří Kulich, Jack Quinn and Isak Rosén.

Helenius dealt with his first season as an 18-year-old, chipping in 14 targets for the Amerks in 65 video games in 2024-25. Now he has 34 factors (10 targets, 24 assists) in 34 video games at age 19 as he works to place himself for future work with the Sabres, one of many NHL’s high turnaround tales this season.

Bradly Nadeau – Chicago WolvesComing off a dominant rookie season as a 19-year-old ahead, Nadeau continues to construct in his second professional season as a Carolina Hurricanes prospect. Carolina selected Nadeau thirtieth total within the 2023 NHL Draft, and he spent one season on the College of Maine earlier than turning professional.

Final season with Chicago, he grew to become certainly one of 5 gamers in AHL historical past youthful than 20 years outdated to file a 30-goal season. His 58-point season, 32 of them targets, secured him spots on the AHL All-Rookie Crew in addition to the AHL High Prospects Crew. This season, the AHL Participant of the Month for January he has put up 41 factors (18 targets, 23 assists) in 34 video games.

Dmitri Simashev – Tucson RoadrunnersDefensemen are the spine of NHL contenders, and the Utah Mammoth suppose that they’ve a very good one in Simashev. Arizona chosen Simashev sixth total in 2023, and he got here within the switch to Utah earlier than final season. Like Nadeau, he earned a league honor for his January work, posting a objective and 10 assists in 10 video games to garner AHL Rookie of the Month choice.

Simashev, 21, got here to the Roadrunners in December after a prolonged run with Utah in his first season in North America. Together with 24 video games for the Mammoth, he had 23 factors (seven targets, 16 assists) in 23 appearances with Tucson. Final season within the Kontinental Hockey League, he received the Gagarin Cup with Lokomotiv Yaroslavl alongside present Tucson teammate Daniil However.

On the American Hockey League beat for twenty years, TheAHL.com options author Patrick Williams additionally at present covers the league for NHL.com and FloSports and is an everyday contributor on SiriusXM NHL Community Radio. He was the recipient of the AHL’s James H. Ellery Memorial Award for his excellent protection of the league in 2016.