My updates to the 2026 top 10 Chicago prospects are complete, and the link to that list is below. I did not include high-end players such as forward Oliver Moore and d-man Sam Rinzel, as they spent the majority of 2025-26 in Chicago, and are projected to be full-time residents there. Forwards Nick Lardis, Anton Frondell and Sacha Boisvert are likely permanent NHL players as well, but they still appear on my list of prospects simply because they didn’t spend the majority of their respective seasons with the Hawks. Finally, I considered adding d-man Ethan Del Mastro to these rankings, but ultimately left him out because of his status as an unsigned free agent who may not be in the organization this coming season.
What struck me is the sheer number of players on this list who are NHL-ready. Those players are prepared to join a youthful core group of players in Chicago, led by forwards Connor Bedard and Frank Nazar, d-man Artyom Levshunov, and goaltender Spencer Knight. Add to this the players on the cusp of being in the Windy City, namely forward Vaclac Nestrasil and goaltender Drew Commesso, and the Hawks will be a tough team to beat for the next decade.