A program record eight Massachusetts hockey affiliated players were taken in the 2026 NHL Draft on Saturday. The Minutemen already ranked No. 6 in the NCAA for alumni currently playing in the NHL, with 16. UMass returned four previously drafted players, including Francesco Dell’Elce and Larry Keenan. Four of the eight drafted in the 2026 draft will join UMass for their freshman year in the 2026-27 season.
Former starting goaltender Michael Hrabal signed his entry-level contract with the Utah Mammoth, opening up a goaltender spot for the Minutemen. UMass hockey announced Tobias Trejbal as one of its two new goaltenders for the 2026-27 season. In the draft, the Calgary Flames traded up to the No. 42 pick in exchange for the No. 51 and No. 68 and took Trejbal as the first goaltender off the board.
There are many similarities between Trejbal and Hrabal. Both are Czech natives who came out of the United States Hockey League and went in the second round of the NHL Draft the summer before their freshman season with the Minutemen. Trejbal was voted USHL Goaltender of the year for the Youngstown Phantoms, registering a .916 save percentage.
Trejbal was not the sole second-round pick in the UMass system. With the No. 52 pick in the draft, the Tampa Bay Lightning selected Oleg Kulebiakin. Kulebiakin will not be joining the Minutemen for the 2026-27 season; instead is expected to join the squad in the following season. The 18-year-old Russian is the second-highest drafted forward in UMass history behind Václav Nestrašil. He played last season in the Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League for the Halifax Mooseheads, netting 73 points in 64 games.
In the early stages of the third round, the Chicago Blackhawks grabbed defenseman Samu Alalauri with the No. 66 overall pick. Alalauri, another 2026-27 freshman, is coming from the Pelicans U20 team in Finland. In the U18 World Championship, he had four points in five games, good for third on the Finnish team.
In round five, the Calgary Flames doubled down on the Minutemen, taking Egor Barabanov with the No. 100 overall pick. Barabanov tallied 28 goals and 63 assists in 68 games for the Saginaw Spirit of the Ontario Hockey League. The Russian played on a line with Nikita Klepov, who was drafted No. 15 overall, and Dima Zhilkin, who is projected to be a top pick in the 2027 NHL Draft. Barabanov and Trejbal join Max Curran, a 2026-27 UMass freshman, and Aydar Suniev, a former star forward for the Minutemen, in the Flames system.
Landon Nycz was the only UMass player in this draft to have already been on the team for a season. Nycz registered a goal and two assists for the Minutemen in his freshman year. In the fourth round, the St. Louis Blues took him at No. 107.
In the 5th round, a pair of future UMass defensemen went in the draft. The Seattle Kraken took Finn Kearns at No. 131, and the Winnipeg Jets grabbed Alexandre Taillefer, the brother of Minutemen freshman Mathieu Taillefer, at No. 135 overall. Neither is coming to Amherst for the 2026-27 season, and there is a lot of competition at the position for the following year.
Jasper Kuhta, another 2026-27 freshman, was the final Minuteman drafted. The Dallas Stars took the Helsinki native No. 197 overall in the 7th round. Kuhta had a very strong season for both club and country, registering eight points in seven games at the World Juniors, matching Nestrašil’s total exactly. In the OHL with the Ottawa 67’s, he averaged just over a point per game.
Myles Donato can be reached at [email protected] and followed on X @myles_donato.
