Calgary takes USHL goalie Tobias Trejbal with 42nd pick in NHL Draft

Calgary used the 42nd pick to make Tobias Trejbal the first goaltender selected in the 2026 NHL Draft, and it did so by turning a chain of pick movement into a bet on the USHL’s top netminding prospect. The original selection belonged to Nashville, then moved to Carolina before landing with the Flames, who chose the Youngstown Phantoms goalie after a season that put his name at the front of every serious draft conversation.

Trejbal’s case was built in Youngstown, where he went 30-9-3-0 in 42 regular-season games, stopped 975 shots and finished with three shutouts. His 2.12 goals-against average and .916 save percentage sat near the top of the USHL, and his 30 wins ranked second among league goaltenders. Youngstown also finished with a share of the Anderson Cup, the USHL regular-season title, with Trejbal carrying much of that run from the crease.

The league backed up the numbers with hardware. On April 22, 2026, Trejbal was named the USHL Goalie of the Year, added a spot on the USHL All-Rookie Team and finished as a finalist for Rookie of the Year. NHL Central Scouting ranked him third among North American goalies, a sign that his season had moved him from promising newcomer to one of the draft’s most trusted names in goal.

His best stages were the kind scouts remember. At the 2026 Chipotle All-American Game, Trejbal was not even on the roster 12 hours before puck drop, then stopped all 19 shots he faced in 30 minutes against top NHL draft-eligible players from the USHL and NTDP. That performance matched what scouts saw all season: a 6-foot-4, 190-pound goalie from Most, Czechia, with calm positioning, quick feet and the ability to get better as the workload climbed.

Trejbal’s path also fits the kind of development story Youngstown wanted to sell. He arrived as a fifth-round USHL Phase II Draft pick, then became the backbone of one of the league’s best teams and the first goalie chosen in the NHL Draft. Calgary did not just draft upside. It drafted a goalie whose production already looked like that of a finished USHL winner, with the University of Massachusetts commit now heading into the next level with the numbers to back it up.