USHL matches WHL in NHL Draft picks per team, Schlossman says

USHL Junior Hockey · By Marcus Chen · July 9, 2026

The 2026 NHL Draft gave the USHL a sharper argument than it usually gets in the major-junior debate: Brad Elliott Schlossman’s breakdown put the league at 2.06 picks per team when the National Team Development Program is included, nearly matching the WHL’s 1.61.

Strip out the NTDP, and the USHL still landed at 1.60 picks per team, a sliver below the WHL and ahead of the QMJHL. That is the kind of math that complicates the old assumption that the WHL is the clearly stronger draft route, especially for prospects weighing the USHL’s NCAA-linked path against major junior.

The draft itself ran June 26-27 at KeyBank Center in Buffalo, N.Y., and the USHL said it finished with 43 total picks overall. The NHL credited the league with 32 direct selections. Casey Mutryn of the NTDP went 38th overall, and Tobias Trejbal of the Youngstown Phantoms was the first goalie selected from the league.

The WHL had its own heavy case to make. It said 37 players and two alumni were chosen, with 106 Canadian Hockey League players taken overall, the highest CHL total since 2010. The league said it accounted for 36.8 percent of all CHL selections and that 22 WHL players came off the board in the first three rounds. Medicine Hat led the club-by-club picture with five selections, and the WHL also emphasized that it had led or tied for the most first-round picks among development leagues for a second straight draft.

That top-end WHL firepower was real. Former Medicine Hat Tigers forward Gavin McKenna went first overall, and the WHL said it had four players selected in the top 10. Still, the volume story was not as lopsided as the sport has often treated it.

USHL — Wikimedia Commons — Vidioman via Wikimedia Commons (Public domain)

Schlossman’s first-round tally reinforced that point from the college side. He counted 18 current or committed NCAA players selected in Round 1, the biggest first round ever for college hockey. Michigan State had five first-rounders, and North Dakota had three.

Draft Picks per Team — Data visualization chart

That is where the USHL’s case gets interesting. The league is not trying to beat the WHL at its own old game of pure major-junior volume. It is showing that its draft production, even after removing the NTDP bump, sits right in the same neighborhood. For a prospect choosing between the USHL and major junior, that is no longer a one-sided argument.