Nashville's 2026 Draft Class: Video Breakdown — Part II
At the 2026 NHL Entry Draft, the Nashville Predators welcomed eight new prospects into the organization. Below, I take a look at four of those players and their strengths, weaknesses, and potential.
Dmitri Borichev (G) | Loko-76 Yaroslavl (MHL) | 70th overall
Adding a third goalie to the junior ranks of the pipeline, Nashville used a third-round pick on Russian netminder Dmitri Borichev. The 6’2”, left-catching goalie grew up in the Yaroslavl system where Egor Surin currently plays. Last season at the junior level, he played in 24 games and posted a 0.929 save percentage.
Borichev is an athletic goalie whose stature fills the net more than his listed height may suggest. He’s agile, quick on his edges, and anticipates puck movements well.
For plays down low in the zone or behind his net, Borichev mixes a standard RVH stance with his edges stapled to both posts, sealing off any wraparound opportunities.
His puck tracking is strong through traffic, and he establishes an aggressive stance at the top of the crease, allowing his glove to fight through screens.
Despite his strong edgework, Borichev’s athleticism can carry him out of the play at times. His recovery speed is good, but he’ll have even less time against professional competition.
Additionally, Borichev’s upper-net coverage remained inconsistent this season. He dropped into his butterfly too soon, wasn’t square to the shooter quick enough, or just got beat.
Borichev has a decently long runway to full-time minutes in the KHL. I’ll be curious to see if he gets any VHL action this upcoming season, but regardless, it’s likely four-plus years before he could be an option in North America. His foundational skills give him a chance, but he’ll need to get quicker against better competition.
Jakub Floriš (D) | Lukko U20 (U20 SM-sarja) | 106th overall
With its first of two fourth-round selections, Nashville picked its second defender of the weekend: Jakub Floriš. The 6’3”, right-shot Slovak defender moved from his home country to Finland for the 2024-25 season and spent most of last year with Lukko’s U20 squad. In 38 games, he scored 10 goals and 18 points and chipped in four more points at the U18 World Junior Championship.
Floriš (#15, blue) is a towering presence. He mans the defensive zone with an active stick and doesn’t stay stagnant in front of his net. During some shifts, he’s seemingly everywhere, pushing a forward away from the crease, pressuring a puck carrier up the wall, and then recovering a turnover to start a breakout. His reach, pace, and positioning allow him to cover plenty of ice.
Floriš (#19, yellow) is fluid in his backward skating and crossovers. He can draw himself out of position off the puck but recovers fairly well. He’s physical but not overtly so, pinning opponents to the boards and anticipating cycle movements well.
Floriš has solid skating mechanics; his accelerating gear isn’t elite, but I like the pace and motor he plays with—accentuated by the significant minutes he played at forward this season.
He isn’t the rush leader that Tommy Bleyl is, but he loves a two-way game. His puck skills are pretty solid for a defender of his size, but he can be a bit lazy and inconsistent in his decision-making. Regardless, if he sees an opportunity to provide good puck support up the ice, he’ll take it.
The Slovak blueliner has good offensive zone instincts. I don’t think he’ll be a major scorer at the pro level, but he’s got a strong shooting arsenal and understands passing and rebound lanes well.
Of its 2026 draft haul, Floriš is my pick for Nashville’s best value. His path to an NHL career is clear: a bottom-four puck mover with special teams skills. His skating provides a great foundation, and he’s already shown pro-level awareness. I expect him to jump to the WHL side Vancouver Giants next season, which will give him a chance to clean up his inconsistencies and find extra discipline in the defensive zone against more physical opponents.
Philip Hemmyr (F) | IF Björklöven (HockeyAllsvenskan) | 138th overall
In the fifth round of the 2026 NHL Entry Draft, Nashville picked its second overager in Swedish forward Philip Hemmyr. The 19-year-old center spent his youth career with his hometown club, IF Björklöven, splitting time between the U20 level and the second-tier HockeyAllsvenskan last season. In 27 U20 contests, he scored 19 goals and 44 points, and in 36 Allsvenskan games, he added six goals and 12 points. Björklöven won promotion to the SHL for 2026-27, where I expect Hemmyr to start the season.
Hemmyr (#19, white) is noticeable during every shift; not necessarily because of dazzling skill or an elite shot but because of his persistence. Playing mostly at center at the U20 level last season, the 6’2” forward maintains good positioning at both ends of the ice. He’s a play starter more than a play driver, executing small touches to launch his team’s breakout or boost an offensive zone cycle. His off-the-puck play allows him to exploit defensive mistakes, creating a decent amount of scoring chances.
His skating mechanics are fine, and his accelerating gear is unspectacular, but Hemmyr is a dynamic 200-foot player who keeps his feet moving at all times. That pace allows him to win foot races against faster opponents and maintain possession for his club.
Hemmyr’s defensive details are solid, but sometimes there’s a gap between his positioning and his actual pressure on the puck. I’ll be curious to see how much center he plays this season, as I think his defensive-zone board play is strong due to good timing and awareness.
The biggest knock on Hemmyr’s game to me is his lack of finishing talent. He demonstrated he can score at the junior level, but I struggle to see him as a true transition driver or scorer at higher levels. He’ll provide good puck support, make clean passes, and get shots on net, but his hands don’t separate him from the pack right now.
If Hemmyr gets to the NHL, my bet is it’s as a bottom-six or depth forward that wins the possession battle and chips in ten to 20 points here and there.
Charlie Puglisi (F) | The Winchendon School (USHS) | 202nd overall
With their last pick in the draft, the Predators did what they should have and bet on upside, taking 18-year-old Charlie Puglisi out of New York. Puglisi is a smaller forward who finished the season playing prep hockey in Massachusetts, scoring 26 goals and 76 points in 35 games. He’s signed to play with the OHL’s Kitchener Rangers next season and will matriculate to Cornell University after that.
I don’t have a ton of usable tape on Puglisi—both in terms of actual quality and quality of competition, but I’ll share a few clips below.
It’s hard to evaluate players against high-school competition, but you can tell there are some decent foundations to Puglisi’s (#98, white) game. He skates relatively well, has good power and acceleration, can drive transition, and is confident with the puck.
Puglisi has strong offensive instincts complete with good hands and a soft touch; he’s a true all-around playmaker.
But of course, there are kinks to work out. He’ll obviously need to get much stronger on the puck, improve his decision-making on zone entries, and add defensive traits to his game. I don’t say this as a criticism, but major junior hockey will be the right place to uplift his entire profile with pro-level details.
It’s hard to even project his future at this stage in his development, but if he has a breakout freshman season with Kitchener, maybe Nashville has a middle-six playmaker in 5+ years?
Prospects like Charlie Puglisi are some of my favorite to follow in any organization because they're such a bag of mysteries, given the level that they played in. That said, if they improve their respective games and learn quickly at the next level, they're the very definition of the "diamond in the rough" or "hidden gem." They're projects, but I always give organizations credit for betting on upside late in a draft.