Winnipeg Jets Top 10 Prospects For 2026-27

In July, Freij opted out of the final two years of his contract with Timra to join the Jets’ organization. Considering the Jets’ defensive depth, he will not be the first blue-line callup option and will likely spend the majority of the season with the Moose.

7: Sascha Boumedienne

• Position: Defenseman
• Drafted: 28th overall (1st round), 2025 NHL Entry Draft
• Shoots: Left
• Height/weight: 6-foot-1, 175 pounds
• Age: 19

Boumedienne, the Jets’ first first-round defensive pick since Logan Stanley (18th overall, 2016), will continue his NCAA career at Ohio State this season after transferring there from Boston University (BU).

Last season, his second at BU, had two goals and eight assists for 10 points in 35 games. While those numbers are modest and a downtick from his first BU campaign, the Jets are hoping he’ll develop into a top-four defenseman and first-unit power play quarterback, and it was easy to see at the 2026 World Juniors why they hope so.

Boumedienne, a Swedish national despite being born in Finland, played a key role in helping his country capture its third gold medal in tournament history and first since 2012. He played a top-four role and helped Sweden go a perfect 7-0-0 while only allowing 16 total goals. He saw ample time on the man advantage that was lethal in operating at a 43.48 per cent clip (10 for 33).

Most notably, he scored what ended up being the gold-medal game winner versus Czechia at 3:47 of the third period — his perfectly placed one-timer put Sweden up 3-0 in the third period and proved to be the difference as Czechia scored two late in a furious comeback attempt that fell short. Overall, he had two goals and two assists along with a plus-4 rating.

6: Kevin He

• Position: Left wing
• Drafted: 109th overall (4th round), 2024 NHL Entry Draft
• Shoots: Left
• Height/weight: 6-foot, 182 pounds
• Age: 20

He, the first-ever Chinese-born player to ever sign an NHL entry-level contract, is a bit of a trailblazer and could be a sneaky-good fourth-round pick.

Last season, his fourth and final in the OHL, he finished 14th leaguewide in points. He posted 14 goals and 17 assists for 31 points in 28 games for the Niagara IceDogs before being traded to the Flint Firebirds in a late-December blockbuster. The left winger did not miss a beat with his new club, putting up an eye-popping 25 goals and 21 assists for 46 points in just 32 games to finish with 77 points overall. He then recorded three goals and six assists for nine points in six playoff games.

Cheveldayoff described He a “very serious individual” and “articulate type of person” upon drafting him. While He fell to the fourth round partially due to his lack of size, he is an intelligent player with a ton of positive attributes.

“He has blazing speed through the neutral zone and always leads the charge into the offensive zone when he is on the ice,” THW’s Lukas Bernasiewicz writes in a prospect profile. “His ability to keep the puck on his stick at high speeds is one of the best among his peers. With his speed, He can find open space for his teammates to find him in transition, or when he drives hard to the net, he is often open for a tap-in because the defender can’t catch up with him.”

He will begin his first professional season with the Moose and look to get acclimatized to stiffer competition.

5: Kieron Walton

• Position: Centre
• Drafted: 187th overall (6th round), 2024 NHL Entry Draft
• Shoots: Left
• Height/weight: 6-foot-6, 227 pounds
• Age: 20

Walton is a player Cheveldayoff took a flyer on late in the 2024 Draft who most never thought would be discussed among their top tier of prospects. However, he has shot up the depth chart thanks to back-to-back dominant OHL seasons of 92 and 88 points.

Last season, the towering 20 year old absolutely lit up the league to finish eighth in points, piling up 24 goals and 28 assists for 52 points in just 33 games with the Sudbury Wolves before being dealt to the Peterborough Petes in early January, then putting a further 16 goals and 20 assists for 36 points in 29 games. He then recorded three goals and three assists in six playoff games.

Walton is noted to have good vision, an ability to stickhandle in tight areas, and to be a good puck protector who uses his size to his advantage. He could develop into a top-six playmaking power forward in the vein of Tom Wilson or Jamie Benn and also has the potential to be a great net-front power-play option down the line.

He will begin his first professional season with the Moose and it will be interesting to see how he uses his frame and offensive skills against stiffer competition. He played four games for the Moose in 2024-25 on an amateur tryout agreement and recorded his first professional point, an assist, in the Moose’s final game of that season.

4: Brad Lambert

• Position: Centre/wing
• Drafted: 30th overall (1st round), 2022 NHL Entry Draft
• Shoots: Right
• Height/weight: 6-foot-1, 172 pounds
• Age: 22

Lambert’s offensive numbers have dipped since his rookie 2023-24 with the Moose, but it appears his AHL days are over after showing well with the Jets down the stretch last season.

The speedy Finn began and ended last season with the Jets. First, he played in four games and scored his first-career NHL goal on Nov. 1 against the Pittsburgh Penguins.

He was sent down to the Moose and posted six goals and seven assists for 13 points in 34 games there before being called back up to the Jets in early March. He looked much more effective than he did in his first NHL stint, scoring three goals and adding two assists in 21 games.

While it’s a cause for concern that Lambert did not come close replicating his rookie 21 goal, 55-point output in his two subsequent AHL campaigns, he still has the potential to be a useful middle-six and special-teams role player at the NHL level. He likely needs a top-nine role to succeed considering his skill set and could slot in as the second- or third-line right winger to begin the season.

3: Elias Salomonsson

• Position: Defenseman
• Drafted: 55th overall (2nd round), 2022 NHL Entry Draft
• Shoots: Right
• Height/weight: 6-foot, 172 pounds
• Age: 21

Salomonsson’s rapid rise to a dependable everyday NHL defenseman was one of the best storylines to come out of the Jets’ highly-disappointing 2025-26.

The smooth-skating Swede, in his second professional season, made his NHL debut on Nov. 26 versus the Washington Capitals and played four games before being sent back down to the Moose, where he started his season. He was called up again in mid January due to injuries to Haydn Fleury, Colin Miller, and Neal Pionk and established himself as a regular the rest of the way while playing increasingly confidently.

In 32 NHL games, the 21 year old recorded one goal and four assists for five points while averaging 17:58 and posting strong possession metrics for someone so young. With the Moose, he posted one goal and eight assists for nine points in 29 games and one assist in two Calder Cup Playoff games.

He had to undergo shoulder surgery due to an injury he suffered early in the Calder Cup Playoffs, but is expected to be healthy for the start of the season. Like Lambert, it appears his AHL days are over:THW’s Jets 2026-27 Roster and Line Projection predicts he’ll begin the campaign on the third pairing alongside free-agent addition Mario Ferraro.

2: Brayden Yager

• Position: Centre
• Drafted: 14th overall (1st round), 2023 NHL Entry Draft by Pittsburgh Penguins
• Shoots: Right
• Height/weight: 6-foot, 170 pounds
• Age: 21

Yager, who was number one on THW’s Top 10 Jets Prospects list a year ago and was acquired from the Penguins for disgruntled prospect Rutger McGroarty in summer of 2024, turned pro last season. He recorded 10 goals and 20 assists for 30 points in 68 games for a low-scoring Moose squad and four assists in seven Calder Cup playoff games, generally being deployed on the top six and first power-play unit.

He made his NHL debut on April 14 versus the Vegas Golden Knights, the first of three games, but was held pointless.

Yager possesses an excellent and accurate shot and playmaking skills as well, if not complex ones. He still has top-six NHL potential up the middle or on the wing, and has leadership skills as well, having captained the Western Hockey League’s Moose Jaw Warriors and Canada’s 2025 World Junior team.

While he is not likely to make the Jets out of training camp this season, he will look to improve his offensive output in the AHL and position himself as one of the first callup options.

1: Viggo Bjorck

• Position: Centre
• Drafted: 8th overall (1st round), 2026 NHL Entry Draft
• Shoots: Right
• Height/weight: 5-foot-9, 177 pounds
• Age: 18

Bjorck became the Jets’ number-one prospect the very second he was chosen eighth overall in June.

The Swedish centre, the Jets’ highest pick in a decade, is perhaps the team’s most-important pick in a decade as well. Adding to the hype, Bjorck opted out of the second and final year of his contract with the SHL’s Djurgardens IF in mid-July, confirming he’d be playing within the Jets organization this season. The organization is hoping he can immediately become the second-line centre they’ve been seeking for a number of seasons.

Despite being just 18, Bjorck spent the entire 2025-26 season in the professional SHL with Djurgardens and posted six goals and nine assists for 15 points in 42 games. He improved his draft stock with a strong performance at the 2026 World Juniors, where he produced top-six numbers and played key roles for the gold-medal winning Swedes in the faceoff dot and on the penalty kill, finishing with with three goals and nine points in seven games.

In 2024-25, with Djurgarden’s U20 team, he piled up 27 goals and 47 assists for 74 points in just 42 games and helped them win the Swedish junior championship.

Bjorck’s strengths include “his hockey IQ, vision and playmaking are the biggest things scouts point out,” THW’s Matthew Zator writes in a prospect profile.

“Like most undersized players, his work ethic, motor and competitiveness are also strong suits of his game, along with being strong on his skates and a willingness to get involved in the dirty areas of the ice. His shot is described as accurate and deceptive, which has shown itself regularly on the power play. He is also exceptional defensively and a great penalty killer,” Zator writes.

Corey Pronman of The Athletic writes “I don’t think it would surprise anyone if three years from now, we’re talking about Björck as one of the best forwards in the draft.” (From ‘NHL Draft 2026 grades for every first-round pick,’ The Athletic, June 26, 2026.)

Having Bjorck become a viable NHLer while still on his entry-level contract will be crucial considering the spiking salary cap the Jets may not be able to keep up with over the next couple of seasons. They need more players who can make sizeable impacts for cheap.