Patrick Williams, TheAHL.com Features Writer
Plenty of high NHL draft picks will be on hand for the 2026 AHL All-Star Classic presented by BMO, set for this week in Rockford.
The AHL All-Star Skills Competition will be Tuesday (8 ET/7 CT) with the AHL All-Star Challenge, a 3-on-3 round-robin competition among the AHL’s four divisions, following on Wednesday (8 ET/7 CT). NHL Network (United States) and TSN (Canada) will broadcast the game on television while AHLTV on FloHockey will have streaming coverage. Chicago Sports Network will produce the game and air it as well.
The event will feature 18 players who were first- or second-round draft picks in the NHL. Here’s a look at some of the members of that group:
Conor Geekie – Syracuse Crunch
Pursuing the Stanley Cup year after year has meant that the Tampa Bay Lightning have had to deal away draft picks. But they got back a good forward prospect in Geekie when they acquired him in 2024 as part of the Mikhail Sergachev deal.
Geekie, now 21, was selected by the Arizona Coyotes with the 11th overall pick in the 2022 Draft. He played 52 games last season for the Lightning, and this year he ranks second on the Crunch in scoring with 41 points (13 goals, 28 assists) in 40 games.
Matvei Gridin – Calgary Wranglers
At 19 years old, Gridin is one of two teenagers participating in this year’s All-Star Classic, and he has showed that he can skate with the game’s top young talent. The forward came into the AHL and racked up 11 points (four goals, seven assists) in his first eight games with the Wranglers. Chosen 28th overall by the Calgary Flames in 2024, he also has gotten into 13 NHL games this season and has six points (three goals, three assists). Through 34 games for the Wranglers, he has 28 points (10 goals, 18 assists).
Gridin’s rise has been quick as well. In 2023-24, he led the United States Hockey League with 83 points (38 goals, 45 assists) for Muskegon. He went to the Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League last season and won the rookie of the year award after he had 79 points (36 goals, 43 assists) in just 56 games with Shawinigan.
Konsta Helenius – Rochester Americans
This year’s other All-Star teenager, Helenius was also a part of the 2024 NHL first-round class going 14th overall to the Buffalo Sabres. As has become a common move for the organization, they opted to bring the forward directly to Rochester, the same approach used recently with the likes of Jiřà Kulich, Jack Quinn and Isak Rosén.
Helenius handled his first season as an 18-year-old, chipping in 14 goals for the Amerks in 65 games in 2024-25. Now he has 34 points (10 goals, 24 assists) in 34 games at age 19 as he works to position himself for future work with the Sabres, one of the NHL’s top turnaround stories this season.
Bradly Nadeau – Chicago Wolves
Coming off a dominant rookie season as a 19-year-old forward, Nadeau continues to build in his second pro season as a Carolina Hurricanes prospect. Carolina chose Nadeau 30th overall in the 2023 NHL Draft, and he spent one season at the University of Maine before turning pro.
Last season with Chicago, he became one of five players in AHL history younger than 20 years old to record a 30-goal season. His 58-point season, 32 of them goals, secured him spots on the AHL All-Rookie Team as well as the AHL Top Prospects Team. This season, the AHL Player of the Month for January he has put up 41 points (18 goals, 23 assists) in 34 games.
Dmitri Simashev – Tucson Roadrunners
Defensemen are the backbone of NHL contenders, and the Utah Mammoth think that they have a good one in Simashev. Arizona selected Simashev sixth overall in 2023, and he came in the transfer to Utah before last season. Like Nadeau, he earned a league honor for his January work, posting a goal and 10 assists in 10 games to garner AHL Rookie of the Month selection.
Simashev, 21, came to the Roadrunners in December after a lengthy run with Utah in his first season in North America. Along with 24 games for the Mammoth, he had 23 points (seven goals, 16 assists) in 23 appearances with Tucson. Last season in the Kontinental Hockey League, he won the Gagarin Cup with Lokomotiv Yaroslavl alongside current Tucson teammate Daniil But.