FLINT – The Flint Firebirds will look to see their streak of having at least one player selected at every NHL Draft since the franchise’s inception in 2015 at the upcoming 2026 NHL Draft, set to take place on Friday and Saturday in Buffalo. The first round of the draft takes place on Friday night at 7 p.m. and will be televised live in the United States on ESPN and ESPN+. The remaining six rounds will take place on Saturday beginning at 10 a.m. and airing on NHL Network and ESPN+.

The Firebirds had three players listed on NHL Central Scouting’s final draft rankings which were released in April. Alex Kostov, in his third year of draft eligibility, was ranked 73rd among North American skaters, Dryden Allen, who is in his second year of eligibility, was ranked 171st and Darian Anderson, also in his second year of eligibility, was ranked 186th.

The 2026 NHL draft is the first-year 2008-born prospects are eligible to be drafted. Additionally, select 2006 and 2007-born players will be eligible as well. To be eligible, players must be 18 years old by Sept. 15 and under 20 years old by Dec. 31 in the draft year.

Flint’s best showing at an individual NHL Draft was the 2023 draft, during which four Firebirds heard their named called. Tristan Bertucci (Dallas – 2nd round, 61st overall), Coulson Pitre (Anaheim – 3rd round, 65th overall), Nathan Day (Edmonton – 6th round, 184th overall) and Ethan Hay (Tampa Bay – 7th round, 211th overall) were each taken during the 2023 draft. The Firebirds had two players selected at the 2025 draft as Jimmy Lombardi (Los Angeles – 4th round, 125th overall) and Rylan Fellinger (Toronto – 6th round, 185th overall) were selected.

Since the Flint Firebirds’ inception in 2015, the club has had 40 drafted or NHL-signed players on its roster. That list consists of Nathan Aspinall (NY Rangers), Jacob Battaglia (New York Rangers), Tristan Bertucci (Dallas), Will Bitten (Montreal), Dennis Busby (Arizona), Nick Caamano (Dallas), Connor Chatham (New Jersey), Connor Clattenburg (Edmonton), Will Cranley (St. Louis), Nathan Day (Edmonton), Ty Dellandrea (Dallas), Rylan Fellinger (Toronto), Artem Guryev (San Jose), Ethan Hay (Tampa Bay), Kevin He (Winnipeg), Fedor Gordeev (Toronto), Gavin Hayes (Chicago), Kyle Keyser (Boston), Ethan Keppen (Vancouver), Braeden Kressler (Toronto), Vladislav Kolyachonok (Florida), Dmitry Kuzmin (Winnipeg), Amadeus Lombardi (Detroit), Jimmy Lombardi (Los Angeles), Matthew Mania (Los Angeles), Nick Mattinen (Toronto), Sam McCue (Toronto, Brent Moran (Dallas), Alex Nedeljkovic (Carolina), Evgeniy Oksentyuk (Dallas), Brennan Othmann (NY Rangers), Alex Peters (Dallas), Coulson Pitre (Anaheim), Kaden Pitre (Tampa Bay), Darels Uljanskis (Anaheim), Vili Saarijarvi (Detroit), Kole Sherwood (Columbus), Jalen Smereck (Arizona), Blake Smith (Toronto), Tyler Tucker (St. Louis) and Josh Wesley (Carolina).

 

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