2026 NHL Draft Diary: Keaton Verhoeff

Keaton Verhoeff of the University of North Dakota of the National Collegiate Hockey Conference has been filing a draft diary for NHL.com this season leading up to the 2026 NHL Draft. The 17-year-old freshman defenseman (6-foot-3, 208 pounds), who was born in Fort Saskatchewan, Alberta, was selected No. 9 by the San Jose Sharks on June 26. The third-youngest player in men's college hockey had 20 points (six goals, 14 assists), 43 blocked shots and 69 shots on goal in 36 games. Verhoeff filed his final entry after the first round of the draft at KeyBank Center.

BUFFALO -- Hi hockey fans.

Friday was a great day. It started with a clinic with a group of kids from the Buffalo area. It was fun being out there with them. Anytime you get to go on the ice and mess around a bit, it kind of takes your head away from some things. So being with those kids out there was fun and exciting.

The rest of the day, it was just a chance to hang out with my family. I took a quick nap in there, but mostly just hung out with my family and tried to soak everything in. It's such a cool experience. 

Walking the red carpet into the building was cool. It was fun, lots of fans, lots of people around. They were loud and cheering, so it was a cool moment.

There's lots of places when I thought it could be me getting picked. I was just kind of sitting there excited and waiting. And when I eventually heard my name called by San Jose, I was super pumped and just excited to get a start in such a great organization with unbelievable people. So honored to be now drafted by San Jose.

Pulling that jersey on for the first time, that was cool. It was special. To wear teal and get it over the shoulders, it was cool. And with my family watching and people supporting me here, I was pumped.

(Sharks center) Macklin Celebrini called me, and I got a chance to talk to him. That was pretty cool. He just kind of welcomed me to the organization. I got a little star-struck; anytime you talk to a guy like that, it's pretty cool. I mean, he played at the Olympics, then at men's World Championship. And when you watch him in the NHL, he's such a special player. So it's pretty cool to have the opportunity to talk to him and hear from him.

Next for me is San Jose for development camp, and just back to the grind. Get back in the gym and back on the ice. That's the exciting part. This is just the start, and the draft's kind of the bottom of the mountain again, and now it's about putting the work in and trying to eventually make that jump to pro.

Thanks for reading and following along this season.