Smits receives E.J. McGuire Award of Excellence ahead of 2026 Draft

Alberts Smits was named the winner of the E.J. McGuire Award of Excellence on Tuesday.

First awarded in 2014-15, the E.J. McGuire Award of Excellence is presented annually "to the NHL Draft prospect who best exemplifies commitment to excellence through strength of character, competitiveness and athleticism."

Smits (6-foot-3, 209 pounds), a defenseman with Munchen of Deutsche Eishockey Liga, the top professional league in Germany, could be the highest-selected Latvia-born player in NHL Draft history.

"Alberts Smits has emerged as one of the top draftees, as a standout young defenseman in the 2026 draft class," NHL Central Scouting vice president and director Dan Marr said. "Alberts has NHL talent, and the compete and character that he showed throughout the 2025-26 season each and every game was truly impressive and earned him the 2026 E.J. McGuire Award of Excellence."

Smits is expected to be chosen among the top 10 picks in the 2026 Upper Deck NHL Draft at KeyBank Center in Buffalo. The first round will be held June 26 (7 p.m. ET; ESPN, ESPN+, SN, TVAS) with rounds 2-7 on June 27 (11 a.m. ET; NHLN, ESPN+, SN). 

The left-handed shot was with five other top prospects at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, where the Vegas Golden Knights and Carolina Hurricanes will play Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Final on Tuesday (8 p.m. ET; ABC, SN, TVAS, CBC).

Smits was the youngest player at the 2026 Winter Olympics, where he had two assists in four games for Team Latvia while averaging 18:44 of ice time. He had 13 points (six goals, seven assists) in 38 games for Jukurit in Liiga, the top league in Finland, before he was loaned to Munchen on Feb. 25. He had one assist in five regular-season DEL games, six points (two goals, four assists) in 11 playoff games and recently signed a contract with Jukurit that runs through the 2027-28 season.

Smits had five points (one goal, four assists) in five games at the 2026 IIHF World Junior Championship, leading Latvia in time on ice per game (23:40). He had four assists and averaged 21:47 of ice time at the 2026 IIHF World Championship, where Latvia lost 2-0 to Norway in the quarterfinal round.

The 18-year-old is No. 2 on Central Scouting's final ranking of International skaters. He had interviews with 19 teams at the NHL Scouting Combine in Buffalo last week.

"Each year there are many candidates deserving of the E.J. McGuire Award of Excellence and the 2026 winner, Smits, was chosen as he demonstrated the characteristics that define this award in his pursuit to be the best player he could be," Marr said.

The award, presented by NHL Central Scouting, is in honor of McGuire, who was director of Central Scouting from 2005 until he died of cancer April 7, 2011.

Latvia World Juniors coach Artis Abols said Smits was the team's best player during the tournament.

"He's able to play at the pro level, he's able to take the big minutes every game," Abols said. "He's a good skater, has good skills and a good shot. Off the ice, we need a leader and he's a man. He's not a kid. He's a man."

Smits certainly played to the media wonderfully too. When asked if he felt it would be good going head-to-head against fellow 2026 draft prospects Gavin McKenna and Carson Carels of Canada to measure himself, at the World Juniors, Smits smiled and said, "I have played against bigger guys, so I don't think about what guys I'm going to play against. I'm just going to do my thing out there."

McKenna, a left wing at Penn State University, is No. 1 on Central Scouting's final ranking of North American skaters. Carels, a defenseman with Prince George in the Western Hockey League, is No. 3.

"I don't want to sound cocky here, but I'm only one who's playing in a men's league right now, also on a daily basis training and playing against men," Smits said when asked what separates him from a deep crop of draft-eligible defensemen. "I have been through kind of a lot, and I could say I have experienced a little bit more than them. I have picked up a little bit more things than them."

Abols said Smits' game should translate well to the NHL.

"Alberts wants to be pro," he said. "He prepares everything like that. You don't need to watch and remind him ... he wants to be a pro. You can see that right away."

Smits played with Zemgus Girgensons at the Olympics. The Tampa Bay Lightning forward became the highest-selected Latvia-born player when the Buffalo Sabres chose him with the No. 14 pick in the 2012 NHL Draft.

Smits said he models his game after Dallas Stars defenseman Miro Heiskanen and Detroit Red Wings defenseman Moritz Seider.

"I'm just trying to be a two-way defenseman that joins the rush," he said.