Bleyl entering NHL Draft with buzz, intrigue to game

The Upper Deck 2026 NHL Draft will be held June 26-27 at KeyBank Center in Buffalo. The first round will be held June 26 (7 p.m. ET; ESPN, ESPN+, Sportsnet, TVA Sports) with rounds 2-7 on June 27 (11 a.m. ET; NHL Network, ESPN+, Sportsnet). NHL.com is counting down to the draft with in-depth profiles on top prospects, podcasts and other features. Today, a look at defenseman Tommy Bleyl with Moncton of the Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League. Full draft coverage can be found here.

The first thing you notice about Thomas Bleyl is not the points, though there were plenty of those.

It's the way he moves.

The right-shot defenseman (5-foot-11, 170 pounds) with Moncton of the Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League could collect a puck under pressure, pivot off one edge, slip away from a forechecker and reopen the entire sheet of ice with one stride. Then came the second layer -- the patience, the head fake, the pass that turned a harmless possession into an odd-man rush.

Bleyl controlled tempo from the back end like a player a level or two above junior hockey. It's how he authored a remarkable rookie season in the QMJHL and explains why he's No. 17 on NHL Central Scouting's final ranking of North American skaters eligible for the 2026 NHL Draft. He was No. 35 in the midterm ranking in January.

He finished with 13 goals, 68 assists and 81 points in 63 regular-season games, leading all QMJHL skaters in assists and defensemen in scoring. He became the first at his position to lead the league in assists since Samuel Girard (66 in 2016-17) and broke Gaston Therrien's longstanding record for points by a rookie defenseman (77 in 1977-78).

"I think it was definitely my best season of my hockey career," said Bleyl, born in Schenectady, New York. "It was my first year kind of living in a different country and billeting, so my billets really made that a lot easier for me, too. A lot of things came together, and it worked out really well."

Bleyl had 28 points to lead defensemen and 22 assists to lead all skaters in the QMJHL playoffs. He was named QMJHL Defenseman of the Year and Rookie of the Year, becoming only the second player ever to win both in the same season (Dmitry Kulikov, 2008-09).

Historic numbers explain the buzz but don't fully explain the player.

"He's arguably one of the better skaters in the whole draft," NHL Central Scouting's senior Eastern scout Jean-Francois Damphousse said. "He's smooth in all directions, a great puck mover and doesn't complicate things. When you look at the elite feet and the combination of being able to make plays and go east-west and be a lot more slippery, it makes him an attractive guy with a lot of upside for the next level."

That description gets to the core of why NHL teams are so intrigued. Bleyl's game starts with elite mobility, but it doesn't end there.

"I think skating is probably my best attribute as a player, and it's been something I've been working on my whole life," Bleyl said. "Ever since I started skating when I was 2 years old, I've put probably thousands of hours in small rinks and stuff, learning how to hone my edges and do tight turns."

Those thousands of hours are visible in everything he does. Bleyl can beat pressure north-south with acceleration, but he is just as dangerous once he establishes possession inside the offensive zone when he starts attacking east-west, walking the line and opening seams that other defensemen never see.

Moncton general manager Taylor MacDougall saw that weapon immediately.

"His ability to quarterback that power play grew as the season went too," MacDougall said. "His mobility was the first thing that allowed him to be successful, but then he makes really good reads, he's really good at getting a shot through and he's really good at putting pucks in places for guys to hit one-timers or effective shots. He's very evasive."

The remarkable part is that Bleyl was not supposed to be here. Not like this, not this fast.

His path to stardom was unconventional. A year ago, he was coming off a New England prep-school championship at Cushing Academy in Massachusetts and planned for Dubuque of the United States Hockey League before the Canadian Hockey League-NCAA eligibility change altered his options. Moncton recruited aggressively, Bleyl took the tour, liked what he saw and bet on development over familiarity.

"I'm committed to go back to Moncton for this coming season and then go to Michigan State (in 2027-28)," Bleyl said. "Moncton, it just seems like a great place to develop my game even further."

Bleyl's story is not just the offense. It's the defensive growth he insists still gets overlooked.

"Personally, people think of me as an offensive defenseman, and in my opinion, I think I play a little bit more of a two-way game," Bleyl said. "I really do like to value both sides of the puck."

Bleyl is accurate in pushing back on the label. He arrived in Moncton as a dynamic puck mover, but over the season became far more complete. He improved his boxing out, wall work, stick positioning and net-front details, enough that Moncton trusted him in difficult playoff matchups against top lines.

MacDougall believes that side of Bleyl's game deserves more attention.

"There were times his minutes were prioritized based on the offense he brought our group, and rightfully so," MacDougall said, "but Tommy was not sheltered in his defensive minutes at all. I think the part that sometimes probably doesn't get spoken about enough with Tommy is that defensive play but more particularly just how competitive the kid is. He wants to win so bad."

If this season was his announcement, next season in Moncton may be his refinement. Then comes Michigan State. After that, perhaps the NHL -- he had 29 team interviews at the NHL Scouting Combine in Buffalo earlier this month.

"The exciting thing about him is I think he's still just starting to scratch the surface of what he's capable of," MacDougall said. "He's just a really competitive kid and he wants to get better, wants to be coached and he's a lot of fun to work with."