Patrick WilliamsTheAHL.com Features Writer
BMO's 2026 AHL All-Star Classic this week in Rockford will feature a plethora of high NHL draft picks.
The AHL All-Star Skills Competition will be held on Tuesday (8:00 ET/7:00 CT), and Wednesday (8:00 ET/7:00 CT) will be the AHL All-Star Challenge, a 3-on-3 round-robin tournament between the four AHL divisions. NHL Network (U.S.) and TSN (Canada) will televise the game, while AHLTV on FloHockey will provide streaming coverage. Chicago SportsNet will produce and broadcast the game.
The event will feature 18 NHL first- or second-round draft players. Here are some members of the group:
Connor Geek – Syracuse Crunch
The pursuit of the Stanley Cup year after year means the Tampa Bay Lightning has to give up draft picks. But they regained their good prospects when they acquired Geekie in 2024 as part of an acquisition plan. Mikhail Sergachev trade.
Geekie, 21, was selected by the Arizona Coyotes with the 11th overall pick in the 2022 draft. He played 52 games for the Lightning last season and this year he scored 41 points (13 goals, 28 assists) in 40 games, ranking second in the scoring list.
Matvey Gridding – Calgary Wranglers
Gridin, 19, is one of two teenagers participating in this year's All-Star Classic and has proven he can skate with the top young talent in the sport. The forward entered the AHL and had 11 points (four goals, seven assists) in his first eight games with the Wranglers. He was drafted by the Calgary Flames with the 28th overall pick in 2024. He also played in 13 NHL games this season, scoring 6 points (3 goals, 3 assists). In 34 games with the Wranglers, he had 28 points (10 goals, 18 assists).
Gridin’s rise has also been rapid. In 2023-24, he led the American Hockey League with 83 points (38 goals, 45 assists) for Muskegon. Last season, he played in the Quebec Maritime Junior Hockey League and won the Rookie of the Year award after scoring 79 points (36 goals, 43 assists) in just 56 games with Shawinigan.
Constant Helenius – Rochester American
Junior Helenius, another All-Star this year, was also a member of the 2024 NHL first round, ultimately losing to the Buffalo Sabers with the 14th pick. As is a common move for the organization, they opted to bring the forward directly to Rochester, the same method they have used recently Jiri Kulic, Jack Quinn and Isaac Rosen.
Helenius, entering his first season as an 18-year-old, scored 14 goals in 65 games for Amerkes in 2024-25. Now, the 19-year-old has 34 points (10 goals, 24 assists) in 34 games and is working hard to prepare for his future with the Sabers, one of the NHL's best turnaround stories this season.
Bradley Nadeau – Chicago Wolves
After a stellar rookie season as a 19-year-old forward, Nadeau continues to improve in his second pro season as a rookie with the Carolina Hurricanes. Carolina selected Nadeau with the 30th overall pick in the 2023 NHL Draft, and he spent one season at the University of Maine before turning pro.
Last season in Chicago, he became one of five players in AHL history under the age of 20 to score 30 goals in a season. He scored 58 points this season, including 32 goals, earning him selection to the AHL All-Rookie Team and the AHL All-Rookie Team. This season, he scored 41 points (18 goals, 23 assists) in 34 games and was awarded the AHL Player of the Month for January.
Dmitri Simashev – Tucson Roadrunners
Defensemen are the backbone of NHL contenders, and the Utah Mammoths think they have a good one in Simashev. Arizona selected Simashev with the sixth overall pick in 2023, and he transferred to Utah before last season. Like Nadeau, he also earned league honors for his performance in January, scoring one goal and 10 assists in 10 games and being named the AHL Rookie of the Month.
Simashev, 21, came to the Roadrunners in December after spending a lot of time with the Utah Jazz in his first season in North America. Combined with 24 games played for the Mammoths, he had 23 points (7 goals, 16 assists) in 23 games with Tucson. Last season in the Kontinental Hockey League, he won the Gagarin Cup with Lokomotiv Yaroslavl alongside his current Tucson teammates Daniel Boot.
About two decades in the American Hockey League, TheAHL.com feature writer Patrick Williams also currently covers the league for NHL.com and FloSports and is a regular contributor to SiriusXM NHL Network Radio. In 2016, he received the AHL's James H. Ellery Memorial Award for outstanding coverage of the league.
