Devils' 2026 First-Round Draft Profile: Oscar Hemming

Evaluating what Oscar Hemming brings to the table as a potential target with the 12th overall pick in the 2026 NHL Entry Draft.

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With the 2026 NHL Entry Draft less than two months away, and the Devils in possession of five picks, I’ll be going through a ton of prospects over the next several weeks in order to prepare readers for appealing targets in every round. At the end, I’ll be doing a full mock draft (with reasoning) so that you’ll be able to decipher my preferred targets. Enjoy!

Next up on the list of potential first-round draft targets for the Devils’ 12th overall pick is Oscar Hemming, whose brother, Emil, was drafted by the Dallas Stars in the first round of the 2024 NHL Entry Draft. Oscar, though, is bigger, meaner, and better.

Hemming is still 17 years of age, with an August birthday, but spent 2025-26 playing in the toughest division in college hockey, Hockey East, with Boston College. There, he frequented middle-six placement in the lineup. He only logged 19 games of NCAA play, not because of injury, but because of a contract dispute from his Finnish club team, who protested his choice to play in North America from the end of the Hlinka Gretzky Cup to his post-Christmas matriculation to college.

Still, regardless of this hitch, Hemming has made a name for himself as a very highly-touted prospect, and for good reason. The 6’4, 198-pound power winger adjusted to college hockey — and Hockey East, at that — quickly and quite well. As such, he presents as a very appealing target at 12th overall.

All 2026 NHL Entry Draft Profiles:

12th Overall (First Round): Ethan Belchetz | Ryan Lin
44th Overall (Second Round):
103rd Overall (Fourth Round):
140th Overall (Fifth Round):
172nd Overall (Sixth Round):

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By the Numbers

Rankings: #17 by EliteProspects | #15 by Craig Button | #10 by SportsNet | #17 by Scott Wheeler | #14 by SMAHT Scouting | #11 by McKeen’s Hockey | #10 by Yours Truly

Size: 6’4, 198 Pounds

Production: 1 Goal & 8 Assists (9 Total Points) in 19 NCAA Games (Boston College)

I’m earnestly not taking much stock in his production for 2025-26, principally because he was held out of playing hockey for four months following his contract dispute with his Finnish team. His nine total points (one goal, eight assists) in 19 games of college hockey, in the hardest division in the country, while playing middle-six minutes as a 17-year-old, after a long hiatus of playing competitive hockey, is undeniably impressive.

via Gabriel Foley

From an underlying perspective, he had a decently strong season as well, in particular on the defensive side of the puck. In transition, he was just fine, and he had a negligible impact on offense, but his strong defensive habits certainly showed up in the numbers.

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Evaluating Hemming’s Tools

Skating

Hemming’s straight-line speed is among the best in the draft class, I would argue. In his highest gear, he can blaze right past defenders with ease. At his top speed, he is also able to execute dekes and dangles through multiple layers of coverage. His top gear is particularly useful on the breakout, where he can meaningfully contribute to entering the offensive zone under the right circumstances:

The caveat to that is two-fold: 1) it can take him a bit of time to reach said top speed, with a need to add a bit more explosiveness to his stride, and 2) his agility is just average. Both of those are extremely workable, though. Burst ability will come in time as his legs naturally strengthen, and agility and edgework are solvable through training. The most important of the three skating traits is top-end speed, as that’s really the least workable of the three.

Shooting

I quite like Hemming’s shot mechanics, even if he only potted a singular goal with Boston College. As I said, I’m not taking a whole lot of stock in his production, given the uncontrollable circumstances surrounding his contract dispute.

In particular, while I think he could use to add a bit of power to his one-timer — something that will also come in time as he continues to bulk up and strengthen — his wrist shot is electric. Hemming’s release is deceptive, he picks his spots well, and he is able to generate loads of power from his lower body when gearing up for a wrist shot:

Hemming’s nose for the net cannot be understated, either. He is unafraid of facing the physical consequences for pushing for a rebound, tip opportunity, or establishment as a netfront presence. A true net-crasher in every sense of the word when he is off-puck:

That said, I do think he should shoot more. I think he possesses a strength in accessing interior parts of the ice, be it the netfront or the inner slot, and I want to see him be more assertive in trying to score his own opportunities rather than trying for the best play all the time. That isn’t a bad thing, though — at the NHL level, that’s a valuable skill to have. To me, it’s more so about manipulating the goaltender and defense to respect both the shot and the threat of a passing play.

Hockey Sense & Playmaking

At his base level, Hemming is a strong playmaker who scarcely doesn’t make the right play when obvious. He has good vision and a good feel for the play, being able to react to and take advantage of defensive positioning and goaltender body language quite consistently.

At his best, though, Hemming possesses a peak-Simon Nemec-like ability to manipulate the play subtly. Head fakes, directional fakes, slight dekes, board usage, proactive off-puck positioning and physicality, give-and-gos, usage of back-passes; you name it, and Hemming has it in his arsenal. For me, I would like those manipulations on showcase more often than they are — it seemed as though he was more comfortable taking those risks early on in the season but slowly phased out to making the right play instead of the great play.

Off-puck, I think his positioning is generally great. As previously mentioned, he does have a nose for the net and is comfortable cementing himself at the netfront. Underratedly, though, I think he exploits gaps in coverage comfortably and is able to get into the inner slot for a high-danger chance with regularity.

Puck Skills

I admire the creativity and complexion of the deke arsenal Hemming has. He’s certainly no stranger to making a move to access open areas of the ice or skirt around a potential body or stick check. Toe drags are a regular part of his every-shift play, using it to add a bit of deception and power to his wrist shots or to get around a stick check in the slot. Every now and then, though, he’ll pull out a ridiculous move to get into open ice:

As previously mentioned, being able to execute these moves at full speed is something that you see with Hemming regularly. Complex moves, between-the-legs moves, and even simple dekes at Mach 10 are standard:

Defensive Play

Hemming plays a very mature defensive game for a 17-year-old college hockey player. He pushes play to the outside quite well, identifies the most likely pass route and gets in the way, supports and engages in defensive board battles perfectly, and knows when to lay a body check to better loosen the puck. Better yet, he’s consistent and predictable in the defensive zone. He doesn’t really make mistakes and will be a plus in his own zone on a shift-by-shift basis.

Physicality

Of course, I would be remiss not to mention how comfortable Hemming is playing the body. Whether it is to loosen a puck up on both sides of the ice, to create space for himself as the puck carrier, or to proactively engage in the sake of getting better positioning, he’s apt at playing bruising hockey.

Very rarely, Hemming will chase a hit for the sake of hitting, but I find that this is few and far between.

I do think that Hemming can occasionally be too passive for what he is on the forecheck — I’d like to see him be a bit more assertive in laying the body and playing more of that crash-and-bang style. I understand that he is cerebral enough to be effective as an F2, but his stature and playing style should be more bulldozer-ish.

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There’s a reason I had Hemming as the 10th best player in the 2026 NHL Entry Draft in my rankings. I think that, at his best, he is one of the more deliberate and creative playdrivers in the class, something that is a rarity among power forwards. Even at his baseline play, he makes the right plays on both sides of the ice.

The only questions within his game are in regard to agility and acceleration, but neither of them will be a driving factor in his success as an NHLer. Hemming doesn’t need to be a finesse skater to contribute meaningfully in a lineup, especially given that he can act as an F2 or F3 in transition rather comfortably. If he wants to be more of a facilitator of transition play, adding the burst ability and edgework will be to his benefit, however that doesn’t mean that he isn’t already efficient with the puck touches he does get. At his best, he very well may be a top-line power forward capable of contributing everywhere. At his worst, there is a third liner with some scoring touch who will absolutely be a positive on defense. Either way, the Devils are in good hands if Hemming is the route they take.

NHL Timeline: End of 2027-28
NHL Stylistic Comparables: Timo Meier, Will Cuylle, Matthew Knies

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