The Edmonton Oilers should select Ben Macbeath at the 2026 NHL Draft

Since the 2010 NHL Draft, the Edmonton Oilers have selected a defenceman with their top pick four times. Over that time, the club chose: Darnell Nurse (2013), Evan Bouchard (2018), Philip Broberg (2019), and Beau Akey (2023).

It is a pretty good hit rate with three of four turning into bonafide top-four defenders and even then, Akey is still developing at 21 years old and could very well become a legitimate NHL defenceman in the near future.

Also throughout this time, the Oilers have drafted other NHL level defencemen in the later rounds like; Michael Kesselring, John Marino, Vincent Desharnais, Oscar Klefbom, Ethan Bear, Caleb Jones, Erik Gustafsson, and more.

The Oilers's first pick of the upcoming 2026 NHL Draft is slated to be in the second round at 52nd overall and they very well could repeat this trend. One player on the Oilers radar should be a blueliner from the Calgary Hitmen of the Western Hockey League, Ben Macbeath.

The last player we highlighted was Gleb Pugachyov, the Russian winger who the Oilers could select later this month.

Ben Macbeath

As of right now, Ben Macbeath is expected to be selected on day two of the 2026 NHL Draft, right in the Oilers range. According to eliteprospects.com, Macbeath is ranked 46th overall on their consolidated rankings, taking into account plenty of different publications and scouting services rankings to slot in players.

Macbeath is a left-handed defenceman who is relatively young for this draft with a March 4th, 2008 birthdate. He spent this past season in the WHL, his first at the major junior level scoring seven goals and 44 assists for 51 points in 67 regular season games. He spent the 2024-25 season with the Salmon Arm Silverbacks of the British Columbia Hockey League (BCHL) and is committed to join the University of Denver in the NCAA next season.

Denver will afford Macbeath a great environment to develop with fellow WHL defenders like; Ryan Lin, Blake Fiddler, and Daxon Rudolph. This should make for a competitive and successful environment for Macbeath to grow in, along with working under the tutelage of highly regarded head coach, David Carle.

Macbeath is a skilled and smooth two-way defenceman whose game is built on his incredible skating ability. His skating allows him to keep pace with opposing players on the ice, allowing him to deny entries and neutralize opposing offence in his own end and carry the puck up ice and push offence on the other end. In addition to his skating, he shows a lot of intelligence on both sides of the puck, reading and anticipating play and making smart choices consistently to help his team and tilt the ice in their favour.

As evidenced by his point totals, Macbeath is a strong offensive player who despite having a well-rounded game does seem to have an offensive lean. He is able to make high level stretch passes to break the puck out and find teammates through traffic. He covers a lot of ice and should be an interesting player to watch.

NHL projection

Looking ahead for the short term, as a second round pick, Macbeath could be a bit of a project. This is especially true going the college route but given his already professional size at 6'2 and 187lbs, he should be able to adapt well to the NCAA level playing against men.

Longterm, Macbeath's projection appears to be a mobile two-way defenceman who could play middle-pairing minutes on both special teams units. He has some very intriguing skills that give him a good ceiling but also the intelligence and hockey sense to have some safe and projectable attributes as well.

If the Oilers select Macbeath, he almost immediately becomes their top defensive prospect and one of their top prospects in general.