2026-27 College Hockey Preseason Rankings
McMahon’s Preseason Rankings
Rankings by Conference
Atlantic Hockey
Big Ten
CCHA
ECAC
Hockey East
NCHC
Independents
Maryville (184.2)
Methodology
1. Player Grades
First, every player in college hockey receives an individual grade.
The model is based on a modified version of Dom Luszczyszyn’s Game Score. Because the NCAA doesn’t track every data point available at the NHL level, I’ve adjusted the formula to fit the data that’s available through InStat. InStat provides an outstanding dataset—probably 90 percent of what I’d ideally like to have—but there are still a few gaps.
The formula closely mirrors the approach behind College Hockey News’ CHIP metric, with a few adjustments based on traits I value more heavily. Personally, I place a premium on tall, mobile defensemen and two-way power forwards. That doesn’t mean smaller or offense-first players are penalized, but players who excel in those areas receive additional value in the model.
The projections also account for player development. Last season’s performance is adjusted based on the expected improvement from freshman to sophomore year, sophomore to junior year, and so on. That development curve naturally flattens as players get older, reflecting the reality that most upperclassmen are closer to finished products. There are always exceptions—a player jumping from 15 points as a junior to 40 as a senior—but those cases are relatively uncommon.
Finally, each player’s production is adjusted for strength of schedule on a per-game basis before being projected over a standard 34-game regular season.
2. Incoming Freshmen
The same process is used for incoming freshmen.
InStat tracks junior hockey extensively, allowing me to translate junior production into NCAA projections. Over the past four seasons, I’ve built a projection model by comparing freshman performance against their previous junior league and age.
Age matters. A 17-year-old scoring 60 points in 50 USHL games projects differently than a 20-year-old posting identical numbers. Players also receive a modest boost based on their Neutral Zone star rating.
3. Team Grades
Simply adding together every player’s rating doesn’t work because roster sizes vary from school to school.
Instead, I project each team’s lineup using its top 13 forwards, top seven defensemen, and the two highest-rated goaltenders. That creates an apples-to-apples comparison by ensuring every team is evaluated using the same number of players, regardless of whether it carries 26 skaters or 30.
Those player grades are then combined to produce each team’s overall score.
4. Positional Rankings
Each team receives separate rankings for its forwards, defense, and goaltending using the same top-13, top-seven, and two-goalie methodology.