mlive
Four Saginaw Spirit players joined teammate Nikita Klepov as the NHL completed its 2026 draft Saturday in Buffalo, New York.
Anaheim took Klepov with the 15th overall pick in Fridays first round of the 2026 NHL Draft.
Egor Barabanov, Brady Knowling, Brody Pepoy and Stepan Shurygin were picked Saturday, giving Saginaw five total NHL draft picks.
Calgary took Barabanov in the fourth round, 100th overall.
The Saginaw forward was second in the OHL with 63 assists and finished with 91 points, fourth in the league.
San Jose also made Knowling a fourth-round pick, 127th overall.
Knowling, who has yet to play a game for the Spirit, spent the last two seasons with the United States National Development Program and posted a 15-13-3-1 record with a 3.51 goals-against average for the programs U18 team.
In the 2025 Hlinka Gretzky Cup, Knowling led Team USAs U18 team to a gold medal with four wins, a 2.35 goals-against average and a .914 save percentage.
The Spirit signed Knowling Monday, four days before the NHL Draft.
Saginaw signed Pepoy out of its 2025 training camp, and the Spirit forward responded with 29 points in 67 games during his rookie season.
Toronto picked Pepoy in the sixth round, 169th overall.
Shurygin was the final Spirit player picked when Tampa Bay took the Saginaw goaltender in the sixth round, 186th overall.
The 6-foot-5 Russian led the OHL with 59 appearances, finishing with 24 wins and a 3.79 goals-against average.