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Draft Profiles 2k26: Alberts Šmits is Latvia’s ferocious hope

The Draft Profiles are back! And we start with a defender! Defenseman Alberts Šmits has one of the more unique paths as a defenseman in this draft; being a Latvian playing in Finland as one of the younger players in the top finnish league, and having a serious chance of being the highest drafted player from his home country. And he’s done it in a simple, easy to understand way; bowling over the competition. Who is he? Alberts Šmits is a Valmiera, Latvian-born, 6’3, 209-pound defenseman who shoots Left. He plays for Jukurit in the Finnish Liiga; the highest level of Finnish hockey. At the conclusion of their season, Jukurit loaned Šmits to EHC Red Bull München in the highest level of German hockey; the DEL. He also had a pretty active career this year with the Latvian National Team; playing at the World Juniors, the World Championships, and the Olympics. What’s he good at? AGGRESSION. European players have largely broken this through the last two decades, but there is a low level stigma around the European game of not being especially physical. This is largely because you need to actually commit to being physical overseas; their commitment to larger, Olympic sized rinks means if you whiff on a hit, you’re going to be extremely out of a play and looking ridiculous. As such, players develop more of an understanding of the defensive game from a less physical side of things. It appears nobody really told Šmits any of that, because he loooooooves gettin’ involved physically. Šmits combines a lot of the best aspects of your modern defenseman; good skating, solid instincts on how to clog up a lane and when, and strong stickwork, and marries it to a ferocious work ethic that makes him a nightmare to forecheck against. Alberts Šmits will move heaven and earth to get after you. His aggression regularly forces forecheckers to get rid of the puck in a hurry with the fear of a large Latvian sitting on top of them whacking away at the puck or at them, and his strong stickwork allows for a major advantage in winning board battles (the NHL-sized frame helps there a lot), then can allow him to either get a clean breakout through a pass, or he’ll get himself involved in the play as a first line of attack; using solid skating to get as close to a zone entry and then dump it, or even just go and see if he can create some offense. And yet, when in high danger situations, it always appears as though Šmits is right in his element. He closes shooting lanes with ease both on the cycle and in transition, he will casually maneuver players at speed away from the middle of the ice, and towards his Indeed, when he’s on his game, Šmits is a shift-warping defender who can be a major force of danger for his team. What’s he not so good at? Harnessing said aggression responsibly. It’s only natural that a player this aggressive will sometimes put himself in hot water, especially in a more stringent european league. This sometimes means whiffed hits, undisciplined play, or taking himself out of the play in order to tie up one player or go impose himself on the other team. It’s especially prominent in net-front defense, where he can be caught focusing down on one player and ignoring others; pulling himself out of position. Further, Šmits aggression didn’t come from nowhere; Jukurit would’ve been on the relegation chopping block had Liiga still operated as of the Finnish ice hockey relegation/promotion pyramid. Further, his national team is Latvia; an eternal underdog that is continually hard up for offense. His minute munching tendencies for both of these squads meant he wasn’t just being asked to do a lot defensively, he was often asked to be the instigating force for the offense. This has created a very shoot-first mentality in the young man that is prone to taking any old shot to see if it can get to the dangerous area of the ice, no matter if there’s a shooting lane or not. This can also end up creating bad bounces that have him on the back foot or making passes to seemingly nowhere in the desperate hope of creating something, anything, for his team. More than anything, honing Šmits’ aggression so that it compliments his skillset rather than giving it the chance to undermine his abilities will be critical to his development; allowing him the space to not feel like he needs to be the hero all the time. Prospect Rankings Ranked 2nd by NHL Central Scouting among European Skaters. Ranked 11th by EliteProspects.com Ranked 8th by TSN’s Craig Button Ranked 7th by DailyFaceoff.com Ranked 7th by Smaht Scouting Ranked 11th by DobberProspects Should the Kraken take him? If Šmits ends up in Seattle, it’s hard not to think of a scenario in which he doesn’t become a fan favorite as Šmits has a game that your average NHL fan can just wrap themselves in like a big, angry hug. It helps that other than Chase Reid, the rest of the defensive prospects in this draft will probably need at least a couple of years to find themselves in the pro level whereas Smits will almost certainly have a major leg up from having played in pro leagues already. I’m not saying he’ll play immediately, but if he gets to wear Deep Blue? It will be difficult taking him out of it if he brings that game to the NHL.