Our preseason ranking of the top 10 Massachusetts 2010 defensemen heading into the 2026-27 prep season. This is the companion board to the forward rankings published yesterday.
One defenseman who would have ranked in the top three is not eligible — he has left Massachusetts prep hockey. He is listed below the board.
How this is built. Every player here is a 2010-born Massachusetts defenseman playing prep hockey in 2026-27. Four criteria, weighted in this order:
- USA Hockey National 16 Camp, 2026. This is where a defense board departs from a forward board. A points column measures a forward's job. It does not measure a defenseman's. The most recent national evaluation is the closest thing we have to an outside opinion on players whose best work never reaches a scoresheet, so it leads here rather than trails.
- 2025-26 prep production. Still real, and still the only thing on this page that happened in a game that counted. Read the split, not the total — assists from the blue line say more than goals do.
- The rest of the process. Boys Festival, Final 40, and the 2025 National 15 Camp. Getting to the Final 40 and being cut is a different credential from never being in the room.
- Junior draft standing. USHL Phase I and QMJHL selections, weighted as evidence of professional evaluation rather than as a destination.
A note on club teams. Club rosters for 2026-27 were set through tryouts in March and April, but they have not been formally published. Club affiliations listed here reflect our own tracking rather than an official release.
With the Eastern Alliance Kickoff opening September 4 and the Elite Prospects Showcase the following weekend, we should have an accurate handle on club teams for every player heading into the 2026-27 season, and we'll update this board accordingly. Prep school affiliations, 2025-26 production, national camp results and junior draft selections are all confirmed.
With the Eastern Alliance Kickoff opening September 4 and the Elite Prospects Showcase the following weekend, we should have an accurate handle on club teams for every player heading into the 2026-27 season, and we'll update this board accordingly. Prep school affiliations, 2025-26 production, national camp results and junior draft selections are all confirmed.
The calendar is why this matters now. This age group plays a club half season, September through November, finishing with the Massachusetts state tournament. From December through March the same players are with their prep schools. So every club reference on this page describes a season that has not started yet, and every prep reference describes one that starts after it.
First, Who Isn't Here
The forward board lost three players to junior hockey. The blue line lost one, and he is the reason the phrase “drafted to the USHL” gets misread every summer in this class.
| Player | Now Playing | Prep 25-26 G-A-P |
Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| Logan Cotter | Green Bay (USHL) | 5-17—22 | On a tender; committed to Northeastern |
Six defensemen on the board below hold USHL rights and eight hold QMJHL rights. None of them are reporting anywhere this fall. A Phase I selection on a sixteen-year-old is an option, not a plane ticket — most players land on an affiliate list and play another year or two of prep. Poti goes back to Winchendon. Ware goes back to Belmont Hill.
A tender is a different document. It is signed before the draft, it costs the club a Phase I pick, a USHL organization may issue only two per season, and it guarantees the player at least 55 percent of the club's regular-season games. That is why Logan Cotter is on a USHL roster at sixteen and the five defensemen who went to the National 16 Camp alongside him — every one of them drafted — are not.
The Board
| # | Player | School 26-27 |
Prep 25-26 G-A-P |
Nat 15 Camp 2025 |
Nat 16 Camp 2026 |
USHL 2026 |
QMJHL 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sam Fishbone | St. Sebastian's | 6-23—29 | — | 1-2—3 | Sioux Falls | Halifax |
| 2 | Nicholas Ware | Belmont Hill | 0-25—25 | 0-0—0 | 0-1—1 | Omaha | Cape Breton |
| 3 | Tyler Poti | Winchendon · Quinnipiac | 1-16—17 | — | 0-2—2 | Cedar Rapids | Rouyn-Noranda |
| 4 | Brodie Anderson | Master's Academy Intl | 3-9—12 | 3-0—3 | 2-3—5 | Dubuque | Saint John |
| 5 | Ryan Porter | Dexter Southfield | 2-9—11 | — | 1-1—2 | Sioux Falls | Drummondville |
| 6 | Brendan Martin | St. Sebastian's | 2-11—13 | 0-1—1 | — | Sioux Falls | Rimouski |
| 7 | Alex Guo | Belmont Hill | 2-8—10 | 0-0—0 | — | — | Shawinigan |
| 8 | Jorden Marzi | Rivers School | 2-1—3 | — | — | — | Drummondville |
| 9 | Tiger Tang | BB&N | 0-8—8 | — | — | — | — |
| 10 | Ryan Guden | Roxbury Latin | 3-4—7 | — | — | — | — |
Five of these ten — Fishbone, Ware, Poti, Anderson and Porter — were the only Massachusetts 2010 defensemen at the National 16 Camp this summer besides Cotter. Martin, Guo and Marzi reached the Boys Festival and the Final 40 and were cut before it. Tang and Guden have never been in the room and are here on production alone.
The Top Ten
Minutemen Flames · St. Sebastian's
25-26 6-23—29Nat 16 Camp 3USHL Sioux FallsQMJHL Halifax
- He led every defenseman in the class in scoring. Twenty-nine points — four clear of Ware, seven clear of Cotter, and Cotter is the one who left for the USHL.
- Twenty-three assists from the blue line. Second only to Ware's 25 among 2010 defensemen in Massachusetts prep hockey, and he added six goals on top of them — the most of any defenseman in the class.
- He broke into the process this cycle. No National 15 Camp invitation in 2025. Boys Festival, Final 40 and the National 16 Camp in 2026, where his three points were second among Massachusetts defensemen in the building.
- Both junior leagues moved. Sioux Falls in the USHL, Halifax in the Q. He is the only defenseman in this class who led it in scoring, attended the National 16 Camp and holds rights in both leagues.
Neponset Valley River Rats · Belmont Hill
25-26 0-25—25Nat 15 & 16 CampsUSHL OmahaQMJHL Cape Breton
- Twenty-five assists, the most of any defenseman in the class. Nobody in this birth year moved the puck better from the back end. That is a first-pass defenseman quarterbacking a power play, and it is close to the most valuable thing a sixteen-year-old blueliner can do well.
- Four points off the class lead, all of it created rather than finished. He trailed only Fishbone, and he got there entirely by setting other people up. A defenseman who produces that way tends to keep producing, because puck movement travels to a new level better than a shot does.
- Both camps, both leagues. National 15 in 2025, National 16 in 2026, Omaha in the USHL, Cape Breton in the Q. With Cotter gone, he and Brodie Anderson are the only defensemen on this board holding all four.
- He wins wherever he goes. Ware took a Division 1 MIAA state title at Catholic Memorial before Belmont Hill recruited him, and won the Massachusetts state championship with the Neponset Valley River Rats last season on top of it. Two titles, two levels, before his junior year.
Islanders Hockey Club · Winchendon · Committed: Quinnipiac
25-26 1-16—17Nat 16 Camp 2USHL Cedar RapidsQMJHL Rouyn-Noranda
- The only defenseman in the class off the board. Poti committed to Quinnipiac this month, and with Cotter gone to Green Bay he is the only blueliner on this page with his college decision made.
- The frame is the separator. Six foot three, 187 pounds — the tallest defenseman in the class at a position where reach buys a player years of benefit of the doubt. His father, Tom Poti, played more than 800 NHL games, which explains nothing about the sixteen-year-old on the ice and a great deal about how he has been developed.
- National 16 Camp, and the all-star game. Two points across the week is a modest line. The selection to the camp's all-star game is the credential that matters, and it is the one thing on his record that no other defenseman in this class carries.
- Seventeen points is the case against him. Lower than Fishbone, lower than Ware, lower than Cotter. Cedar Rapids and Rouyn-Noranda drafted the projection rather than the points column, and so, evidently, did Quinnipiac.
Minutemen Flames · Master's Academy International
25-26 3-9—12Nat 15 Camp 3Nat 16 Camp 5USHL DubuqueQMJHL Saint John
- He outscored every Massachusetts defenseman at the National 16 Camp. Two goals and three assists for five points — more than Fishbone, Poti, Porter, Ware or Cotter, all of whom rank above him or left for junior hockey.
- He did it two summers running. Three goals at the National 15 Camp in 2025, the most of any Massachusetts defenseman there. Whatever the camp environment asks for, he has it twice over.
- The prep number doesn't follow him. Twelve points at Cushing last season — seventeen fewer than Fishbone, thirteen fewer than Ware. That is the entire reason he is fourth rather than first.
- New school, and it is the transfer story of the class. Anderson is one of five 2010s arriving at Master's Academy International this fall, three of whom hold junior rights. Dubuque and Saint John already moved on him.
Minutemen Flames · Dexter Southfield
25-26 2-9—11Boys FestivalFinal 40Nat 16 Camp 2USHL Sioux FallsQMJHL Drummondville
- He went the whole way through the process. Boys Festival, Final 40, National 16 Camp — and once he got there he scored, a goal and an assist in a week where most defensemen managed one or none.
- Both junior leagues moved. Sioux Falls in the USHL, Drummondville in the Q. He is one of six defensemen on this board holding rights on both sides of the border.
- Eleven points is the softest production in the top five. Two behind Brendan Martin, who ranks below him. The camp is what separates them, and it is a close call — the closest on this board.
- Dexter did not lose a 2010 all summer. Porter returns, Conor Gieselman returns behind him, Austin Wu returns up front. In a summer where the class lost one defenseman to junior hockey and moved two more to new schools, standing still is its own kind of advantage.
Neponset Valley River Rats · St. Sebastian's
25-26 2-11—13Nat 15 Camp 1Final 40USHL Sioux FallsQMJHL Rimouski
- The most productive defenseman outside the camp group. Thirteen points, more than Anderson or Porter, both of whom rank above him on the strength of a week in July. He won the Massachusetts state championship with the River Rats on top of it, alongside Ware.
- He is the one the National 16 Camp left out. National 15 in 2025, Boys Festival and Final 40 in 2026, then the cut. He and Alex Guo are the only defensemen on this board who attended the 15 and missed the 16.
- Both leagues moved anyway. Sioux Falls in the USHL, Rimouski in the Q — the only defenseman outside the National 16 group holding rights in both. Two scouting departments disagreed with the camp.
- St. Sebastian's has the best blue line in the class. Fishbone at one, Martin at six, both returning, and Jameson Needham inheriting Jack Queally's minutes up front. No other program on this board has two of the top six.
Minutemen Flames · Belmont Hill
25-26 2-8—10Nat 15 CampFinal 40QMJHL Shawinigan
- Ten points, eight of them assists. A defenseman's distribution, at a school that gave him real minutes as an underclassman.
- The other 15-to-16 casualty. National 15 Camp in 2025, Boys Festival and Final 40 in 2026, no invitation to the 16. Two players in this class made that exact trip and both are ranked in the top seven here.
- Shawinigan took him anyway. QMJHL rights with no USHL club following — the same half-credential split that kept Drew Short out of the top three on the forward board.
- Belmont Hill pairs him with Ware. Two of the top seven defensemen in the class on one blue line, with Short, Dekleine and Hamlin arriving up front. Belmont Hill reloaded harder than any program in Massachusetts this summer.
Minutemen Flames · Rivers School
25-26 2-1—3Boys FestivalFinal 40QMJHL Drummondville
- Three points, and he still ranks here. The lowest production of anyone in the top ten by a distance. This is the one place on the board where we have sided entirely against the scoresheet.
- Boys Festival, Final 40, and a QMJHL selection. Drummondville drafted him. That combination does not happen to a player nobody rates, and it happened to a player with three prep points.
- Rivers is building from both ends. Carter Felt and Colin Walsh, the top two names on the forward board, and a drafted defenseman behind them on the same roster. Marzi returns to a team that looks nothing like the one he left in March.
- The gap is the whole scouting report. If the points come this winter he is a top-five defenseman in this class. If they don't, this is where a Final 40 invitation tops out, and next year's board will say so.
Boston Americans · BB&N
25-26 0-8—8No campNo festivalUndrafted
- Eight points, all of them assists. More than Ryan Guden below him and more than Jorden Marzi a spot above him, and every one of them came from moving the puck.
- Nothing at all is attached to it. No National 15 Camp, no National 16 Camp, no Boys Festival, no Final 40, no USHL selection, no QMJHL selection. He is the highest-scoring defenseman in the class with a completely blank credential column.
- BB&N returns four 2010s and none of them have been through the national process. Not one Boys Festival invitation among them. It is the most overlooked group of players in the class, and Tang is the best of them.
- He is the Thomas Egan of this board. The forward rankings put Egan fourth on production alone with nothing attached. Tang's case is the same case, one tier down, because eight points from the blue line is a smaller argument than 32 from a forward.
Islanders Hockey Club · Roxbury Latin
25-26 3-4—7No campNo festivalUndrafted
- Three goals from the blue line. Tied with Brodie Anderson for second among returning defensemen in the class, behind only Fishbone's six.
- Seven points and no process. No camps, no festival, no Final 40, no draft selection in either league. Like Tang, everything he has is on a scoresheet.
- Roxbury Latin lost its forwards and kept its defenseman. James Hamlin left for Belmont Hill. Guden is what remains of that 2010 group, and he will play every situation there is.
- A loud season is the only route. With no credential column to lean on, the scoresheet is his whole argument — and Roxbury Latin is going to give him the minutes to make it.
Full 2010 class leaderboards, rosters and commitments →
College Commit Tracker
Companion board — the 2010 forward rankings, published August 26.