Alex Kostov

Alex Kostov
Rankings
Alex Kostov – NHL Draft Projection
Quotables
Strengths
Under Construction – Improvements to Make
NHL Potential
Awards/ Achievements
Interviews/ Links
Alex Kostov Stats
Videos

2025-26 Team: Flint Firebirds (OHL)
Date of Birth: June 3, 2006
Place of Birth: Mississauga, ON, CAN
Ht: 6-foot-4 Wt: 207 pounds
Shoots: R
Position: RW/C
NHL Draft Eligibility: 2026 (third-year eligible)

Rankings

NHL Central Scouting: 73rd (North American skaters, final)
Daily Faceoff: 97th
McKeen’s Hockey: 97th
Elite Prospects: 157th

Most 6-foot-4 forwards with hands get drafted the first time around. Alex Kostov has been passed over twice, and he spent his final year of eligibility making teams reconsider. He turned a 45-point season into a point-per-game year for the Flint Firebirds of the Ontario Hockey League (OHL), pushing his goal total from 16 to 24 while dominating stretches of games the way a skilled big man is supposed to.

Alex Kostov Flint Firebirds — Alex Kostov, Flint Firebirds (Natalie Shaver/OHL Images)

Kostov was one of two 2006-born players invited to the Connor McDavid OHL Top Prospects Game, the league’s January showcase for its top draft-eligible skaters, and the lone Firebirds representative there. He carried an 18-game point streak into the season’s second half, among the longest in the OHL, and earlier in the year he became the first player in Firebirds history to score hat tricks on back-to-back nights, including a career-high four goals in a 9-3 win over the North Bay Battalion. The Nashville Predators had already seen enough to bring him to rookie camp in 2025 and give him an amateur tryout at main camp.

He pulls pucks off the boards, walks them to the middle, invites a defender, and either threads a pass through the pressure or shoots through it. At the Top Prospects Game, he was the engine for Team West, circling the offensive zone and delaying until a lane opened, including a slot feed that set up Chase Reid for a one-timer at the back door. His reach and stickhandling let him protect possession and manipulate defenders one-on-one, and he runs Flint’s power-play half-wall, where his delays and his shot give a penalty kill two problems to solve.

For a player his size, his first step and top gear project below NHL average, and it shows up away from the puck. He can drift in the defensive zone, lose one-on-one battles when he gets caught flat, and arrive late to loose pucks and passing lanes because he can’t close ground quickly. His pace and compete fluctuate shift to shift, and his decisions can lag, holding the puck a beat too long or forcing a pass into a lane that has already closed. The physical game is there when he wants it, with heavy hits on the forecheck and along the walls, but he leans on skill more than his frame suggests he should.

Alex Kostov – NHL Draft Projection

Kostov is a re-entry overager. Right now, he is a junior scorer who wins with tools more than a player with an obvious NHL role, and the skating is the swing skill that decides whether that changes. He is committed to Quinnipiac University for 2026-27, an NCAA Division I program in the ECAC that gives him a multi-year runway to add the explosiveness and defensive habits a bottom-six job would require. The bet a team makes here is on the size, the reach, and the four-year scoring curve, with the understanding that the likely payoff is a depth winger and the floor is a productive college player who never quite translates. For a late pick, that combination is worth a swing.

Quotables

“He’s deceptively fast and always in control, attacking defenders at angles.” – (From ‘Nov 29th 2025; Sarnia Sting vs Flint Firebirds Scouting Report,’ Elite Prospects – Mitchell Brown, Jan 6 2026)

“He has the attributes NHL teams look for from their bottom-six forwards.” (from ‘2026 NHL Draft Guide,’ McKeen’s Hockey, June 2026)

Strengths

6-foot-4 frame and long reach he uses to protect pucks and own the cycle
Deceptive hands and one-on-one manipulation in tight
Playmaking vision from the half-wall and the slot
Heavy shot and genuine power-play utility
A physical edge on the forecheck and along the walls when engaged
Four straight seasons of scoring growth in the OHL

Under Construction – Improvements to Make

Skating, especially first-step quickness and top-end gear
Defensive-zone engagement and off-puck reads
Pace and compete consistency shift to shift
Puck management, including quicker decisions and fewer forced passes

NHL Potential

Kostov’s NHL outcome depends almost entirely on his feet catching up to the rest of his game. The skill, the size, and the hockey sense point toward a possible bottom-six winger who can slide up a lineup on the power play, contribute on the cycle, and finish checks. The path there runs through Quinnipiac and a real jump in skating. The teams that brought him to camp clearly see the raw materials, and whether he turns into a pro comes down to how much foot speed he can add in college.

Risk-Reward Analysis

Risk- 4/5, Reward- 2/5

Fantasy Hockey Potential

Offense- 3/10, Defense- 3/10

Awards/ Achievements

Kostov was named to the 2026 Connor McDavid OHL Top Prospects Game as one of two 2006-born invitees and the lone Firebirds representative. He won OHL Player of the Week honors in Nov. 2025 after a seven-goal, two-assist weekend, and he became the first player in Flint Firebirds history to record hat tricks on consecutive nights. He carried an 18-game point streak that ranked among the OHL’s longest in 2025-26, served as a Flint alternate captain, and earned a Predators rookie-camp look and a main-camp amateur tryout in 2025.