The Winnipeg Jets have fallen to the eighth overall selection at the upcoming 2026 NHL Draft thanks to the results of Tuesday night's NHL Draft Lottery.
The stars didn't quite align for the Jets on Tuesday - or more accurately, the ping pong balls didn't exactly bounce the right way.
Photo by James Carey Lauder
In a process dictated by lawyers, mathematicians, NHL executives, general managers, and both the NHL commissioner and deputy commissioner, Tuesday's pre-draft festivities provided an outcome only a true storyteller could write.
With the Jets finishing the 2025-26 season with the seventh-best odds to land the No. 1 overall selection in this June's draft, it was the rival Toronto Maple Leafs who moved up from the fifth-best odds to land the rights to select the presumed No. 1 pick Gavin McKenna first overall in less than two months' time.
Following the Leafs' jump up the order from fifth, the San Jose Sharks ended up earning the right to select second overall - coming all the way from outside the Top-5, meaning those below pick No. 2 all moved down in the order - including Winnipeg.
The Jets will now have the luxury of selecting eighth overall - the highest ranked selection since the team took Patrik Laine at the No. 2 spot back in 2016. Both Nikolaj Ehlers and Jacob Trouba were selected at No. 9 overall, while current Jets forward Cole Perfetti was selected 10th overall.
The 2026 NHL Draft will go from Buffalo on June 26th and 27th.
On Tuesday night, the National Hockey League held its annual Draft Lottery inside the NHL Network studios in Secaucus, New Jersey.
The Florida Panthers entered the event holding the eighth-best chance at winning the lottery and moving up to either the first or second overall selection at next month’s NHL Draft.
While the Panthers did not win either of the draws, two other teams did, meaning two teams were lucky enough to move up in the draft order.
Those teams were the Toronto Maple Leafs, who moved from fifth to first, and the San Jose Sharks, who jumped from ninth to second.
With the Sharks moving up from behind Florida, that bumped the Panthers back one spot, from eighth to ninth.
In their history, the Panthers have only selected ninth overall once. That was in 2002, when Florida selected Czech forward Petr Taticek with the ninth selection.
The pick turned out to be a bust for the Panthers, as Taticek didn’t make his NHL debut until January of 2006 and only played a total of three games for the Panthers before taking his talents overseas the following season.
Now we’ll have to wait and see what Panthers General Manager Bill Zito chooses to do with the pick ahead of the NHL Draft, which is set for June 26 and 27 at KeyBank Center in Buffalo.
Next season the Panthers are expected to re-join the top teams in the league competing for the Stanley Cup, and Zito may want to explore flipping the top-10 pick for a player or players who can help the team win now, as opposed to a young prospect still two or three years away from reaching the NHL.
We’ll see how things play out in the coming weeks.
Photo caption: Jun 28, 2023; Nashville, Tennessee, USA; The draft board after round one of the 2023 NHL Draft at Bridgestone Arena. (Christopher Hanewinckel-Imagn Images)
The 2026 NHL Draft Lottery was held on Tuesday evening, an annual event that had become a source of frustration for Detroit Red Wings fans given the staggering number of spots they've fallen back in recent years.
In 2017, they dropped back two spots. That was followed by slipping one spot in 2018 and two more in 2019. But the most egregious and jaw-dropping example came in 2020, when they fell three spots, from first to fourth, despite finishing with the NHL’s worst record by a wide margin before the COVID-19 pandemic paused the season.
Last season, the Red Wings fell back one spot from 12th to 13th.
However, Detroit traded their first-round selection in this year's NHL Draft to the St. Louis Blues along with prospect Dmitri Buchelnikov, a 2026 third-round pick, and defenseman Justin Holl in return for defenseman Justin Faulk.
The pick, which was widely projected to be in the middle of the pack, turned out to be just that. The Blues learned their position they'll be selecting with the pick they received from the Red Wings, and it will be 15th overall.
The Blues, who missed the Stanley Cup Playoffs, also picked up the 11th overall selection based on their finish in the standings this season.
Not only that, but they also hold a third first-round pick—one that originally belonged to the Colorado Avalanche and was acquired in the trade that sent captain Brayden Schenn to the New York Islanders at the trade deadline.
Meanwhile, one of Detroit's top divisional rivals landed the first overall pick - the Toronto Maple Leafs, a club that had made the playoffs nine straight years but finished in 28th place with 78 points this season.
The first 16 selections in the 2026 NHL Draft are as follows:
Toronto Maple Leafs
San Jose Sharks
Vancouver Canucks
Chicago Blackhawks
New York Rangers
Calgary Flames
Seattle Kraken
Winnipeg Jets
Florida Panthers
Nashville Predators
St. Louis Blues
New Jersey Devils
New York Islanders
Columbus Blue Jackets
St. Louis Blues (from Detroit)
Washington Capitals
Following his acquisition by the Red Wings, Faulk skated in 17 games, scoring five goals while adding three assists. He's under contract for one more season with a $6.5 million salary cap hit.
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The NHL held its draft lottery on Tuesday night in New Jersey, and the Blues will remain in their two lottery picks when the process started, No. 11 with their pick and No. 15 as a result of getting the Detroit Red Wings' pick from the March 6 trade that sent Justin Faulk to Motown.
The chances were slim, and as process was unveiled for the top overall pick, which went to the Toronto Maple Leafs, who were fifth in the process, the Blues moved up from three percent to 6.1 percent but ultimately fell out of the running.
The best the Blues could do with the pick from the Red Wings was move up to No. 5.
The 2026 NHL Draft will be held June 26-27 at KeyBank Center in Buffalo.
Coming out of the Olympic break, the Blues had the second-worst record in the NHL, which meant they had the second-best odds at winning the lottery selection, but even the Vancouver Canucks, who finished with the worst record in the league this season and had the best overall odds, slipped down to No. 3, behind the Maple Leafs and San Jose Sharks, who took Macklin Celebrini with the No. 1 pick in 2024.
The Blues also hold the pick of the Colorado Avalanche and that will be determined when the Avalanche are done in the Stanley Cup playoffs, and at this time, looks like it will be at the back end of the first round. That pick came in a trade with the New York Islanders on March 6 for Brayden Schenn.
Blues general manager Doug Armstrong was asked about finishing 17-5-3 in the final 25 games and went from second-worst in the league standings to 11th, where they will currently pick.
"Once the season’s over, you wish you had the high pick," Armstrong said on April 18. "It’s the pain of going through that to get it. I did talk to the players after the trade deadline and I told them, our mandate (was) we’re going to bring up younger players and we’re going to put them in positions that reflect what we want to see them. Theo [Lindstein] came up, he never played an NHL game and he was a top four defenseman. It’s not like we hid him as a seven. [Dalibor] Dvorsky against the other teams’ top players a lot of nights with Robert [Thomas]. [Otto] Stenberg came up, [Logan] Mailloux, what was his ice time pre- and post-Olympics? I said to the players, ‘We have a plan. Your job is to disrupt the plan. You’re professionals. This is how you make your living. I expect you to disrupt our plan, and they did and I give them full marks. Could we have picked (No.) 2 or 3 this year? It would have ... I think there would be less belief in our group. In the players that you have asked about, that you have talked about, there would be a lot less belief in that if we just had rolled over and just got door-matted for the last seven weeks of the season."
What will the Blues do now? They know they have options, including trade their picks in order to try and move up, use them in a NHL trade or simply keep one, two or all and select players they feel can benefit them in the future. Or they could accumulate more picks and move down if there's a benefit to do that. So lots of options.
"We’ll get our list together and the way that I’ve done it in the past is OK, give me lines, blocks of players. Where’s a block? So if there’s a block of four guys and we want to get into that block, then yeah," Armstrong said. "Yes we would, I guess that’s the long answer. We would move up if we can. We’ll also move back if we don’t like what we see. We can use the picks, we can use prospects, we can use players, but every team is the same in that fashion. If there’s somebody there that we believe is in a block outside of our pick and we can acquire him, we’ll give it our best chance. You also have to have someone that wants to move out of that pick too."
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ALBANY, NEW YORK - MARCH 27: Gavin McKenna #72 of the Penn State Nittany Lions skates against the Minnesota Duluth Bulldogs in the first period during the NCAA Division I Men's Ice Hockey Regional Championship Semifinal at the MVP Arena on March 27, 2026 in Albany, New York. (Photo by Richard T Gagnon/Getty Images) | Getty Images
The Stanley Cup Playoffs roll on, but on Tuesday night the league conducted the 2026 NHL Draft lottery with the Toronto Maple Leafs winning the No. 1 pick, and the right to draft either Gavin McKenna or Ivar Stenberg in a class with more parity at the top than originally expected.
McKenna was viewed as the grand prize for much of the 2025-26 season. The rangy left wing already has good height, great playmaking, and a knack for driving the pace from the wing — making him a low-risk top overall pick. At times he’s been compared to Connor Bedard and Macklin Celebrini, though personally, I don’t think he has quite the same ceiling as either phenom. Still, he’s a franchise cornerstone player, and it will be interesting to see whether a team chooses to keep him at his natural LW, or tries to convert him into a center.
The choice at No. 1 will be between McKenna and Sweden’s Ivar Stenberg, who has been racing up the boards as scouts take a deeper look into his run in the SHL. It’s unusual for a true 18-year-old to have any modicum of success in a pro league, but Stenberg more than held his own with his hockey IQ, and a shot volume that routinely made him one of the biggest threats on the ice for Frölunda HC. That pro-readiness is appealing for a team looking for an immediate impact, and his polish could cause him to be the top overall pick.
We’ll take a deeper dive into this year’s class as the draft approaches, but for now here’s a rapid-fire mock draft involving the teams in the lottery for the 2026 NHL Draft.
Pick
Team
Player
Position
Current Team
League
1
Toronto Maple Leafs
Gavin McKenna
LW
Penn State
NCAA
2
San Jose Sharks
Ivar Stenberg
LW/RW
Frölunda HC
SHL
3
Vancouver Canucks
Keaton Verhoeff
D
North Dakota
NCAA
4
Chicago Blackhawks
Chase Reid
D
Soo Greyhounds
OHL
5
New York Rangers
Tynan Lawrence
C
Boston University
NCAA
6
Calgary Flames
Caleb Malhotra
C
Brantford Bulldogs
OHL
7
Seattle Kraken
Viggo Björck
C/RW
Djurgårdens IF
SHL
8
Winnipeg Jets
Ethan Belchetz
LW
Windsor Spitfires
OHL
9
Florida Panthers
Carson Carels
D
Prince George Cougars
WHL
10
Nashville Predators
Daxon Rudolph
D
Prince Albert Raiders
WHL
11
St. Louis Blues
Adam Novotny
LW/RW
Petersborough Petes
OHL
12
New Jersey Devils
Ryan Lin
D
Vancouver Giants
WHL
13
New York Islanders
Mathis Preston
C
Spokane Chiefs
WHL
14
Columbus Blue Jackets
Oliver Suvanto
C
Tappara
Liiga
15
St. Louis Blues (from Detroit)
Albert Smits
D
Jukurit
Liiga
16
Washington Capitals
Xavier Villeneuve
D
Blainville-Boisbriand Armada
QMHL
As a reminder, these were the lottery odds for winning the first draw entering Tuesday night.
Vancouver Canucks — 18.5% Chicago Blackhawks — 13.5% New York Rangers — 11.5% Calgary Flames — 9.5% Toronto Maple Leafs (Top 5 protected to Bruins) — 8.5% Seattle Kraken — 7.5% Winnipeg Jets — 6.5% Florida Panthers — 6.0% San Jose Sharks — 5.0% Nashville Predators — 3.5% St. Louis Blues — 3.0% New Jersey Devils — 2.5% New York Islanders — 2.0% Columbus Blue Jackets — 1.5% St. Louis Blues (from Red Wings) — 0.5% Washington Capitals — 0.5%
Montreal Canadiens forward Ivan Demidov has officially been named a finalist for the 2025-26 Calder Memorial Trophy.
New York Islanders defenseman Matther Schaefer and Anaheim Ducks forward Beckett Sennecke are also finalists for this year's Calder.
When noting that Demidov had a very good rookie season for the Canadiens this campaign, it is easy to understand why he is a finalist for the Calder. The 20-year-old rookie has immediately cemented himself as a legitimate top-six NHL forward and a huge part of the Canadiens' roster because of it.
In 82 games this campaign with the Canadiens, Demidov scored 19 goals and led all NHL rookies with 43 assists and 62 points. With numbers like these, the young forward thrived this campaign for the Habs and should only get better as he continues to gain more experience.
The Vancouver Canucks have lost the 2026 NHL Draft Lottery. Despite having the best odds at first overall, the Canucks will instead pick third. The Toronto Maple Leafs and the San Jose Sharks won the draft lottery and will pick first and second overall.
Vancouver has selected third overall on four occasions. With the third pick, they selected Jocelyn Guevremont (1971), Don Lever (1972), Dennis Ververgaert (1973) and Henrik Sedin (1999). Some prospects who could be selected third overall include Caleb Malhotra, Chase Reid and Keaton Verhoeff.
The 2026 NHL Entry Draft is scheduled for June 26-27, 2026, at KeyBank Center in Buffalo. The Canucks enter the draft with 10 picks, including four in the first two rounds. The last three third overall picks were Anton Frondell, Beckett Sennecke and Adam Fantilli.
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On Tuesday night, the National Hockey League conducted the 2026 NHL Draft Lottery. Every team that missed the playoffs participated with a weighted chance based on how they finished in the standings.
The Chicago Blackhawks had a 13.5 percent chance to win the first overall pick, a 14.1 percent chance to retain the second overall pick, a 30.7 percent chance to drop to third, and a 41.7 percent chance of dropping two spots to fourth.
The Toronto Maple Leafs won the first lottery and will make the first overall pick. With all of the turmoil going on within that organization, this is their chance to move past it.
The second draw was won by the San Jose Sharks, who moved all the way up from 9th to get the second overall pick. They took major strides in 2025-26, and they will still make another great draft pick.
Both teams that won the lottery were below the Chicago Blackhawks on the board, so they have slipped down to 4th overall. The Vancouver Canucks will slip into that third overall spot.
Now, it is unlikely that the Chicago Blackhawks will land one of Gavin McKenna or Ivar Stenberg, but plenty of other great prospects will be there for them to consider with the 4th overall pick.
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The Nashville Predators will select 10th overall in the 2026 NHL Draft as a result of the draft lottery on Tuesday.
The Predators had the 10th-best odds to win the No. 1 overall pick at 3.5%. They had 35 of 1,000 four-number combinations in the lottery.
They had the highest odds to select 10th overall in the lottery at 73.3%
This is the second year in a row that the Predators will be selecting in the top 10 of the NHL Draft, selecting center Brady Martin fifth overall in the 2025 draft.
The Toronto Maple Leafs won the lottery, earning the right to draft prospect forward Gavin McKenna in June. The Maple Leafs had the fifth-best odds to win the top pick at 8.5%.
This will be the Predators ninth time selecting in the top 10: David Legwand (2nd overall in 1998), Brian Finley (6th overall in 1999), Scott Hartnell (6th overall in 2000), Scottie Upshall (6th overall in 2002), Ryan Suter (7th overall in 2003), Colin Wilson (7th overall 2008), Seth Jones (4th overall in 2013), Martin (5th overall in 2025) and 10th overall in 2026.
Nashville will still be without a new general manger heading into the summer. Barry Trotz announced in February that he'd be retiring in the offseason once a new GM was hired to replace him.
As of Tuesday, the Predators have 12 picks in the 2026 NHL Draft, which will be held on June 26-27 at the KeyBank Center in Buffalo, New York.
Nashville Predators 2026 NHL Draft Picks
Jun 27, 2025; Los Angeles, California, USA; NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman announces Brady Martin is selected as the fifth overall pick to the Nashville Predators in the first round of the 2025 NHL Draft at Peacock Theater. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images
The Calgary Flames will select sixth overall in the upcoming 2026 NHL Entry Draft.
The draft lottery took place Tuesday night, featuring a system in which four balls numbered 1 through 14 were drawn, creating 1,001 possible four-number combinations.
The Flames finished the regular season 29th out of 32 teams with a 34-39-9 record (77 points). The New York Rangers (77 points), Chicago Blackhawks (72 points), and Vancouver Canucks (58 points) all finished below them in the standings.
The Islanders, who won the 2025 NHL Draft Lottery with just 3.5% odds, had a 2.0% chance to win it again. Because they finished the season with the 13th-best odds, the most they could have moved up to is No. 3.
Per NHL.com's draft projections, right-side defenseman Ryan Lin is slated to go at No. 13. The 18-year-old British Columbia native is committed to the Frozen Four champion University of Denver for the 2027-28 season.
The Islanders are currently limited on the right side of their blue line, so going with a right-shot defenseman makes a ton of sense.
The 2026 NHL Draft will take place in Buffalo, NY on June 26 and 27th.
For now, the Maple Leafs received the right to make that choice by winning the draft lottery on Tuesday, May 5. They had 8.5% odds of landing the top pick. Their 2026 first-round pick had been traded but was top-five protected, so they keep the selection.
The Maple Leafs last picked No. 1 overall in 2016, when they chose Auston Matthews.
The San Jose Sharks won the second drawing and will choose second overall for the second year in a row. They also picked first in 2024, taking Macklin Celebrini.
New Toronto Maple Leafs general manager John Chayka drew scrutiny when introduced on Monday. But now he can choose the No. 1 pick after winning the lottery. Check out the winners and losers.
The top prospects as listed by NHL Central Scouting:
Top North American skaters
LW Gavin McKenna, Penn State
D Chase Reid, Sault Ste. Marie
D Carson Carels, Prince George
D Keaton Verhoeff, North Dakota
D Daxon Rudolph, Prince Albert
Top international skaters
LW Ivar Stenberg, Sweden
D Alberts Smits, Latvia
C Oliver Suvanto, Finland
C Viggo Bjorck, Sweden
RW Elton Hermansson, Sweden
What were the 2026 NHL draft lottery odds
Teams in the 12 to the 16 range can't win the No. 1 overall pick. They would move up 10 spots.
1. Vancouver Canucks: 18.5% (25.5% overall)
2. Chicago Blackhawks: 13:5%
3. New York Rangers: 11.5%
4. Calgary Flames: 9.5%
5. Toronto Maple Leafs: 8.5% (Pick traded to Boston but is top-5 protected. If it remains in top 5 after the lottery, Toronto will give up its 2027 or 2028 first-rounder.)
There are two drawings, first for a chance at the top pick and then for a chance at the second pick. Winning teams can move up only 10 spots. The last-place team can draft no lower than third overall. Beginning with the 2022 lottery, a team cannot win more than twice in a five-year period. There are 14 ping-pong balls in the machine and each team is assigned a series of four numbers. The lower a team is in the standings, the more series of numbers it gets.
New York Islanders defenseman Matthew Schaefer has been named a finalist for the Calder Trophy along with Montreal Canadiens forward Ivan Demidov and Anaheim Ducks forward Beckett Sennecke.
Schaefer recorded 23 goals with 36 assists for 59 points, averaging 24:41 minutes per game. He was a +13, as well.
His 23 goals were not just tied with Sennecke for the rookie league, but ranked second in the NHL this season amongst defensemen, sitting tied with Washington Capitals defenseman Jacob Chychrun.
Not only that, but he also ties former New York Rangers defenseman Brian Leetch for the most goals by a rookie defenseman in NHL history.
Schaefer's 36 assists ranked third, one behind Sennecke and seven behind Demidov. His 59 points ranked third, one behind Sennecke and three behind Demidov.
His eight power-play goals were tied for second with Chychrun for the second-most amongst defenseman, with Tampa Bay Lightning defenseman Darren Raddysh leading the way with 10.
His 24:41 minutes per game was tied for the 12th most minutes per game in the NHL with Edmonton Oilers defenseman Evan Bouchard and Minnesota Wild defenseman Brock Faber.
Like an infomercial, but wait, there's more:
Schaefer will be taking this award home, becoming the first Islanders rookie since 2017-18 (Mathew Barzal) to win this award and the fifth Islanders rookie to ever win:
Bryan Trottier -- 1976
Mike Bossy -- 1978
Bryan Berard -- 1997
Mathew Barzal -- 2018
How many points do you think Schaefer will record next season?
Regarding the Toronto Maple Leafs and the hire of John Chayka to be the franchise's new GM, there have been plenty of scrutiny and rumblings that have come with it.
One report that has come out in the aftermath of the Leafs introducing Chayka and Mats Sundin as the new leaders in the hockey operations department is that Los Angeles Kings senior director of hockey operations, Jake Goldberg, has been linked to Toronto.
Frank Seravalli reported that there has been speculation about Goldberg joining Chayka's staff with the Maple Leafs.
They share a history from their days with the Arizona Coyotes. Chayka was the GM and president of hockey operations of the Coyotes from 2016-17 to 2019-20.
As for Goldberg, he was the director of hockey operations in 2017-18 and 2018-19, and in his final year with the franchise, in 2019-20, he was an assistant GM working closely with Chayka.
Amid the links and speculation between the two NHL executives, there have also been reports about potential tampering.
"At least one team raised a tampering concern with the NHL as incoming Toronto Maple Leafs general manager John Chayka began to fill out his staff," Seravalli reported.
His role with Los Angeles required him to be part of the process in negotiating player contracts, supervising the team's salary cap, preparing for arbitration when necessary, and other responsibilities related to the NHL's collective bargaining agreement.
Before becoming an NHL executive, Goldberg had multiple roles with the OHL's London Knights. He was the team's assistant director of scouting from 2013-14 to 2015-16, and in 2016-17, he was labelled as the Knights' assistant GM and director of analytics. He helped London to a Memorial Cup championship in 2016.
Furthermore, Goldberg was previously a corporate lawyer at Cassels Brock & Blackwell LLP. He also played a role in the Tampa Bay Lightning organization during the 2012-13 campaign as an advanced statistics consultant.
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The Buffalo Sabres practiced on Tuesday in preparation for the opening of their second-round series against the Montreal Canadiens on Wednesday night. The club finished off the Boston Bruins in six games, while Les Habitants went the full seven games with Tampa Bay. One of the keys to the Sabres' victory over the Bruins in the series finale was the play of youngster Zach Benson, who scored the insurance goal in the third period to give Buffalo some breathing room.
Throughout the series, the BC native was the focal point of the Bruins ire and an irritating presence on nearly every shift, something that Boston should be familiar with since they had Brad Marchand on their roster for 16 seasons. That pestiness provoked Bruins defenseman Charlie McAvoy to take a baseball swing at Benson after the Sabres winger tripped him near the end boards.
"He's hard to play against. There's the pest that's real annoying, there's a pest that's really hard to play against, and I think he's a real hard player to play against," Sabres head coach Lindy Ruff said. "He plays the game the right way. He has the puck a lot. He can score. I mentioned yesterday that he's annoying, because he gets to the net all the time. He gets to the puck. He's the first touch. If he's not the first touch, he's all over you to try to get it back. Then he's got that kind of that smirk on his face that he irritates you too as an opposition player. It makes me smile when it annoys other people."
Benson has played over 200 games in the NHL since being drafted 13th overall in 2023 and posted a career-best 43 points (13 goals, 30 assists), but has slowly evolved into the role of an irritant and seems to enjoy chosen path.
"It's part of the game that he likes. Being in another team's face and being annoying and being called a pest. I don't think it's something that bothers him one bit." Sabres linemate Josh Doan said. "He enjoys this part of the game. It's that competitive side of him. He's not going to be the biggest guy and blow you up, so if he's going to get in your head, it's going to be from being annoying and stripping you or or crashing into your paint and being around your goalie as much as you can. I think he doesn't get as much credit for how strong he can be in those areas. It's not very easy to get him out of there, so over a long over a long series, it gets tiring."
Zach Benson is trying to stay off social media. But he's seen the memes. All the memes 😂 pic.twitter.com/LfaIvMVbYx
It is likely that Benson will attempt to rile players such as Montreal defenseman Arber Xhekaj or forward Josh Anderson, hoping to draw the Canadiens more physical players into penalties. The Sabres will need to take advantage of those opportunities, after going 1 for 24 on the power play against the Bruins.
