The first round of the NHL Draft gets underway tonight at 7:00 PM EST. For some fans, it will be a chance to dream of better days ahead. For other fans, it’s just another Friday night in June. As of the time of publication, the Tampa Bay Lightning do not have a selection in the first round, having traded the 25th overall pick to Seattle at the 2025 NHL deadline as part of a larger deal for Oliver Bjorkstrand and Yanni Gourde. Seattle has since moved that pick to Florida for Mackie Samoskovich. It stayed in Sunrise for a fruit fly’s lifecycle before they sent it to Ottawa as part of the Brady Tkachuk deal. Will Ottawa actually use it or will it move once more?
Details
2026 Upper Deck NHL Draft
Round One: Friday, 7:00 PM EST
Round Two: Saturday, 11:00 AM EST
Location: Buffalo, NY (General Managers and scouts are in their home towns)
How to Watch: Round One will be on ESPN, Sportsnet, and TVA Sports. Round Two will be on the NHL Network, ESPN+, and Sportsnet
Who is going first?
On March 8, 2025, The Toronto Maple Leafs dealt their 2026 first-round pick, a 2025 fourth-round pick, and Fraser Minton to the Boston Bruins for Brandon Carlo. So why are they drafting first? Because they were very, very, very, very bad last year. The pick was top-five protected, and it reverted back to the Leafs once they finished atop the draft lottery. Boston will now get either Toronto’s 2027 or 2028 first-round pick (there are even more conditions yet to be determined).
Toronto will most likely use the pick to add a top offensive player to their organization. It’s been a long, long time since the top overall pick has been traded, and there isn’t much incentive for the Leafs to drop down in a top-heavy draft.
The odds-on favorite to be the newest savior for Toronto is Gavin McKenna. The winger from Whitehorse, Canada has been projected as the top pick for the last year. A 51-point season at Penn State didn’t hurt his resume, and the fact that he got into a bar fight probably raised his profile among some the 200 Hockey Men crowd (especially since the felony charge has been dropped).
Ivar Stenberg has his supporters, and there were a few moments where it seemed like he might work his way into the top spot, but in all likelihood he’s going second overall. Or fourth. Who knows? Why would a playmaker with elite skills, who lead Sweden to a gold medal at the World Juniors, and put up 33 points in 43 games with Frolunda of the SHL drop in this draft?
Good question.
How will things go after Toronto anoints McKenna as the new Boy King of Hockey?
San Jose has the second overall pick as of noon on Friday. That could change. General manager Mike Grier has stated that he is open to dealing the number two pick if the right deal presents itself. If it doesn’t, San Jose may be one of the few teams in a position to draft need over best available player. They are loaded with young talent at the forward position, and while a Stenberg-Macklin Celebrini combination would be awesome to watch for the next decade, they could use some bluechip potential on defense.
Chase Reid is that guy. The Soo defenseman is big, strong, and fast. He has a NHL-ready shot and knows what to do with the puck when it’s on his stick. Just like the Lightning went with defense and Victor Hedman over adding an offensive running mate for young Steven Stamkos in Matt Duchene or Evander Kane way back in 2009, San Jose could add their franchise cornerstone on defense with Reid.
Vancouver drafts third and the prognosticators can’t resist the familial bond between new head coach Manny Malhotra and his son, Caleb, who projects to be a better version of Anthony Cirelli. If that happens, the Buffalo crowd will be more than content to see their team announce Stenberg as the fourth pick. That is, if the Sabres still own the pick.
After that, things kind of level out, and it’s anyone’s guess who goes where. The Rangers currently have the fifth pick, followed by Calgary, Seattle, Winnipeg, San Jose (again), and Nashville. Honestly, with the exception of Calgary, all of those picks are probably in play for the right price. It’s not that the players outside of the top four are bad, they just don’t project to a superstar level. They all have similar projection paths, so there isn’t much difference between the sixth and the fifteenth overall pick.
There is a reason that twelve of the top thirty-one picks have been traded (Ottawa isn’t allowed to trade the 32nd pick because they were naughty). It’s a good draft, but not a deep draft. That means the Lightning would have had plenty of similar options to choose from had they defied expectations and actually held on to their first-round pick.
Liam Ruck, a winger who played in Medicine Hat last season, will probably still be on the board at 25. Especially if whoever is drafting him has found a way to also select his twin brother Markus with a later pick. Gleb Pugachyov is a power forward from Russia who has size who already has KHL experience. Second tier defensive prospects will probably start going off the board at this point so a smooth-skating blueliner like Tommy Bleyl from Moncton would have been a nice fit.
The Lightning’s Picks
Round 2 #58
Round 3 #90
Round 5 #133 (Originally Toronto’s)
Round 5 #134 (Originally Seattle’s)
Round 5 #154
Round 6 #186
Round 7 #218
Their first pick will be 58th, a similar spot as last year when they were able to nab Ethan Czata with the 56th selection. There will probably still be a few folks left that had been projected as first rounders. It’s a decent spot where they won’t have to stretch too much to add some higher level talent to the organization. We chatted about some forward and defensive possibilities earlier this week.
The Bolts also have a third-round pick for the first time since the 2022 draft. Having two picks in the top 100 is kind of a rare thing for the Bolts these days as it’s only happened twice (2020 and 2022) in the last six drafts. Having three fifth-round picks cries out for a package deal to move up in that round, or even possibly into a late fourth-round pick.
We expect the Lightning to make a couple of picks-only deals. They’ve leveraged future draft picks in the past in order to move up their selection for players on their target list. We also expect them to target some overage players with their later-round picks. It’s a good bet that there will be some Europeans added as well. The only Julien BriseBois-led draft class not to feature someone from Russia or Europe was in 2023 when they only had five selections.
They don’t really seem to target a specific area of need in their drafts, and it’s a safe assumption that will continue this year. Yes, they could use some more defensemen and goaltenders in their system, but it’s unlikely anyone they choose on Saturday suits up in the next three seasons for them, so there is no immediate help in those departments.
Our Coverage
We will be on hand to cover the festivities tonight. If the Lightning shock the world and trade into the first round, or make any player-related deals, we’ll be able to cover them. Tomorrow. Well, not so much. Sadly, our day job is interfering with things and we will be working for the majority of the day. It is our intention to have a “live thread” posted where we can post the names and basic stats of the players drafted as the day goes on.
Later in the night we will update the website with more details.
