George Richards, FHN Publisher
After a season of upheaval and an uncertain offseason, the Toronto Maple Leafs won the top pick in the 2026 NHL Draft Lottery on Tuesday night.
The Maple Leafs finished with the fifth-worst record this past season and had an 8.5 percent chance to win the top pick.
Had Toronto’s first-round pick ended up sixth or lower, it would have gone to the Boston Bruins.
Instead, the Maple Leafs will now likely pick between Penn State freshman forward Gavin McKenna or Swedish forward Ivar Stenberg when the 2026 NHL Draft kicks off in Buffalo on June 26.
The San Jose Sharks won the draft lottery for the second overall pick moving up from No. 9. That bumped the Florida Panthers down to the ninth-overall pick in the 2026 draft.
Vancouver finished the season with the worst record in the NHL (25-49-8) and had the best odds to win the lottery at 18.5 percent — but since no team outside of the bottom 12 could move all the way up, the Canucks had a 25.5 percent shot at a top-2 pick.
The Blackhawks (29-39-14) and Rangers (34-39-9) followed suit.
Last year, the New York Islanders won the lottery by jumping from 10th to first and cashed in by taking defenseman Matthew Schaefer. The Islanders only had a 3.5 percent chance of winning the lottery last year.
Tuesday, the NHL held its annual draft lottery party at the NHL Network studios in Secaucus, N.J.
The first round of the lottery was to determine who would get the top pick.
The Panthers were knocked out of the running for the top pick on the third of four balls pulled with the Sharks staying in the running.
The second round went to determine who would pick second in the upcoming draft.
The Panthers were knocked out of being able to move up to the second overall pick on the second ball selected.
Only the top two positions were determined and teams could only move up 10 spots. So, only the teams with a bottom-11 finish had a chance at the top pick; a bottom-12 could get up to No. 2.
The Panthers had previously traded their 2026 first-round pick to Chicago in the Seth Jones/Spencer Knight deal before sending their 2027 first to Boston for Brad Marchand.
Florida made sure their 2026 pick was top-10 protected, so, it was able to keep it once a bottom-8 spot was secured.
Chicago will get a non-protected first in 2027; Boston gets Florida’s 2028 pick.
ON DECK: FLORIDA PANTHERS OFFSEASON
- NHL Draft: June 26-27; KeyBank Center, Buffalo
- NHL Free Agency: Opens July 1
- Panthers Development Camp: Late June/Early July; IcePlex, Fort Lauderdale
- Panthers Rookie Camp/Tournament: Late August/Early Sept.; Site TBA
- Panthers Training Camp: Early/Mid September; Fort Lauderdale
- 2026-27 NHL Season Opens: Late September; Site, Opponent TBA