Major trades change NHL draft first-round order: Who's picking where?

The 2026 NHL Draft's first-round order appeared to be set when the Carolina Hurricanes beat the Vegas Golden Knights in the Stanley Cup Final.

Then NHL general managers threw everything in a blender.

Ottawa Senators star Brady Tkachuk was traded to the Florida Panthers to join brother Matthew. Ottawa flipped one of the picks it received to the San Jose Sharks for William Eklund. The St. Louis Blues moved Jordan Kyrou to the Washington Capitals. The Chicago Blackhawks traded the No. 4 overall pick to the Buffalo Sabres for Bowen Byram and Jordan Greenway. The Sharks and Sabres earlier swapped first-rounders in the Michael Kesselring trade.

When the dust was settled − and it might not be − the Toronto Maple Leafs and Sharks still have the top two picks, and the Blues have four first-round picks. The No. 25 pick has been traded three times.

Here's the revised first-round order after the recent big NHL trades:

2026 NHL Draft first-round order

1. Toronto Maple Leafs (won draft lottery)
2. San Jose Sharks (won second drawing)
3. Vancouver Canucks
4. Buffalo Sabres (from Chicago Blackhawks in Bowen Byram trade)
5. New York Rangers
6. Calgary Flames
7. Seattle Kraken
8. Winnipeg Jets
9. San Jose Sharks (from Florida Panthers via Ottawa Senators. The Panthers sent the pick to Ottawa in the Brady Tkachuk trade. The Senators sent it to San Jose for William Eklund.)
10. Nashville Predators
11. St. Louis Blues
12. New Jersey Devils
13. New York Islanders
14. Columbus Blue Jackets
15. St. Louis Blues (from Detroit Red Wings in the Justin Faulk trade)
16. St. Louis Blues (from Washington Capitals in Jordan Kyrou trade)
17. Los Angeles Kings
18. Washington Capitals (from Anaheim Ducks in the John Carlson trade)
19. Utah Mammoth
20. Buffalo Sabres (from Edmonton Oilers via San Jose Sharks. San Jose acquired the pick in the Jake Walman trade and swapped picks with the Sabres in the Michael Kesselring trade)
21. Philadelphia Flyers
22. Pittsburgh Penguins
23. Boston Bruins
24. Vancouver Canucks (from Minnesota Wild in the Quinn Hughes trade)
25. Ottawa Senators (from Tampa Bay Lightning via Seattle Kraken via Florida Panthers. Seattle acquired the pick from Tampa Bay in the Oliver Bjorkstrand/Yanni Gourde trade, sent it to Florida in the Mackie Samoskevich trade. The Panthers included the pick in the Brady Tkachuk trade with Ottawa.)
26. New York Rangers (from Dallas Stars via Carolina Hurricanes. Carolina got the pick from Dallas in the Mikko Rantanen trade and moved it to New York in the K'Andre Miller trade.)
27. San Jose Sharks (from Buffalo Sabres in Kesselring trade)
28. Montreal Canadiens
29. St. Louis Blues (from Colorado Avalanche via New York Islanders. New York got the pick from Colorado in the Brock Nelson trade and dealt it to St. Louis in the Brayden Schenn trade)
30. Calgary Flames (from Vegas Golden Knights in the Noah Hanifin trade)
31. Carolina Hurricanes
32. Ottawa Senators (the Senators' forfeited draft pick was restored but moved to the end of the first round)

NHL draft: How to watch, stream

• Dates: Friday, June 26 (first round) and Saturday, June 27 (rounds 2-7)
• Times: 7 p.m. ET on the first day and 11 a.m. ET on the second.
• Location: KeyBank Center (Buffalo, New York); Prospects will be there and general managers will work remotely
• TV: ESPN on the first day and NHL Network on the second.
• Streaming: Fubo carries ESPN and NHL Network

Top NHL draft prospects

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