The Toronto Maple Leafs won the 2026 NHL draft lottery, and with the first overall pick in Buffalo at the end of June, they’re widely expected to select Gavin McKenna. At least, that’s what the bookmakers think.
The popular 5Gringos online sportsbook makes the 18-year-old Canadian a mightily short -600 shot to be selected at the top of the board. So, with the top pick seemingly settled, a different question takes shape: which franchises arrive at KeyBank Center with the most ammunition, and what are they going to do with it? Let’s take a look at all six teams that have multiple first-round picks in the upcoming NHL draft.
St. Louis Blues — 11th, 15th, and 29th Overall
Shipping out Brayden Schenn and Justin Faulk — players tied to a Stanley Cup — is a philosophical admission that the Blues are tearing it down and rebuilding with intent. The 15th pick came back from Detroit in the deal for the latter, while the 29th overall has a more circuitous history, originally belonging to Colorado before it went to the Islanders in the Brock Nelson deal, then ultimately flipped to St. Louis in the Schenn transaction a year later.
The left side of the blue line is passable — Philip Broberg, Cam Fowler, Tyler Tucker — but a quality right-shot defenseman remains the most glaring structural hole, particularly as Jimmy Snuggerud and Dylan Holloway emerge as core pieces up front. With nearly $16 million in projected cap room, the Blues have room to move.
At 11, Viggo Björck is projected — the Djurgårdens SHL center with 15 points in 42 games, who won’t turn 18 until March — pointing to St. Louis’s proven track record of drafting Swedish talent. BU center Tynan Lawrence is also an option, while Elton Hermansson is the likely choice at number 15. Three picks bring plenty of leverage, but for the sake of the Blues’ rebuild, the front office needs to get each of them right.
Washington Capitals — 16th and 18th Overall
After two decades of Capitals hockey — including a Stanley Cup — John Carlson is officially a Duck, with his departure returning a conditional first-round pick contingent on Anaheim making the playoffs. The Ducks qualified. Vegas eliminated them in the second round. The pick landed at 18th — two spots behind Washington’s own 16th.
What does Washington do with back-to-back first-rounders while Alex Ovechkin’s retirement looms over every decision Chris Patrick makes this summer? The right side of the blue line is thin at both the roster and pipeline levels — that’s the most urgent hole — but if the North American right-handed defenseman tier clears early, CM Chris Patrick has openly said he’d use both picks as trade chips for scoring depth.
Moscow-born center Ilia Morozov is projected at 16th overall after posting 20 points in 36 NCAA games for Miami, all while being the youngest player in college hockey. Two picks later, Finnish two-way center Oliver Suvanto could well be in line for a trip to the capital.
San Jose Sharks — 2nd and 20th Overall
Four top-five picks in four years. At some point, accumulation has to become construction. The second overall selection came after San Jose moved up in the lottery, and the 20th is a product of their own transactional sharpness: Jake Walman went to Edmonton for a conditional first and Carl Berglund. That pick carried top-12 protection, but when Edmonton traded their 2027 first before the 2026 deadline, all protections voided, and the pick became unconditional. It landed at 20.
Macklin Celebrini, Will Smith, and Michael Misa are already in the building. What this core needs now is the right complementary piece. Most scouts have Chase Reid, the 6-foot-2 Sault Ste. Marie OHL skater as the first defenseman off the board. Elite Prospects’ post-lottery mock projected Carson Carels, the Prince George WHL blueliner who ranked fourth among all defensemen with 73 points in 58 games.
Vancouver Canucks — 3rd and 24th Overall
Former Vancouver captain Quinn Hughes went to Minnesota back in December in exchange for Marco Rossi, Liam Ohgren, Zeev Buium, and a 2026 first-round pick. That selection sits at 24th — a reflection of how well Minnesota’s season went after the trade. Vancouver finished in the basement of the Pacific under first-year head coach Adam Foote, and what happens with Elias Pettersson will define the rebuild’s pace.
The third overall pick came after the Canucks tumbled from the best lottery odds in the league — the lottery offering no guarantees, as always. Both Elite Prospects and NHL.com project Caleb Malhotra at third: the 6-foot-2 Brantford OHL center considered the best pivot available, the highest-ranked player at his position after the top two forwards.
Rossi is already in the system. Does adding Malhotra create a long-term question about who centers what line, or does it give Foote options most rebuilding teams would envy? Either way, it’s not a bad problem to have.
Seattle Kraken — 7th and 25th Overall
The trade that built this draft position was one of the most significant of the 2025 deadline: Yanni Gourde and Oliver Bjorkstrand went to Tampa for Michael Eyssimont, the Lightning’s top-10-protected 2026 and 2027 firsts, and a Toronto second.
GM Jason Botterill has confirmed that scouts spent the year studying the defensive talent available, and the need is unambiguous: a franchise-caliber blueliner to anchor a blue line that a young core — Berkly Catton, Ryan Winterton, Jacob Melanson, Oscar Fisker Mølgaard, Matty Beniers, Shane Wright — hasn’t had to lean on yet, but will.
Carson Carels at seven is the enticing option, provided he’s still available. If not, Keaton Verhoeff, the 6-foot-4 North Dakota blueliner who posted the fourth-most points by a 17-year-old defenseman in NCAA history, could well be the option Seattle settles on.
Big Apple Rangers — 5th and 26th Overall
Last in the East. Artemi Panarin is a King now. Chris Drury calls it a retool — but a roster with multiple top-six forward holes and significant veteran contracts doesn’t feel like a retool. It feels like a franchise deciding what it actually believes about itself.
The fifth pick arrived after the Rangers slid two spots from the top-three many expected. The 26th has the most layered history of any pick in Buffalo: Dallas traded it to Carolina in the Mikko Rantanen deal, Carolina flipped it to the Rangers as part of the K’Andre Miller trade, which also returned a 2026 second and Scott Morrow.
Latvian 6-foot-3 blueliner Alberts Smits — who became the youngest player at the 2026 Winter Olympics — was a pre-lottery projection for the Rangers, but many expected them in the top three, rather than at number five. If he’s gone, then Carels may well be the play.
