2026 NHL Draft Tracker: Pick-by-pick for the first round
The 2026 NHL Draft is finally here.
Friday night will see the opening round take place with the first 32 picks at KeyBank Center in Buffalo. Despite the unpopularity of the decentralized draft last season from the fans, the teams seemed to like it, because it’s returning this year. Can we please just speed up the time limits again? It was agony last season.
The most interesting part of the draft might just be how teams don’t want to pick in this draft. We’ve seen first-round picks from this draft traded eight times in the last couple weeks, including two picks changing hands twice, so what does that say about what teams think of this year’s draft class?
And of course, the hometown team always has to make a splash, and the Sabres did so to move up to fourth-overall by dealing Bowen Byram. Is there anything else the Sabres have in store for tonight?
Follow along with the selections all night long below:
1. Toronto: Gavin McKenna, LW (Penn State, NCAA, 35GP, 15G, 36A, 51P)
2. San Jose: Ivar Stenberg, LW (Frolunda HC, SHL, 43GP, 11G, 22A, 33P)
3. Vancouver: Caleb Malhotra, C (Brantford Bulldogs, OHL, 67GP, 29G, 55A, 84P)
4. Buffalo (from CHI): Daxon Rudolph, D (Prince Albert Raiders, WHL, 68GP, 28G, 50A, 78P)
5. NY Rangers: Alberts Smits, D (Jukurit Mikkeli, SM-Liiga, 38GP, 6G, 7A, 13P)
6. Calgary: Carson Carels, D (Prince George Cougars, WHL, 58GP, 20G, 53A, 73P)
7. Seattle: Chase Reid, D (Soo Greyhounds, OHL, 45GP, 18G, 30A, 48P)
8. Winnipeg: Viggo Bjorck, C (Djurgardens IF, SHL, 42GP, 6G, 9A, 15P)
9. San Jose (from FLA via OTT): Keaton Verhoeff, D (University of North Dakota, NCAA, 36GP, 6G, 14A, 20P)
10. Nashville: Wyatt Cullen, LW (U.S. National Development Team, USHL, 15GP, 6G, 10A, 16P)
11. St. Louis: Tynan Lawrence, C (Boston University, NCAA, 18GP, 2G, 5A, 7P)
12. New Jersey: Alexander Command, C (Orebro HK Jr., SHL Jr., 30GP, 17G, 27A, 44P)
13. NY Islanders: Malte Gustafsson, D (HV71 Jonkoping, SHL, 27GP, 0G, 3A, 3P)
14. Columbus: Oscar Hemming, LW (Boston College, NCAA, 19GP, 1G, 7A, 8P)
15. Anaheim (from DET via STL): Nikita Klepov, RW (Saginaw Spirit, OHL, 67GP, 37G, 60A, 97P)
16. St. Louis (from WSH): Maddox Dagenais, C (Quebec Remparts, QMJHL, 62GP, 30G, 32A, 62P)
17. Utah (from LAK):
18. Washington (from ANA):
19. Los Angeles (from UTA):
20. Buffalo (from EDM via SJS):
21. Philadelphia:
22. Pittsburgh:
23. Buffalo (fromBOS):
24. Vancouver (from MIN):
25. Ottawa (from TBL via SEA via FLA):
26. Vegas (from DAL via CAR via NYR):
27. San Jose (from BUF):
28. Montreal:
29. Anaheim (from COL via NYI via STL):
30. Calgary (from VGK):
31. Carolina:
32. Ottawa:
And check out all of Daily Faceoff’s draft content and coverage here…
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