Will a top five draft pick get traded this year?

While there are a couple of rising teams with high picks in the upcoming NHL Draft, some wonder whether those franchises are interested in trading those picks for more timely assets.

The Toronto Maple Leafs won the 2026 NHL Draft Lottery, with many expecting the team to keep it. However, the rest of the upper selections could be up for grabs. The San Jose Sharks went from ninth to second in the lottery, but teams like them, the Chicago Blackhawks and Calgary Flames, might be interested in trading their high-end draft position in order to acquire talent that could help them in the present.

On Thursday’s edition of Daily Faceoff LIVE, Tyler Yaremchuk and Colby Cohen discuss what the chances of one of the teams in the top five of this 2026 draft decide to trade their pick.

Tyler Yaremchuk: With a couple of big shots up in the lottery, it’s lots of people asking the question once again. A 15% chance that a pick in the top five gets traded. Colby, you going higher or lower?

Colby Cohen: I’m gonna go higher. I think you’re gonna see some movement in the top of the draft this year because I think people believe that there’s a very, very big drop-off after pick No. 2 as far as a sure thing goes. So, I think if there’s an opportunity to move back from three to five and you still feel like you can get your guy. … I could see a team like Chicago being strategic about what they do. I could see Mike Greer making a move and, and thinking like, ‘Hey, I could move back to four and still get what I’m looking for.’ Or, if the Rangers or someone like that had an idea like, ‘Hey, we really want who’s gonna go number two.’

You can watch the full segment and entire episode here…