Toronto Maple Leafs Land 1st Pick in 2026 NHL Draft
The Toronto Maple Leafs had a miserable season, which caused a lot of changes for the future of the team. However, things are looking to point in the right direction. After making some decisions, they headed into the NHL Draft Lottery and were hoping to get the ping-pong balls to fall their way. Let’s take a closer look at what happened.
Toronto Maple Leafs win 2026 NHL Draft Lottery
The Toronto Maple Leafs have been in a position to drastically change the franchise after a miserable 2025-26 regular season. They have been able to quickly change things around as they announced the hiring of general manager John Chayka and senior executive adviser of hockey operations Mats Sundin. Now, they will have the first pick in the 2026 NHL Draft.
This is the third time in the franchise’s history that the Toronto Maple Leafs have won the NHL Draft Lottery, with the most recent being when the team won it in 2016 and selected Auston Matthews. There is a projected number-one pick in Gavin McKenna, but there are other names they will need to consider.
Sundin would comment on the draft lottery results and obviously have some excitement regarding it.
“I’m extremely happy for the Toronto Maple Leafs fan base, of course. It’s great to get the first pick. Great night, great lottery.”
The first two picks were selected via the lottery, seeing the San Jose Sharks get the second pick. The remaining selections in the lottery are determined by regular season records. Below is the top 16 picks in the NHL Draft, with the remaining picks being determined by the results of the postseason:
- Toronto Maple Leafs
- San Jose Sharks
- Vancouver Canucks
- Chicago Blackhawks
- New York Rangers
- Calgary Flames
- Seattle Kraken
- Winnipeg Jets
- Florida Panthers
- Nashville Predators
- St. Louis Blues
- New Jersey Devils
- New York Islanders
- Columbus Blue Jackets
- St. Louis Blues (via Detroit Red Wings)
- Washington Capitals
The 2026 NHL Draft will take place on June 26 at KeyBank Center in Buffalo. Rounds 2-7 will take place the following day. It will be intriguing to see who the Maple Leafs decide to take to help the team going forward.
