Maple Leafs Win NHL Draft Lottery, Bruins Lose Top-Seven Pick
The Toronto Maple Leafs won the NHL Draft Lottery, so the Bruins will not receive their pick.
Maple Leafs Win NHL Draft Lottery, Bruins Lose Top-Seven Pick originally appeared on NESN . Add NESN as a Preferred Source by clicking here . The Boston Bruins were riding a high all season when it began to look like their trade with the Toronto Maple Leafs would pay off to the tune of a top-seven pick in the 2026 NHL Draft.
The pick came as the sweetener in a deal that sent Brandon Carlo to Toronto in return for Fraser Minten and a first. However, the pick was top-five protected. Bruins fans were watching Tuesday night's nationally televised NHL Draft Lottery to see if they would be receiving the Maple Leafs' pick in June's draft.
They didn't have to watch for long, as the first ball drawn in the entire event awarded the Maple Leafs the first overall selection, and ended the Bruins' hopes of receiving the pick. Coming into the lottery, Boston had a higher-than-58% chance, or 5-in-8, that the Maple Leafs' pick would fall between picks five and seven. Toronto had just a 9% chance of receiving the first overall pick.
They had just one ball in the hopper. The silver lining is that Boston will still receive either Toronto's 2027 or 2028 first-round pick, but it is rather unlikely that the pick will have as high a chance of being in the top seven. Boston still holds seven selections in this year's draft, including their own first-round pick, one second-round pick, one third-round pick, three fourth-round picks and one seventh-round pick.