NHL Draft Lottery: Maple Leafs Win, Sharks Get Second; Florida Panthers Pick 9th
After a season of upheaval and an uncertain offseason, the Toronto Maple Leafs won the top pick in the 2026 […] This article: NHL Draft Lottery: Maple Leafs Win, Sharks Get Second; Florida Panthers Pick 9th originally appeared on Florida Hockey Now.
Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports After a season of upheaval and an uncertain offseason, the Toronto Maple Leafs won the top pick in the 2026 NHL Draft Lottery on Tuesday night. The Maple Leafs finished with the fifth-worst record this past season and had an 8. 5 percent chance to win the top pick.
Had Toronto’s first-round pick ended up sixth or lower, it would have gone to the Boston Bruins. Instead, the Maple Leafs will now likely pick between Penn State freshman forward Gavin McKenna or Swedish forward Ivar Stenberg when the 2026 NHL Draft kicks off in Buffalo on June 26. The San Jose Sharks won the draft lottery for the second overall pick moving up from No.
9. That bumped the Florida Panthers down to the ninth-overall pick in the 2026 draft. Vancouver finished the season with the worst record in the NHL (25-49-8) and had the best odds to win the lottery at 18.
5 percent — but since no team outside of the bottom 12 could move all the way up, the Canucks had a 25. 5 percent shot at a top-2 pick. The Blackhawks (29-39-14) and Rangers (34-39-9) followed suit.