2026 NHL Mock Draft Projections for Every Team in Round 1

The Vancouver Canucks and Chicago Blackhawks are locked into the two best odds percentages to land the No. 1 overall pick in the 2026 NHL draft.

The pair of Western Conference teams hope they win the NHL draft lottery to have the opportunity to select Gavin McKenna.

McKenna is the best overall player and one of the few franchise-changing prospects in the 2026 draft class.

All of the teams near the bottom of the NHL standings are in need of a player of McKenna's caliber, but only one will select him on June 26.

The rest of the draft lottery odds will be set by the end of play on Thursday night, but entering Monday, the New York Rangers, Calgary and Toronto are in line to all have an over eight percent chance to pick first.

2026 NHL Mock Draft

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Projected draft order based on regular-season standings.

1 Vancouver - Gavin McKenna, LW, Penn State

2. Chicago - Keaton Verhoeff, D, North Dakota

3. New York Rangers - Ivar Stenberg, LW/RW, Frolunda

4. Calgary - Chase Reid, D, Soo (OHL)

5. Toronto - Carson Carels, D, Prince George (WHL)

6. Seattle - Tynan Lawrence, C, Boston University

7. Florida - Caleb Malhotra, C, Brantford (OHL)

8. St. Louis - Alberts Smits, D, Jukurit

9. San Jose - Ethan Belchetz, LW, Windsor (OHL)

10. Winnipeg - Daxon Rudolph, D, Prince Albert (WHL)

11. New Jersey - Viggo Bjorck, C/RW, Djurgardens

12. Nashville - Oliver Suvanto, C, Tappara

13. New York Islanders - Oscar Hemming, F, Boston College

14. Columbus - Adam Novotny, LW/PW, Peterborough (OHL)

15. St. Louis (via Detroit) - Ryan Lin, D, Vancouver (WHL)

16. Washington - Ilya Morozov, F, Miami (Ohio)

17. Los Angeles - Elton Hermansson, LW/RW, MoDo

18. Washington (via Anaheim) - Nikita Klepov, F, Saginaw (OHL)

19. San Jose (via Edmonton) - Marcus Nordmark, RW, Djurgardens

20. Utah - JP Hurlbert, F, Kamloops (WHL)

21. Philadelphia - Yegor Shilov, C, Victoriaville (QMJHL)

22. Boston - Malte Gustafsson, D, HV71

23. Pittsburgh - Juho Piiparinen, D, Tappara

24. Vancouver (via Minnesota) - Xavier Villeneuve, D, Blainville-Boisbriand (QMJHL)

25. Seattle (via Tampa Bay) - Ryan Roobreck, C, Niagara (OHL)

26. Montreal - Maddox Dagenais, C, Quebec (QMJHL)

27. New York Rangers (via Dallas) - Mathis Preston, F, Vancouver (WHL)

28. Calgary (via Vegas) - Niklas Aarom-Olsen, RW/LW, Orebro

29. Buffalo - Liam Ruck, F, Medicine Hat (WHL)

30. Carolina - Alexander Command, C, Orebro

31. St. Louis (via Colorado) - William Hakansson, D, Lulea

32. Ottawa - Wyatt Cullen, F, U.S. Development Program

Vancouver, Chicago Locked into Two Best Odds For Top Pick

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Vancouver owns 25.5 percent odds to claim the top pick in the draft lottery.

Chicago is now set with a 13.5 percent chance to win the lottery.

The Canucks locked into the best odds a few weeks ago with the league's worst record. Landing Gavin McKenna would allow the Canucks to accelerate their rebuild. They might not be a playoff team in Year 1 of McKenna, but they would be more competitive.

If Chicago lands McKenna, it would have the top picks from two of the last four drafts in McKenna and Connor Bedard. Those two, along with the other prospects the Blackhawks have, could make the franchise a player in the Western Conference for quite some time.

The team with the worst record in the NHL landed the top pick in 2022 and 2024. Chicago had the third-worst point total in 2023 when it landed Bedard.

The New York Islanders won the lottery last year with a 3.5 percent chance, but that is more of an outlier compared to the recent NHL lottery trends.

That's why the third-worst point total is valuable to the New York Rangers and Calgary, who are tied on 75 points.

The third-worst team owns an 11.5 percent chance to land the top pick, while the fourth-worst side carries 9.5 percent odds into the lottery.