Winners and Losers From 2026 NHL Draft Weekend
The main focus of every NHL Draft weekend is the players hearing their names called, whether it is at the top of the class or at the end of the seventh round. But that is only part of what happens over the weekend, as trades are completed and the foundation for future moves is built.
It is one of the busiest times of the offseason, and can significantly impact not only a team's long-term outlook, but also its short-term outlook.
While we will not know how the players selected will pan out for at least a couple of years, we can at least get a sense of a team's mindset and the value they can get. We also have an understanding of what their rosters might look like for the upcoming season based on the roster moves they make (or do not make).
So let's put all of those variables together and take a look at some of the biggest winners and losers from the 2026 NHL Draft weekend.
Winner: San Jose Sharks Farm System
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The San Jose Sharks took a big step forward at the NHL level in 2025-26 by hanging around in the Western Conference playoff race until the very end of the season. While they ultimately fell short, they know they have a cornerstone player (and superstar) to build around in Macklin Celebrini, and some great young talent to complement him.
They significantly added to their prospect pool this weekend with three of the top-21 picks in the NHL Draft, including a pair of top-10 picks.
They won the No. 2 overall pick thanks to some serious draft lottery luck, and then acquired the No. 9 overall pick by trading William Eklund to the Ottawa Senators.
While Eklund is a good player and could develop into an even better one, the drafting of Ivar Stenberg at No. 2 overall will potentially help fill that void. It should be an upgrade even if Stenberg realizes all his potential. Moving Eklund also helped the Sharks add some serious young defensive talent into their system by picking Keaton Verhoeff with that No. 9 pick.
They added another big-time talent on defense when they selected Ryan Lin later in the first round. He might not have the sort of size teams look for on defense at the top of the draft, but his talent and production are superb and should translate to the NHL.
Adding that trio in the first round to a young core that already has Celebrini, Will Smith, Michael Misa, and Sam Dickinson, among others, is a massive potential win for the long haul.
The Sharks still have to develop all this talent while also making smart moves to complement it, but they have at least put themselves in a position to have a contending core for the next decade. Or more.
Loser: Seattle Kraken Reputation
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When it comes to the draft itself, the Kraken were actually a potential winner in the first round when defenseman Chase Reid fell to them with the No. 7 overall pick.
Reid went into the draft as one of the top-rated defenders and a potential top-3 or-4 pick. Seattle probably did not expect him to be sitting there when they went on the clock. That is a nice score for a team that needs impact talent all over the roster.
And it is that last point that kind of makes them a loser here.
After having a deal worked out for Dallas Stars winger Jason Robertson, everything fell apart when Robertson turned down a reported eight-year contract that could have been worth in the neighborhood of $120 million and made him one of the highest-paid players in the sport.
Credit to Seattle for taking the swing. Major props to the front office for putting together an offer that Dallas deemed acceptable. They even deserve credit for throwing a truckload of money at Robertson to try to entice him.
But even after all of that, Robertson still turned them down.
Whether it's because he didn't like the idea of playing in Seattle, or because he didn't feel the team was close to Stanley Cup contention (and it wasn't), the end result is the same -- they don't have the superstar they desperately need and crave.
The Kraken have been as mid and mediocre as any NHL franchise since they entered the NHL, and the lack of offense and superstar talent at the top of the roster is just one of the flaws holding them back.
They tried to fix it. But the consistent mediocrity and lack of success might have prevented them from doing so.
Winner: Family Ties
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It is always fascinating to see what sort of family connections there are at the NHL Draft, and there are several of them every year.
This year, Bryan Trottier's grandson, Parker Trottier, was selected in the sixth round by the Montreal Canadiens.
Caleb Malhotra was picked No. 3 overall pick by the Vancouver Canucks and will have a chance to play for his dad, Manny Malhotra, who was just named as the team's head coach.
The most interesting family connection, though, might have been the story of the Ruck brothers, Liam and Markus.
The identical twins were drafted by the Pittsburgh Penguins in the first and second rounds (Liam went No. 22 overall in the first round, while Markus went No. 39 overall in the second round) and will have a chance to continue their hockey paths together.
They were the top two scorers in the Western Hockey League a year ago and will be back with Medicine Hat for the 2026-27 season before playing collegiate hockey at North Dakota. That timeline likely has them a couple of years from the NHL, but if they make it together, they will be the fourth set of identical twin brothers to be teammates in the NHL. That would put them on a list with Rich and Ron Sutter (Philadelphia Flyers), Chris and Peter Ferraro (New York Rangers), and Henrik and Daniel Sedin (Vancouver Canucks).
Loser: Columbus Blue Jackets
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This has nothing to do with who they picked, or where they picked them, or how many picks they had.
This is entirely about the team's top-two scorers from the 2025-26 season, and arguably their two best players, not wanting to re-sign with the team.
General manager Don Waddell gave some ominous answers on what he's heard regarding defenseman Zach Werenski's desire to remain in Columbus, while word surfaced during Friday's first-round that Kirill Marchenko has no intent to sign a long-term contract with the team.
That is ... not ideal.
And, just as with Seattle and Jason Robertson, it is a crushing blow to the Blue Jackets organization and to where it currently stands in the league.
These are not just good players. They are impact players. In Werenski's case, he is one of the best players in hockey, still in the prime of his career, and the reigning Norris Trophy winner as the league's best defenseman (after being a finalist a year ago). Marchenko is a 30-goal scorer and top-line winger just entering his prime years. They are players you want to build around. And neither of them wants to stay. It is tough to build a winner when that happens.
Winner: Teams Needing Offense Getting Immediate Help
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This specifically relates to the New York Rangers and Boston Bruins.
The Bruins made one of the biggest trades on Friday night when they sent two first-round picks to Utah for JJ Peterka, bringing a speedy winger with a great shot to a lineup that's been a little too top-heavy in recent years.
While Peterka does not really do the heavy lifting or drive his line, he has a great shot and could still be a top-line scorer if he is put into the right spots with the right talent around him.
Can Boston do that? It's a gamble worth taking.
The Rangers, meanwhile, made arguably the biggest splash of the weekend when they traded for Pavel Dorofeyev from the Vegas Golden Knights and immediately signed him to a seven-year contract worth over $11 million per season.
Is it a pricey contract? Yes. It is also perhaps one of the early big examples of how different contracts are going to look under the rising salary cap.
Is it risky? Potentially. Dorofeyev has scored at least 33 goals in each of the past two seasons and has elite finishing ability, but like Peterka, he is probably not going to be the one who drives his line. He has feasted on the opportunity to play next to elite playmakers the past two years in Vegas and may not have that with the Rangers at the moment.
Even with that being the case, the Rangers needed an elite finisher, and they may have found one who is still in the prime of his career.
Loser: St. Louis Blues
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The Blues entered the weekend with a whopping four first-round picks, giving management a lot of different options and a lot of flexibility on what it could do.
Move up into the top-10?
Load up on first-rounders and give yourself more swings at finding a future star?
Or perhaps trade some of them for a proven NHL star that can help right now?
In the end, they combined options two and three, making two selections and packaging them together to the Anaheim Ducks to acquire forward Mason McTavish.
On the surface, it's an underwhelming move, especially after they were reportedly rejected by Jason Robertson as well. McTavish has some talent, but his game also has some serious concerns, from his skating to his defensive play, and he even found himself as a healthy scratch in the playoffs after an underwhelming regular season offensively.
Paying two first-round picks for a player with so many flaws and questions, not to mention a contract worth over $7 million per season for several more years, is a risky move.
Later in the weekend, the Blues spent a couple more mid-round picks to acquire Brandon Carlo from the Toronto Maple Leafs. While the price isn't outrageously high, nor is his contract for this season, it just seems to be more of the same for what the Blues have on defense that hasn't been good enough.
Was it a terrible weekend? No.
Was it a little underwhelming? Yes.
Winner: Buffalo Sabres
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After nearly a decade and a half of losing and bad roster moves, the Buffalo Sabres are pushing all of the right buttons so far this offseason.
They traded defenseman Bowen Byram to the Chicago Blackhawks for a massive draft-pick haul that included the No. 4 and No. 45 overall picks, and ended up coming away with defenseman Daxon Rudolph. It's a high-upside defender coming into the organization, and they also don't have to worry about overpaying Byram on a long-term contract extension.
That trade tree grew a little more when they traded the No. 45 overall pick to the Anaheim Ducks for defenseman Olen Zellweger, giving them a young, speedy defenseman that should be an adequate replacement for Byram in the short-term.
The strong weekend continued when they selected center Ilia Morozov with the No. 20 overall pick, adding a talented center to the prospect pool. He could be a long-term answer down the middle. He could be a potential trade chip to help land a star player who could put the NHL team over the top. That is the benefit of collecting extra picks for yourself: it gives you options. You can do a lot of things with them.
As if that all was not enough, they locked in one of their core players at the NHL level, forward Zach Benson, to a long-term contract extension (seven years, $52.5 million) that could be one of the biggest steals in the league within a few years if Benson continues on his current trajectory.
Overall, a great weekend for the Sabres at both the NHL level and in the prospect area. They might finally be building something here. They might finally have everything figured out. It just took a really long time.
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