It was opening night for a new group of NHL stars.
The first round of the 2026 NHL Draft at the KeyBank Center in Buffalo—home of the resurgent Sabres—has come and gone and B/R was here for it all.
First-Round Draft Picks
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Four hours of picks included 10 defensemen, eight left wings, eight centers and six right wings—but no goalies—along with nine trades.
Four defensemen in a row, in fact, went from picks 4 to 7. And lest anyone forget, defenseman Matthew Schaefer was last season's rookie of the year.
It was also the first draft with four college players in the first 15 picks and included a record seven Swedish players selected.
Rounds 2-7 will go off on Saturday, starting at 11 a.m.
The last pick of the first round might have been the best story of the night.
Right winger Jaxon Cover, picked by Ottawa at No. 32, spent his childhood in the Cayman Islands and didn't play his first season of organized hockey until 2021-22. In fact, he developed his skills playing roller hockey.
The champion Hurricanes moved out of the first round with the night's ninth trade, sending the No. 31 pick to Nashville for two second-rounders at slots 42 and 57.
The Predators grabbed defenseman Tommy Bleyl from Moncton of the Quebec major junior league, making him the fifth Michigan State commit to be selected.
A smooth skater, he had 81 points in 63 regular-season games in 2025-26 and 28 more points in 21 playoff games.
Hockey IQ is the M.O. for center Jack Hextall, who was made the 30th overall pick by the Calgary Flames.
He was just shy of becoming a point-per-game player last season with Youngstown of the USHL, producing 20 goals and 58 points in 59 games.
Vegas made a couple of deals but finally made a pick at No. 29, selecting Finnish defenseman Juho Piiparinen from Tappara.
He's a 6'3", 203-pounder who's branded as a puck mover who excels at exiting the defensive zone under pressure.
Anaheim and Vegas locked up in the second round of the 2026 playoffs but it didn't stop them from doing business, as proven when the Golden Knights sent the 28th pick to the Ducks for picks 29 and 117.
Marcus Nordmark, a winger from the Swedish junior ranks, went to Anaheim at 28.
His father, Robert, played four NHL seasons with St. Louis and Vancouver from 1987-88 through 1990-91.
The Flyers stayed on brand with a gigantic, ferocious defenseman, grabbing 6'7", 240-pounder Maksim Sokolovskii from London of the OHL at No. 27.
"I just think it's hand in glove for him and them," Kevin Weekes said.
Montreal moved up two spots from 28th to 26th via trade with Vegas and sent a third-rounder in 2027 to the Golden Knights for the trouble.
The Canadiens then plucked right winger Gleb Pugachyov from the Russian ranks, where he had 13 goals and 32 points with three teams last season.
Ottawa is looking for forward reinforcements after sending Brady Tkachuk to Florida in a recent trade. The Senators went to Sweden to grab right winger Jonas Lagerberg Hoen at No. 24.
He was the sixth Swede taken in the first round, tied for the most ever.
Vancouver's rebuild continued with a second first-round pick at No. 24, where the Canucks selected winger Adam Novotny from Peterborough of the OHL.
Novotny had 34 goals and 65 points in 58 games with the Petes in 2025-26 and also represented Czechia at the world junior championships.
Utah got the No. 23 pick from Boston for JJ Peterka, then swapped it to Detroit to acquire goalie Sebastian Cossa from the Red Wings.
Detroit then picked winger JP Hurlbert from Kamloops of the WHL at 23.
Pittsburgh created some intrigue by selecting right winger Liam Ruck from Medicine Hat of the WHL at pick No. 22.
Ruck was ranked 20th among North American skaters by NHL Central Scouting. His identical twin brother Markus is ranked 23rd.
Will the Penguins make it a double play later in the draft?
San Jose made picks at the No. 2 and No. 9 spots and moved up six places to get to No. 21 as well, sending the 27th, 62nd and 120th picks to Philadelphia.
The Sharks grabbed Ryan Lin, a defenseman from Vancouver of the WHL, at 21.
His NHL comparison is Minnesota's Brock Faber.
Buffalo made its second pick of the first round and selected Ilia Morozov, a 6'3", 205-pound center from Miami (Ohio) University, at No. 20 overall.
He won't be 18 until August.
Minnesota's Bill Guerin received the Jim Gregory Award as the league's best general manager, voted on by his executive peers.
The Kings dropped back two picks and grabbed winger Elton Hermansson, a 6-foot, 182-pounder from the Swedish league.
Kevin Weekes likened Hermansson to Carolina's Nik Ehlers.
The Capitals went big-game hunting with deals that brought in Alex Tuch and Jordan Kyrou. They added a potential future star in Finnish center Oliver Suvanto, a 6'3", 213-pound center at No. 18.
The Los Angeles Kings were slotted at No. 17 but made a deal with the Utah Mammoth to trade down two spots, to 19, while adding the 83rd overall pick, too.
Utah took winger Ethan Belchetz from Windsor of the OHL.
The Blues held on to pick No. 16 and made center Maddox Dagenais, the first player plucked from the Quebec major junior league, their selection.
His father, Pierre, played in the NHL for New Jersey, Montreal and Florida.
We mentioned the Blues had four first-round picks. Not anymore.
The trade horn blew again in Buffalo, signaling a deal that sent center Mason McTavish from Anaheim to St. Louis for the 15th and 29th picks.
The Ducks then grabbed right winger Nikita Klepov from Saginaw of the OHL.
Zach Werenski may or may not want to stay in Columbus, but teenage winger Oscar Hemming looked happy when the Blue Jackets called his name at No. 14.
"This is gonna be a future entertaining player," John Buccigross said.
The Islanders hit a home run with Matthew Schaefer as the No. 1 overall pick last June, getting a Calder-winning season from their rookie defenseman.
Schaefer walked the stage to make Malte Gustafsson, a 6'4", 203-pound defenseman from Sweden, the 13th overall pick in 2026.
New Devils GM Sunny Mehta is an analytics guru. It's no surprise he made Swedish center Alexander Command his first draft pick atop the organization.
"I think that Devils fans are going to be really excited about this kid," Emily Kaplan said.
The Blues have four first-round picks and Tynan Lawrence was the initial one to join the organization at No. 11. He's a 6-foot, 183-pound center from Boston University.
St. Louis is also set to pick at Nos. 15, 16 and 29.
Country music superstar Luke Bryan crashed the draft party in Buffalo about 90 minutes before playing a show down the street at Sahlen Field.
He announced Nashville's 10th overall pick of Wyatt Cullen, a 17-year-old winger whom Kevin Weekes said grew eight inches from 5'5" to 6'1" in his most recent season with the U-18 development program.
Cullen is the son of multiple Cup winner Matt Cullen.
The Sharks were the first team to pick twice in the first round. They added 6'4", 215-pound defenseman Keaton Verhoeff with the No. 9 selection.
Fashion-challenged perhaps, but Viggo Bjorck is the smallest player to come off the board so far. The 5'9", 180-pound center goes to Winnipeg with the No. 8 pick.
"This is a steal," Kevin Weekes said.
Chase Reid was the first player to slide, at least a little way, in the first round. But it stopped when Seattle snapped up the dynamic defenseman from Sault Ste. Marie of the OHL.
Cup winner Lanny McDonald marched in to make the sixth pick official, as the Flames pulled the trigger on defenseman Carson Carels, who had 73 points last season with Prince George of the WHL.
The Rangers went international with the No. 5 pick, plucking 6'3", 209-pound defenseman Alberts Smits from Munchen of the German league.
A little Buffalo Bills royalty, in the form of Hall of Fame running back Thurman Thomas, made the Sabres' surprise pick of defenseman Daxon Rudolph official.
He was ranked as the fifth North American skater by NHL Central Scouting, but he went at No. 4 overall. Another defenseman, Chase Reid, was the expectation.
Vancouver gets Caleb Malhotra, a center with Brantford of the OHL, with the third overall pick. He's the son of new Canucks coach Manny Malhotra and the nephew of former NBA star Steve Nash.
"Beyond a dream come true," Caleb Malhotra said. "As a kid this is something you dream of."
Pavel Dorofeyev is going from Vegas to the Rangers, according to Emily Kaplan.
For those interested in crystal-balling for next season, Gavin McKenna is a +6000 proposition on DraftKings to score 40 goals as a rookie.
Two picks on chalk. Iver Stenberg, a winger from Sweden, to San Jose.
Gavin McKenna on getting his pick announced by Justin Bieber.
"This is nuts."
It took less than a minute for Gavin McKenna to get the phone call and less than two minutes for the pick to be made. He's a Maple Leaf.
And Justin Bieber made the walk to the stage to make it official.
The grind is real.
The "Biebs" is in the building. And the Leafs are picking first. Hmmmm.
That's five Cups, four scoring titles, three MVPs ... and Mitch Marner.
Ethan Belchetz is working the red carpet in style.
Bringing Alex Tuch and Jordan Kyrou aboard just might be enough to convince the "Great 8" to stick around for a 22nd season.
Elliotte Friedman is suggesting Boston and Utah are chatting about JJ Peterka. The German-born winger was moved from Buffalo to the Mammoth a year ago today.
A couple hours left before the first pick and the final prospect rankings from NHL Central Scouting are in:
No. 1 North American Skater: Gavin McKenna (Penn State, NCAA)
No. 1 International Skater: Ivar Stenberg (Frolunda, SHL)
No. 1 North American Goalie: Brady Knowling (USA U-18 NT, USHL)
No. 1 International Goalie: Dmitri Borichev (Loko-76 Yaroslavl, Russia Jr.)
Buffalo has hosted three previous NHL drafts and the No. 1 pick from each has gone on to capture significant league hardware.
1991: Eric Lindros (Hart Trophy, Ted Lindsay Award, Hall of Fame); 1998: Vincent Lecavalier (Rocket Richard Trophy, King Clancy Award, Stanley Cup); 2016: Auston Matthews (Calder Trophy, Hart Trophy, Rocket Richard Trophy, Ted Lindsay Award)
Forward André Burakovsky and his 164 career NHL goals are heading to the Canadian capital after a trade that sent him to Ottawa from the Chicago Blackhawks for a sixth-round pick in the 2027 draft.
Defenseman Olen Zellweger is headed to Buffalo from Anaheim in exchange for forward Anton Wahlberg and the 45th overall pick in this weekend's draft.
Zellweger, 22, was a second-round pick of the Ducks in 2021.
A couple of trophy-caliber players, Zach Werenski of Columbus and Winnipeg's Connor Hellebuyck, are the topics of high-end executive chatter heading into the weekend.
Blue Jackets GM Don Waddell said he'll be meeting with his Norris-winning defenseman to ask, "Do you want to play here long term?" while Jets GM Kevin Cheveldayoff said the organization is "going to listen" to offers for its three-time Vezina-winning goalie.
Add Jordan Spence to the list of the league's $5 million men.
The 25-year-old defenseman signed a four-year deal with Ottawa worth $20 million and avoided becoming a restricted free agent.
Colorado kept two veteran defensemen in the fold by signing Brent Burns and Brett Kulak to deals before they reached free agency.
Burns signed for one year. Kulak is locked up for five.
Defenseman Tony DeAngelo will not be changing addresses. Instead, he'll stay on Long Island after agreeing to a two-year deal with the New York Islanders.
The 30-year-old could have become a free agent on July 1.
Forward Jason Robertson is looking to cash in, but not in Seattle.
The Dallas Stars arranged a trade for the soon-to-be restricted free agent and gave the Kraken permission to work out a long-term deal, but Robertson turned down an eight-year contract worth $15 million annually.
Minnesota owner Craig Leipold put the brakes on trade talk surrounding defenseman Quinn Hughes, who's entering the final year of a contract, saying the Wild are "going to re-sign him."
The picks haven't started, but that doesn't mean the league isn't at work.
The host Sabres have made significant moves—including sending forward Alex Tuch to Washington for David Kampf and a 2027 pick, and shipping defenseman Bowen Byram and forward Jordan Greenway to Chicago for defenseman Louis Crevier and the fourth and 45th overall picks in this draft.
Washington also got forward Jordan Kyrou from St. Louis for forwards Connor McMichael and Milton Gastrin, and the 16th pick in this draft.
Also on the move have been forward William Eklund from San Jose to Ottawa, forward Valeri Nichushkin from Colorado to Columbus, and defenseman Simon Nemec and forward Maxim Tsyplakov from New Jersey to Calgary.
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