Bruins Lose Out on Maple Leafs’ First-Round Pick This Year

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The Boston Bruins will wait for the Toronto Maple Leafs’ first-round pick.

The lottery balls bounced in the Toronto Maple Leafs’ favor at the NHL Draft Lottery on Tuesday night, which pushes the Bruins’ pick to either 2027 or 2028.

The Bruins still own their first-round pick in the 2026 NHL Draft.

The Toronto Maple Leafs won the first lottery, moving up from fifth and winning the first overall pick at the draft in June. Toronto will select with the No. 1 overall pick.

The Bruins and Maple Leafs made a trade at the 2025 deadline, sending defenseman Brandon Carlo to Toronto for Fraser Minten, a first-round pick, and a fourth-round pick. The Bruins turned the fourth-round pick into Vashek Blanar, but will have to wait another year or two to receive the first-rounder.

As part of the deal, the first-round pick was top-five protected. The Maple Leafs finished the season with the fifth-best odds to win the draft lottery on Tuesday (8.5%).

Going into the lottery, there was a 58.2% chance the Bruins would receive the pick this year.

Next season, if the Maple Leafs’ pick falls outside of the top 10, they will trade it to the Philadelphia Flyers to complete the Scott Laughton trade. In that situation, the Bruins will get an unprotected first-round pick in 2028 – they already have two in 2028 (their own, and Florida’s from the ).