NHL Draft Lottery: Maple Leafs Win, Sharks Get Second; Florida Panthers Pick 9th

TL;DR

The Toronto Maple Leafs won the top pick in the 2026 NHL Draft Lottery, despite finishing with the fifth-worst record. The San Jose Sharks secured the second pick, while the Florida Panthers will select ninth.

Key points

Toronto Maple Leafs won the top pick in the 2026 NHL Draft Lottery
Maple Leafs had an 8.5 percent chance to win
San Jose Sharks secured the second pick
Florida Panthers will select ninth
Maple Leafs finished with the fifth-worst record

Toronto Maple LeafsSan Jose SharksFlorida PanthersNHL

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.

Last year, the New York Islanders won the lottery by jumping from 10th to first and cashed in by taking defenseman . The Islanders only had a 3.5 percent chance of winning the lottery last year.