Sharks double down at Draft, Blackhawks lose leverage

Sharks double – The 2026 NHL Draft delivered a set of bold choices that reshaped the future for multiple franchises—led by the Sharks moving up to No. 2 and then doubling down with Keaton Verhoeff at No. 9. Toronto landed Gavin McKenna after winning the lottery, while the Kra

The 2026 NHL Draft kicked off with a familiar pop-culture moment and quickly turned into something far more serious for the teams on the clock. Justin Bieber made the selection everyone expected on behalf of his beloved Toronto Maple Leafs—then the real work began. with trades and new futures landing in the span of minutes.

The night started fast for Boston. The Bruins acquired JJ Peterka from the Utah Mammoth before the selections even settled into their rhythm. When the draft got underway. the New York Rangers added their own momentum by swooping in to land pending-RFA Pavel Dorofeyev from Vegas. and then inking him to a huge new deal. St. Louis, meanwhile, pulled the trigger on a deal with Anaheim that sent centre Mason McTavish to the Blues.

If the first night always comes with uncertainty—no one can know how many of the 32 picks will truly define a franchise’s trajectory yet—this year still made the winners and losers easier to spot.

San Jose’s most defining move came from the lottery story everyone wanted to follow. The Leafs won the lottery with an 8.5-per-cent chance of claiming the top pick after a miserable season flipped on May 5. But weeks earlier, the Sharks had created their own version of drama by moving up to No. 2. For a while, the question hung in the air: would San Jose swap that second pick for immediate help?.

They didn’t. Instead, the Sharks doubled down on the future and grabbed the ninth-overall selection from Ottawa.

Once that happened, the plan made sense on paper. The expectation was GM Mike Grier would take Swedish winger Ivar Stenberg second overall. then be satisfied with whatever defence prospect slipped to No. 9. In Grier’s wildest dreams, though, the player available at No. 9 wasn’t just any defender—it was Keaton Verhoeff.

Verhoeff is listed at six-foot-four and is a right-shooter. and his draft stock had been near the very top earlier in the fall. His offensive numbers took a hit during his freshman year with North Dakota. but the timeline gives San Jose something valuable: he’s expected to play one more season of NCAA hockey. After that. the piece of his route fans have been waiting for is the one that could take him deeper than the draft—he could potentially wear the ‘C’ for Canada at a 2027 World Junior Championship happening in his home province of Alberta. before making the jump to pro hockey next spring.

The Sharks aren’t just betting on talent; they’re betting on structure. Paired with six-foot-three blue-liner Sam Dickinson—who fell to San Jose in similar fashion two years ago at No. 11—Verhoeff becomes the kind of right-handed defender who can anchor a second pair for an emerging club.

Getting Stenberg and Verhoeff isn’t framed as “the biggest possible outcome,” but it’s described in the same breath as the best work San Jose has done before. It’s not quite on the level of landing Macklin Celebrini and Dickinson at the 2024 draft, but it’s not that far off either.

Then came the extra layer: San Jose traded up again to add another solid right-handed defender, Ryan Lin, at No. 21.

The Sharks’ night wasn’t the only one built around franchise-level need.

For the Seattle Kraken, the draft felt like a reward after a messy contract standoff. Chase Reid looked like he could be a fit at No. 2 at various points during his draft-eligible season, with his best showing coming with the Soo Greyhounds of the OHL. Even close to the draft, it seemed unlikely he would drop past No. 4.

But he did—down to No. 7.

Seattle likely couldn’t believe their luck. There was also a lingering sting tied to pending-RFA Jason Robertson. who wanted no part of a rich contract with the team. Reid arrives as a right-shot blue-liner who figures to be an offence-driver and a future PP1 fixture once his college career at Michigan State University is finished. Reid’s game isn’t being compared directly as a ceiling—he may not reach the offensive heights of Cale Makar or Adam Fox—but his six-foot-two frame is a major part of what he brings.

The Kraken’s longer view matters, too. Four years ago, they were celebrating when Shane Wright fell to them at No. 4, and he could conceivably be traded this summer. With Seattle already having thrown money at Jason Robertson and. in the winter. Artemi Panarin. landing Reid lands like a fresh shot at talent they can build around.

Toronto’s leap into the spotlight has its own emotional core.

After the Leafs won the lottery, draft talk shifted immediately. The idea of gifting the sixth-overall pick to Boston turned into euphoria over the chance to add Gavin McKenna. There’s no guarantee he becomes the most winning player from the draft. but Toronto grabbed the super-skilled 18-year-old who has been projected as a top pick for years. All in all, it’s framed as a massive win for Toronto.

Winnipeg, too, found a deal that fits its need—just not the way it was assumed to unfold.

The Jets expected to land a good player at No. 8, but the player they thought could fill the long-running 2C hole in Manitoba was expected to be gone. Caleb Malhotra was believed to be off the board. and most people also figured Viggo Björck—the second-best pivot in the draft—would have been taken before Winnipeg picked.

Instead, a run on defencemen from picks four through seven left Björck sitting there for GM Kevin Cheveldayoff. Now Winnipeg hopes the skilled, high-motor Swede can fill a major gap up the middle.

In the Central, St. Louis didn’t just add bodies—it attacked its centre situation.

First, the Blues took Tynan Lawrence with the 11th pick. Lawrence scuffled at Boston University after making an in-season move to the NCAA from the USHL. but he’s still described as a highly skilled centre who. eight months from now. could look like a much different player than he did for the back half of his campaign. Then St. Louis used its other two first-round picks—Nos. 15 and 29—to land Mason McTavish from the Ducks. With Robert Thomas seemingly off the trade market. the Blues appear to be betting that pairing Lawrence with Thomas and McTavish can push the team forward from the middle.

That approach is part of why the draft’s message feels bigger than any single pick.

The Rangers acquired Pavel Dorofeyev. a premier sniper. after landing him with the draft’s help from Vegas. while the Leafs picked first overall. Add other moves from non-playoff teams earlier this off-season—Florida Panthers landing Brady Tkachuk and the Washington Capitals adding Jordan Kyrou and Alex Tuch—and it becomes hard to ignore how crowded the path to the Eastern Conference’s next step is going to be.

With 99 points needed to crack the Eastern Conference playoffs this past season, next spring’s threshold is expected to be similar.

But the loudest “loser” feeling on the night doesn’t come from a missing player—it comes from leverage.

Chicago is treated as a draft-season loser based on moving the fourth-overall selection in a swap with Buffalo for Bowen Byram. The Hawks had wanted a D-man, and Byram makes sense in that context, but Chicago’s original hope was likely that Ivar Stenberg would fall to them at No. 4.

Once San Jose acquired a second top-10 pick, the likelihood of that happening changed fast. Chicago pivoted. and you can understand the decision—but it still leaves the impression that the Hawks could have leveraged that pick for a bigger return instead of locking into a plan that became harder to justify as the night unfolded.

The 2026 NHL Draft already has its turning points, and in the Sharks’ choices—from No. 2 to No. 9, then to No. 21—it looks like San Jose is building for years, not weeks.

2026 NHL Draft San Jose Sharks Keaton Verhoeff Ivar Stenberg Ryan Lin Toronto Maple Leafs Gavin McKenna Seattle Kraken Chase Reid New York Rangers Pavel Dorofeyev St. Louis Blues Mason McTavish Tynan Lawrence Winnipeg Jets Viggo Björck Chicago Blackhawks Bowen Byram