Story by
NHL mock draft 2026: Experts' picks with the real thing looming
- Story by
- NHL mock draft 2026: Experts' picks with the real thing looming
It's finally here: The 2026 NHL Draft, with some big names from college and around the world learning this weekend where they'll land in the first round (on Friday night) and in Rounds 2 through 7 (on Saturday).
This means the end of mock draft season, in which most folks think Gavin McKenna is going No. 1 overall. And for that, we have the exercise below: As usual, we took all the NHL mock drafts and smushed them into a "consensus" draft, which paints a picture on where the experts think the stars of tomorrow will land.
Advertisement
Here's a list of the mock drafts we used:
1. Toronto Maple Leafs : LW Gavin McKenna, Penn State
Average:1.0
2. San Jose Sharks : LW/RW Ivar Stenberg, Frolunda
Average:2.0
3. Vancouver Canucks : C Caleb Malhotra, Brantford
Average:3.6
4. Buffalo Sabres : D Chase Reid, Sault Ste. Marie
Average:4.4
5. New York Rangers : D Carson Carels, Prince George
Average:5.4
6. Calgary Flames : F Viggo Bjorck, Djugardens IF
Average:6.4
7. Seattle Kraken : D Alberts Smits, Jukurit
Average:7.0
8. Winnipeg Jets : D Keaton Verhoeff, North Dakota
Average:7.8
9. San Jose Sharks : D Daxon Rudolph, Prince Albert
Average:8.2
10. Nashville Predators : LW Wyatt Cullen, USNTDP
Average:10.2
Advertisement
11. St. Louis Blues : D Malte Gustafsson, HV71
Average:11.6
12. New Jersey Devils : C Tynan Lawrence, Boston University
Average:12.0
13. New York Islanders : LW Ethan Belchetz, Windsor
Average:12.8
14. Columbus Blue Jackets : D Ryan Lin, Vancouver
Average:14.0
15. St. Louis Blues : C Alexander Command, Orebro
Average:16.8
16. St. Louis Blues: LW Oscar Hemming, Boston College
Average:17.4
17. Los Angeles Kings : LW Adam Novotny, Peterborough
Average:18.4
18. Washington Capitals : C Oliver Suvanto, Tappara
Average:18.6
19. Utah Mammoth : C Ilia Morozov, Miami University
Average:20.4
20. Buffalo Sabres : RW Nikita Klepov, Saginaw
Average:21.4
Advertisement
21. Philadelphia Flyers : LW JP Hurlbert, Kamloops
Average:21.4
22. Pittsburgh Penguins : C Maddox Dagenais, Quebec
Average:21.8
23. Boston Bruins : W Elton Hermansson, MoDo
Average:24.0
24. Vancouver Canucks : RW Mathis Preston, Vancouver
Average:24.2
25. Ottawa Senators : D Maksim Sokolovski, London
Average:25.6
26. New York Rangers : D Tommy Bleyl, Moncton
Average:25.6
27. San Jose Sharks: RW Liam Ruck, Medicine Hat
Average:26.6
28. Montreal Canadiens : C Jack Hextall, Youngstown
Average:28.8
29. St. Louis Blues: C Brooks Rogowski, Oshawa
Average:29.0
30. Calgary Flames : D Xavier Villenuve, Blainville-Boisbriand
Average:29.4
Advertisement
31. Carolina Hurricanes : D William Hakansson, Lulea
Average:30.0
32. Ottawa Senators : RW Gleb Pugachyov, Nizhny Novgorod
Average:31.0
This article originally appeared on For The Win: NHL mock draft 2026: Experts' picks with the real thing looming
