MAPLE LEAFS SELECT MCKENNA WITH FIRST OVERALL PICK
Picking at No. 1 for the third time in franchise history and first since 2016, the Maple Leafs made left wing Gavin McKenna of Penn State University the top pick in the 2026 Upper Deck NHL Draft. Global superstar Justin Bieber – a Maple Leafs fan and friend of captain Auston Matthews – was on hand to call McKenna’s name in Buffalo, at the same arena Matthews was selected a decade ago when Toronto last had the No. 1 pick.
* McKenna became the first player out of Penn State to be selected first overall in the NHL Draft and the fifth from the NCAA ever to be taken with the No. 1 pick – with three of those coming in the past six. He is coming off a season in which he finished fifth in NCAA scoring with 15-36—51 (35 GP) and became the first Nittany Lion to be named Big Ten Freshman of the Year.
* McKenna (Whitehorse, Yukon) became the highest-selected player out of Canada’s Yukon Territory with Dylan Cozens (No. 7 in 2019) the only other player in that category who has been selected in the opening round.
* A member of Trʼondëk Hwëchʼin First Nation, McKenna became the first known Indigenous player selected first overall in nearly 50 years. McKenna made 2026 the third straight NHL Draft to see an Indigenous player selected in Round 1. His draft suit paid homage to his Indigenous heritage.
* Learn more about McKenna in the #NHLStats Pack published ahead of the draft.
STENBERG LEADS HISTORIC SWEDISH SURGE
Ivar Stenberg (Stockholm, Sweden) was selected with the No. 2 pick by the Sharks, triggering a historic night for his country, and became the seventh Swedish-born player to be selected among the top two in the NHL Draft – a new Pacific Division rival Leo Carlsson (No. 2 in 2023 by ANA) was the last before him.
* Stenberg had 11-22—33 with Frolunda in 2025-26 – the fifth-best SHL season ever by a player age 18 or younger – and joined his brother Otto Stenberg (No. 25 in 2023 by STL) as a first-round pick in the NHL Draft. They are the fourth set of Swedish brothers to both be selected in Round 1 of the NHL Draft, following Daniel Sedin (No. 2 in 1999) and Henrik Sedin (No. 3 in 1999), William Nylander (No. 8 in 2014) and Alex Nylander (No. 8 in 2016) as well as William Eklund (No. 7 in 2021) and Victor Eklund (No. 16 in 2025). Of note, the Nylander brothers were both born in Canada, but are Swedish nationals who represent their country in international competition.
* A record seven Swedish-born players entered the NHL on Friday – the most ever in Round 1 – with Viggo Bjorck (No. 8 by WPG), Alexander Command (No. 12 by NJD), Malte Gustafsson (No. 13 by NYI), Elton Hermansson (No. 19 by LAK), Jonas Lagerberg Hoen (No. 25 by OTT) and Marcus Nordmark (No. 28 by ANA) following Stenberg.
* It also marked the second time that four Swedish-born players were selected among the top 15 picks in an NHL Draft, following the 2011 class of Gabriel Landeskog (No. 2 by COL), Adam Larsson (No. 4 by NJD), Mika Zibanejad (No. 6 by OTT) and Jonas Brodin (No. 10 by MIN).
MORE ON ROUND 1
* Round 1 by position: 10 defensemen, 8 left wings, 8 centers and six right wings.
* Round 1 Picks by League: OHL (7), WHL (5), NCAA (5), SWEDEN (3), SWEDEN-JR. (3), QMJHL (2), USHL (2), FINLAND (2), GERMANY (1), RUSSIA-JR. (1) and SWEDEN-2 (1).
* Round 1 Picks By Birth Country: Canada (10), Sweden (7), United States (7), Finland (3), Kazakhstan (2), Czechia (1), Latvia (1) and Russia (1).
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* The Rangers made a splash on multiple fronts Friday – they chose Alberts Smits (Valmiera, Latvia) at No. 5 to make him the highest-selected Latvian player in NHL Draft history, displacing Zemgus Girgensens (No. 14 in 2012 by BUF), and acquired Pavel Dorofeyev from the Golden Knights. Dorofeyev ranked second in the NHL with 12 goals during the 2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs. Smits’ historic selection capped a season in which he hit an international trifecta by representing Latvia at the World Junior Championship, Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026 and the World Championship.
* For the first time in a quarter-century, a player born in Kazakhstan was picked in the opening round of the NHL Draft with Gleb Pugachyov going at No. 26 (MTL) followed immediately after by Maksim Sokolovskii at No. 27 (PHI) – marking the first time in NHL Draft history that multiple Kazakhstan-born players were selected in the same first round. Overall, only five players born in that country have been first-round picks in the NHL Draft, with Pugachyov and Sokolovskii joining Alexander Perezhogin (No. 25 in 2001 by MTL), Pavel Vorobiev (No. 11 in 2000 by CHI) and Nik Antropov (No. 10 in 1998 by TOR).
* A total of 15 players born outside North America were selected Friday, tied with 1999 and 2018 for the third-highest total in Round 1 in NHL Draft history behind the 17 in 2022 and 16 in 2000.
* The Sharks led all teams with three selections in Round 1, adding Ivar Stenberg (No. 2) and Keaton Verhoeff (No. 9) before trading up to select Ryan Lin (No. 21) – marking the first time the club has made three picks in the opening round and second time they made a pair of top-10 selections. San Jose also became the first team in more than a dozen years to make a top-two selection in three straight drafts.
* A contingent of seven U.S.-born players were selected Friday, led by Chase Reid (Pontiac, Mich.) who went at No. 7 to the Kraken, which was the most since 2021 (8). Jaxon Cover (No. 32 by OTT), who rounded out the group of Americans, was born in Florida but only lived there a month before moving to the Grand Cayman Islands where he spent his childhood. He began his ice hockey journey on roller skates, started attending skating camps at age 10 in Toronto, did not go to his first ice hockey tryout until he was 13 and did not play competitively until he was 14.
* The NCAA circuit had a strong night with five first-round picks, tied with 2025 and 2002 for the third most in an opening round behind 2003 (7) and 2000 (6).
* For a third straight year, at least four of the top six picks in the NHL Draft were Canadian-born (5 of 6 in 2025 & 4 of 6 in 2024). Before that, the last such occurrence was in 2014 (5 of 6).
* A total of 10 defensemen were selected including four in a row from pick Nos. 4-7 – the first time since 2012 that there was a run of four straight blueliners picked among the top 10 in the NHL Draft. Half of the top 10 picks Friday were blueliners, also a first since 2012 when a record eight of the top 10 were defensemen.
* Four players were selected in the first round with fathers who also played in the NHL: Caleb Malhotra (No. 3) was picked by the Canucks, the team his father, Manny Malhotra, both played for and is the current head coach of; Wyatt Cullen (No. 10) was selected by the Predators, the team his father, Matt Cullen, played 139 games for and defeated in the 2017 Stanley Cup Final; Maddox Dagenais (No. 16 by STL), whose father, Pierre Dagenais, played for the Devils, Panthers and Canadiens; and Marcus Nordmark (No. 28 by ANA), whose father Robert Nordmark patrolled the blueline for 236 NHL games with the Blues and Canucks.
* Other moments from the opening round included Bill Guerin becoming the first in Wild history to claim the Jim Gregory General Manager of the Year Award; Blackstone Valley high school, who have been at the forefront of hockey consciousness since a tragic shooting on Feb. 16, handing out jerseys after prospects were drafted; country music star Luke Bryan, who announced Nashville’s selection of Wyatt Cullen, who was once a kid on the ice in a Predators jersey beside his dad, hours before playing a concert in Buffalo; and Spencer Moore, a Canucks for Kids Fund beneficiary with pondyloepiphyseal dysplasia congenita, announcing Vancouver’s selection of Adam Novotny with the 24th overall pick.
TRADE WINDS WERE BLOWING ON DRAFT DAY
After a busy week of trade action, there were 13 more trades Friday – including nine announced during the draft – which marked the most on Day 1 of a two-day draft since 2008 when there were 14. Each of the nine deals announced from the draft floor:
* The Bruins acquired forward JJ Peterka from the Mammoth for a first-round pick in the 2026 NHL Draft (No. 23) and a first-round pick in the 2028 NHL Draft.
* The Rangers acquired forward Pavel Dorofeyev from the Golden Knights for a first-round pick in the 2026 NHL Draft (No. 26), a third-round pick in 2026 (No. 92) and a conditional first-round pick in the 2028 NHL Draft.
* The Blues acquired forward Mason McTavish from the Ducks for two first-round picks in the 2026 NHL Draft (Nos. 15 & 29).
* The Mammoth acquired a first-round pick in the 2026 NHL Draft (No. 17) from the Kings for a first-round pick in 2026 (No. 19) and a third-round pick in 2026 (No. 83).
* The Sharks acquired a first-round pick in the 2026 NHL Draft (No. 21) from the Flyers for a first-round pick in 2026 (No. 27), a second-round pick in 2026 (No. 62) and a fourth-round pick in 2026 (No. 120).
* The Mammoth acquired goaltender Sebastian Cossa from the Red Wings for a first-round pick in the 2026 NHL Draft (No. 23).
* The Canadiens acquired a first-round pick in the 2026 NHL Draft (No. 26) from the Golden Knights for a first-round pick in 2026 (No. 28) and a third-round pick in the 2027 NHL Draft.
* The Ducks acquired a first-round pick in the 2026 NHL Draft (No. 28) from the Golden Knights for a first-round pick in 2026 (No. 29) and a fourth-round pick in 2026 (No. 117).
* The Predators acquired a first-round pick in the 2026 NHL Draft (No. 31) from the Hurricanes for two second-round picks in 2026 (Nos. 42 & 57).