2026 NHL Draft Lottery Preview.

 Quick 2026 Draft lottery Preview 

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In only a couple of hours the Draft lottery will go down and we will find out which team will be lucky enough to have the number one pick for this years draft in June and could take one of the top prospects, so I am just going to preview it really quickly here.

So the lowest 11 teams standings wise will all have a shot to get the 1st overall pick in this years draft and all 16 teams who missed the playoffs are going to have at least a tiny shot to move up in the draft depending on that teams position, although 12-16 don’t get a shot at the 1st overall pick they still could move up, now the three teams with the best odds to win the draft this year are the Vancouver Canucks who couldn't hit 60 points this year and now they have the best odds, then the Blackhawks who finished last in the Central have the 2nd best odds same as last year and the Rangers who in my opinion a bit of a surprise to be this low as they finished last in the East and now have the 3rd best odds to take the 1st overall selection.

So here are the odds for the 11 teams to get the 1st overall pick:

Vancouver 25.5%

Chicago 13.5% 

NYR 11.5%

Calgary 9.5%

Toronto 8.5%

Seattle 7.5% 

Winnipeg 6.5%

Florida 6% 

San Jose 5%

Nashville 3.5% 

ST.Louis 3%

And here are the odds for all 16 teams to move up in the lottery:

Vancouver 25.5%

Chicago 13.5% 

NYR 11.5%

Calgary 9.5%

Toronto 8.5%

Seattle 7.5% 

Winnipeg 6.5%

Florida 6% 

San Jose 5%

Nashville 3.5% 

ST.Louis 3%

New Jersey 2.5%

NYI 2%

Columbus 1.5%

ST.Louis via DET .5%

Washington .5%

Now we are a few years into the new lottery rules where only the top 2 lottery spots are open and not top 3 and where you can only move up 10 spots instead of moving up as many as possible, and since we have had those rule changes for the draft, there have not been many movement in the draft lottery up until last year, as back in 2021 Seattle moved up from 3 to 2, in 2022 the Devils moved from 5 to 2, in 2023 the Hawks moved from 3 to 1, in 2024 there was no movement in the draft order however last year it changed a bit as the Islanders jumped up 9 spots to get the 1st overall spot and Utah jumped from 14 to 4 to get a draft pick in the top 5, so besides last years exciting lottery we really haven’t seen any big movement or multiple teams moving up after the lottery rules changed, and maybe the 2026 draft lottery will wind up being interesting and we will see some big movement in today's lottery

Last time each 11 teams drafted 1st overall:

Vancouver: Never

The Canucks have unfortunately never wound up getting the first overall pick in there long 56 year existance, as they did trade for the 1st overall pick in 1999 but promptly dealt it away to get the Sedin bros at 2 and 3 in the 99 draft, and they have picked 2nd overall on 3 seperate occasions including in 1970, 88 and 90 but have never picked 1st overall, so the Canucks will be looking to get their 1st ever first overall selection after picking 15th overall last year.

Chicago: 2023

The Hawks have been lucky enough to draft 1st overall twice in their history as they drafted Patrick Kane in 2007 and more recently Connor Bedard just 3 years ago in 2023 and both seem like generational players, however last year they picked 3rd overall.

NYR: 2020

Now the Rangers have had the 1st overall pick twice in their franchise history and they have won the draft lottery very recently, as back in 1965 they took Andre Veilleux 1st overall and stunningly won the 1st overall pick in 2020 and took Alexis Lafreniere, but last year they selected their first selection 43rd overall.

Calgary: Never 

Now the Flames are another one of these teams who has never had the luxury of selecting a player 1st overall, although they came close on multiple occasions as in 1972 and in 1973 they had selected 2nd overall pick, but unfortunately they never had a 1st overall selection and the closes they have got since the two 2nd overall picks was Sam Bennett who they took 4th in 2014, so they hope to get pick 1 after last year they selected 18th overall. 

Toronto: 2016

Now unlike most of the teams on this list the Leafs have actually been lucky enough to select 1st overall twice in their exsistance as the 1st time was back in 1985 when they drafted Wendell Clark and the most recent was in 2016 when they drafted star forward Auston Matthews, so they will be hoping to get their 3rd 1st overall pick in franchise history, but last year their first selection was 64th.

Seattle: Never

Now unfortunately in their very short existence the Seattle Kraken have never been able to nab the 1st overall pick, as in their first lottery they did win the 2nd overall pick and took Beniers with it but that is as close as they got, and last year they had the 8th overall pick.

Winnipeg: Never/2001

The Jets are very interesting because as the Jets they have never had the 1st overall pick, closest was in 2016 when they took Laine 2nd overall, but before the relocation when they were in Atlanta they actually had 2 1st overall selections taking Patrik Stefan in 1999 and then Ilya Kovalchuk in 2001, so the Jets will be hoping for some of the luck Atlanta had to nab the 1st overall pick after selecting 28th last year

Florida: 2021

Now the Panthers have had some pretty good success, especially recently as they have selected 1st overall on 2 separate occasions, as back into 1974 they drafted Ed Jovonoski 1st overall and about a decade ago in 2014 they selected Aaron Ekblad 1st overall and will be looking for more luck this year, and they had the 112th pick last year. 

San Jose: 2024

The one and only time the Sharks were lucky enough to draft 1st overall was actually 2 years ago, as they had the best odds and got 1st overall and took Macklin Celebrini who has turned into a solid young player but that was the only time they had the 1st overall pick and last year they picked at 2 in the draft.

Nashville: Never

The Nashville Predators have unfortunately never had the luxury of drafting a player with the 1st overall pick, the highest the franchise has ever selected was 2nd back in 1998 when they took David Legwand who really worked out for them, but they have never had the 1st overall pick and had pick 5 last year.

St.Louis: 2006

Now the Blues once in their long franchises history have been able to and 1st overall and that was back in the 2006 draft when they selected Erik Johnson which wasn't a great selection but worked out for them, so they will be looking to nab their 2nd ever 1st overall pick after picking 19th last year.

So I hope and wish everyone’s team luck that they do good in the lottery, and I will be doing a live lottery video and giving my thoughts on it and maybe even do a mock draft after on my YouTube channel which is the End to End Hockey Channel, and I can’t wait to see which team comes out on top in the draft lottery this year.