Boston Bruins Miss Out on Top 10 Pick in 2026 NHL Draft
The Boston Bruins will miss out on a Top 10 pick in the 2026 NHL Draft.
Although the Bruins made the playoffs this season, a trade from last year resulted in Boston being a part of this year’s draft lottery which took place on Tuesday night.
In 2025, Boston traded defenseman Brandon Carlo to the Toronto Maple Leafs for forward Fraser Minten, a fourth-round pick in last year’s draft, and a conditional first-round pick in the 2026 draft.
The first-round pick from the Maple Leafs was top-five protected so the Bruins would only get it if it fell outside of the top five picks and was the No. 6 or No. 7 pick which it had a 58.2 percent chance to do so.
With the 2025 pick out of the trade, the Bruins selected defenseman Vashek Blanar who is committed to play at UMass.
Toronto finished its 2025-26 campaign with a 32-36-14 overall record and 78 points which was the fifth-worst in the league. The teams that were worse than the Maple Leafs this season were the Calgary Flames, New York Rangers, Chicago Blackhawks, and Vancouver Canucks.
Due to the Maple Leafs’ standing in the league this season, if one team jumped ahead of them in the draft lottery, Boston would get the pick. Toronto needed to be drawn for the top two picks or have two teams in front of them get the top two picks.
The Maple Leafs won the lottery, however, and will have the No. 1 overall selection which means Boston will not take over the pick this year.
With the result, the Bruins will get a future first-round pick from the Maple Leafs in either 2027 or 2028.
The San Jose Sharks won the other pick in the lottery and will select No. 2 overall. After the Maple Leafs and Sharks, the Canucks will go at No. 3, the Blackhawks at No. 4, and the Rangers will pick at No. 5.
The 2026 NHL Entry Draft will take place from June 26-27 at KeyBank Center in Buffalo, N.Y.
2026 NHL Draft Top 16 Order:
- Toronto Maple Leafs
- San Jose Sharks
- Vancouver Canucks
- Chicago Blackhawks
- New York Rangers
- Calgary Flames
- Seattle Kraken
- Winnipeg Jets
- Florida Panthers
- Nashville Predators
- St. Louis Blues
- New Jersey Devils
- New York Islanders
- Columbus Blue Jackets
- St. Louis Blues (from Detroit)
- Washington Capitals
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Kim Rankin is one of the lead writers for Boston Bruins on SI and Boston College On SI. A 2020 graduate of the University of Alabama. she joined Alabama Crimson Tide On SI in February 2024 covering baseball, softball, football, men’s basketball, and more for BamaCentral, but has also contributed to Missouri Tigers On SI. She previously worked as the brand manager at Tide 100.9 FM in Tuscaloosa, Ala. She has covered a wide variety of events including SEC Championships, NCAA Regionals, and bowl games.