3 Takeaways From the First Round of the 2026 NHL Draft

The first round of the 2026 NHL Draft is now in the books. From Justin Bieber announcing the first-overall pick to a bunch of Buffalo sports figures appearing on stage to announce multiple Sabres picks, KeyBank Center was loud. It made for a fun atmosphere.

A lot of things happened on Friday night. Here are our three takeaways from the first round. We start with a minor surprise at the top of the draft.

Dax Rudolph Cracks Top-5

The general consensus coming into Friday night was that the top-nine players would be called in some order. That turned out to be true, just not in the order many expected.

Gavin McKenna went to the Toronto Maple Leafs as expected first overall. After trading William Eklund to the Ottawa Senators, the San Jose Sharks took Ivar Stenberg second overall.

After some debate, the Vancouver Canucks ultimately selected Caleb Malhotra, the son of new coach Manny third overall. Then the Buffalo Sabres came to the stage and threw a mini curve ball.

With Buffalo Bills Dion Dawkins and Thurman Thomas on stage joined by Buffalo Sabres Josh Doan, Thomas announced that Daxon Rudolph was the fourth-overall pick. That sent some murmurs in the crowd.

With Rudolph seeing some Zach Werenski in his game, it makes sense that GM Jarmo Kekalainen would pick a defenseman like him considering it was Kekalainen that drafted Werenski in 2015. After the Bowen Byram trade, the Sabres replenish their prospect pool on the blue line.

With this pick, it meant another top prospect would start to fall. Add in Viggo Bjorck breaking into the top-10, that meant Chase Reid (7th) and Keaton Verhoeff (9th) slipped down lower than some anticipated.

The top-nine names went as expected but not in the order expected. This class had a run of top defensemen available. It just came down to a matter of preference based on the teams picking. Speaking of Verhoeff.

Sharks Crush the First Round

The Sharks won the second draft lottery to win the right to pick second overall. They traded Eklund to get the ninth pick. Then they completed a trade with the Philadelphia Flyers to get the 21st pick. The Sharks traded picks 27, 62 and 120 to trade up.

Who did the Sharks get? Stenberg, Verhoeff and then Ryan Lin. Talk about a slam dunk performance by GM Mike Grier.

Stenberg was expected to go second overall especially after the Eklund trade. Grier’s attempt at a smokescreen that they’d take a defenseman second overall didn’t work.

The Sharks were then in position to get one of the top D. In Verhoeff, they get one of the youngest defensemen in college hockey. He was once considered one of the best prospects available in the draft until some skating concerns and the way his season went brought him down some.

With NHL size already and with room to fill out, Verhoeff has a chance to be a mainstay on the Sharks blue line for many years. He will be joined by Lin who is one of the best offensive defensemen available in the draft.

Add them to Macklin Celebrini and the rest of the young talent the Sharks have and you see an exciting plan coming together. They by far won the first round consider what all they added.

Big Trades

The 2026 NHL Draft was expected to have big trades. It didn’t disappoint. There’s also more to come with many situations that need to work themselves out.

Among the traded on Friday night were JJ Peterka from Utah to Boston, Mason McTavish from Anaheim to St. Lous, Pavel Dorofeyev from Vegas to the New York Rangers and Sebastian Cossa from Detroit to Utah.

What stands out here are the prices. The Mammoth got two first round picks by trading Peterka. The Ducks got the same by trading McTavish. The Golden Knights also got two first rounders and a third rounder by trading Dorofeyev. The Red Wings got a first for trading Cossa.

The seller’s market prevails. Good players went for one or more first-round picks. Teams saw opportunity to add. Sellers got a good return. For the Bruins, Rangers and Blues, they had to take a swing. Although it was a high price, good teams find a way to hit homeruns when necessary.

The overarching theme was not directly related to a trade but perhaps it will be one in the future. We already knew of the reports on Zach Werenski. Now it seems Kirill Marchenko isn’t interested in re-signing with the Blue Jackets either.

As first reported on ESPN by Kevin Weekes and John Buccigross, Marchenko’s camp expressed to the team that they weren’t interested in re-signing at this time. GM Don Waddell said near the end of the first round that the Marchenko news was new to him and that he didn’t have much comment on it.

We’ll see where it all goes. Werenski has two seasons left before becoming a UFA. Marchenko is one year away from becoming an RFA. There is not any indication that an immediate trade will happen. But given the circumstances, the Blue Jackets will need to decide how to proceed.

This situation has turned into an absolute gut punch for the Blue Jackets. The coming days and weeks will be watched by everyone in the hockey world.