2026-27 NHL Season, Expanded to 84 Games

The National Hockey League (NHL) has announced that the 2026-27 regular season, expanded to 84 games with the addition of two more divisional games per team, will open on Tuesday, Sept. 29, with an opening-night tripleheader broadcast on ESPN in the U.S. and a doubleheader on Sportsnet in Canada.

At 5 p.m. ET on ESPN, the Florida Panthers will face off against the defending Stanley Cup champion Carolina Hurricanes. Prior to the game, Carolina will raise its second championship banner at Lenovo Center.

At 7 p.m. ET on Sportsnet, the Montreal Canadiens visit the Toronto Maple Leafs in an Original Six contest at Scotiabank Arena.

Action continues on ESPN at 8 p.m. ET, when the New York Rangers face off against the Boston Bruins in another Original Six matchup at TD Garden.

At 10 p.m. ET on Sportsnet, the Vancouver Canucks clash with Pacific Division foes the Edmonton Oilers at Rogers Place.

Then, on ESPN at 10:30 p.m. ET, the Chicago Blackhawks will visit the Vegas Golden Knights in a Western Conference matchup at T-Mobile Arena.

The first night of 2026-27 action on TNT will be the following night, Wednesday, Sept. 30, a doubleheader featuring the Pittsburgh Penguins at the Philadelphia Flyers at 7:30 p.m. ET and the Los Angeles Kings visiting the Colorado Avalanche at 10 p.m. ET.

Scheduling matrix for the 2026-27 campaign

Games Within Division – 28 total games for each team
7 teams x 2 home / 2 away (Subtotal 14 home / 14 away)

Games Within Conference (Non-Division) – 24 total games for each team
4 teams x 2 home / 1 away (Subtotal 8 home / 4 away)
4 teams x 1 home / 2 away (Subtotal 4 home / 8 away)

Non-Conference Games – 32 total games for each team
16 teams x 1 home / 1 away (Subtotal 16 home / 16 away)

Grand Total – 84 Games
42 home / 42 away

The post 2026-27 NHL Season, Expanded to 84 Games appeared first on In Play! magazine.

2026-27 NHL Regular-Season Schedule Announcement

Opening Night Matchups Will Be Set on July 15; Each Team to Play Two Additional Divisional Games, Expanding Season to 84 Games Per Team and 1,344 Overall

On Wednesday, July 15, the League will unveil opening night matchups, which will be broadcast exclusively on ESPN in the U.S. and on Sportsnet in Canada. The announcement will be made during the day, prior to the 2026 ESPY Awards (8 p.m. ET, ABC), that will feature several NHL nominees, including the 2026 Olympic Gold Medal-winning USA’s Men’s Ice Hockey team for Best Team. Wednesday’s announcement will also detail the League’s 2026-27 signature events.

The following day, on Thursday, July 16, the complete 2026-27 NHL regular-season schedule is set to be announced at 1 p.m. ET. Coming off the 2025-26 season that saw record-breaking viewership and attendance, the 2026-27 regular-season schedule will feature 1,344 games – 84 games per team – which includes two additional divisional games per team.

The post 2026-27 NHL Regular-Season Schedule appeared first on In Play! magazine.

Detroit Red Wings 2026 Development Camp Recap

The Detroit Red Wings wrapped up their 2026 Summer Development Camp this week, giving fans their first look at the organization’s newest prospects and future stars. Held at the team’s practice facility, the camp brought together recent draft picks, organizational prospects, and intriguing free agent invites for several days of on-ice sessions and skill development.

Leading the charge was first-round pick JP Hurlbert, selected 23rd overall in the 2026 NHL Draft following a trade with the Utah Mammoth. The talented forward immediately caught attention with his smooth skating ability and creativity during drills. Observers noted Hurlbert’s willingness to try unconventional moves, including going under sticks rather than around them during puck-handling exercises—a sign of the hockey IQ and innovation that made him a first-round selection.

Second-round pick Victor Plante also participated in the camp alongside his brother Max, creating a unique family dynamic on the ice. The Plante brothers were featured prominently throughout the week’s sessions, with Victor looking comfortable in his number 48 jersey, while Max took over number 21. Other recent draft selections in attendance included fifth-rounder Beckham Edwards, as well as prospects Adam Levac, Michal Oršulák, Rudy Guimond, and Carter Bear, all of whom spoke with media and participated in video interviews throughout the camp.

Photos: Tim Jarrold – In Play! magazine

The post Red Wings 2026 Development Camp Recap appeared first on In Play! magazine.

NHL Releases 2026 Free Agent List

The National Hockey League has released a list of players who are restricted free agents under Group 2, unrestricted free agents under Group 3 and Group 6 and unrestricted free agents by virtue of not receiving a qualifying offer.

Some of these players may recently have signed with their respective Clubs; however, their contracts had not yet been filed with the League.

FREE AGENTS SUBJECT TO COMPENSATION AND RIGHT TO MATCH – GROUP 2

The players listed below have been tendered a qualifying offer by their respective Clubs and are subject to draft-choice compensation and right to match. The draft choice compensation scale is based on compensation offered by the new Club:

OFFER COMPENSATION

$1,575,969 or below None

Over $1,575,969 to $2,387,832 Third-round choice

Over $2,387,832 to $4,775,666 Second-round choice

Over $4,775,666 to $7,163,498 First-round and third-round choice

Over $7,163,498 to $9,551,332 First-round, second-round and third-round choice

Over $9,551,332 to $11,939,166 Two first-round choices, one second- and one third-round choice

Over $11,939,166 Four first-round choices

ANAHEIM

Vyacheslav Buteyets, Leo Carlsson, Calle Clang, Tyson Hinds, Pavel Mintyukov, Sasha Pastujov.

BOSTON

Luke Cavallin, Riley Duran, Matthew Poitras.

BUFFALO

Peyton Krebs, Olen Zellweger.

CALGARY

Simon Nemec, Brennan Othmann, William Stromgren.

CAROLINA

Noel Gunler, Aleksi Heimosalmi, Viktor Neuchev, Cayden Primeau, Justin Robidas, Ronan Seeley.

CHICAGO

Connor Bedard, Drew Commesso, Ethan Del Mastro, Kevin Korchinski.

COLORADO

Zakhar Bardakov, Fabian Lysell.

COLUMBUS

Adam Fantilli, Jet Greaves, Cole Sillinger, Luke Tuch.

DALLAS

Mavrik Bourque, Arttu Hyry, Jason Robertson.

DETROIT

Simon Edvinsson, Carter Gylander.

EDMONTON

Colton Dach, Roby Jarventie, Spencer Stastney.

FLORIDA

Tobias Bjornfot, Mikulas Hovorka, Akira Schmid.

LOS ANGELES

None.

MINNESOTA

Caedan Bankier, Daemon Hunt, Carson Lambos, David Spacek.

MONTREAL

Brett Berard, Zachary Bolduc, Kirby Dach, Jared Davidson, Sean Farrell, Hunter McKown, Maksymilian Szuber, Arber Xhekaj.

NASHVILLE

Justin Barron, Chase Bradley.

NEW JERSEY

Nico Daws, Amadeus Lombardi, Jakub Malek, Xavier Parent, Ben Steeves, Topias Vilen.

NEW YORK ISLANDERS

Alex Jefferies, Joey Larson, Henrik Tikkanen.

NEW YORK RANGERS

Vincent Iorio, Braden Schneider, William Trudeau.

OTTAWA

Tyler Boucher, Xavier Bourgault, Leevi Meriläinen.

PHILADELPHIA

Jamie Drysdale, Hunter McDonald, Trevor Zegras.

PITTSBURGH

Alexander Alexeyev, Joel Blomqvist, Egor Chinakhov, David Gustafsson, Ville Koivunen, Hendrix Lapierre, Arturs Silovs.

SAN JOSE

Shakir Mukhamadullin.

SEATTLE

Jacob Melanson, Victor Ostman, Ville Ottavainen, Mackie Samoskevich.

ST. LOUIS

Leo Loof, Connor McMichael.

TAMPA BAY

None.

TORONTO

Emil Andrae, Jacob Quillan, Nicholas Robertson, Ryan Tverberg, William Villeneuve.

UTAH

None.

VANCOUVER

None.

VEGAS

Jakub Brabenec, Lukas Cormier, Joe Fleming.

WASHINGTON

None.

WINNIPEG

Tyrel Bauer, Cole Perfetti.

UNRESTRICTED FREE AGENTS – GROUP 3

The following players have qualified for Group 3 Free Agency (age 27 or older or with at least seven Accrued Seasons) and are Unrestricted Free Agents.

ANAHEIM

A.J. Greer, Jansen Harkins, Ross Johnston, Petr Mrazek, Noah Philp, Jacob Trouba, Jeffrey Viel.

BOSTON

Viktor Arvidsson, Patrick Brown, Andrew Peeke, Riley Tufte.

BUFFALO

Gavin Bayreuther, Josh Dunne, David Kampf, Jake Leschyshyn, Tanner Pearson, Luke Schenn, Logan Stanley.

CALGARY

Jake Bean, Clark Bishop, Justin Kirkland, Ryan Lomberg, Daniil Miromanov, Victor Olofsson, Ivan Prosvetov.

CAROLINA

Frederik Andersen, John Carlson, Mike Reilly, Josiah Slavin, Givani Smith.

CHICAGO

Joey Anderson, Matt Grzelcyk, Sam Lafferty, Ilya Mikheyev, Shea Weber.

COLORADO

Jack Ahcan, Ronnie Attard, Alex Barré-Boulet, Nick Blankenburg, Tye Felhaber, Joel Kiviranta, Jacob MacDonald, Jason Polin, Valtteri Puustinen, T.J. Tynan.

COLUMBUS

Zach Aston-Reese, Hudson Fasching, Ivan Fedotov, Brendan Gaunce, Erik Gudbranson, Danton Heinen, Boone Jenner, Mason Marchment, Dysin Mayo, Zach Sawchenko, Owen Sillinger, Brendan Smith.

DALLAS

Nathan Bastian, Jamie Benn, Michael Bunting, Adam Erne, Kole Lind, Alexander Petrovic.

DETROIT

Erik Gustafsson, Travis Hamonic, Patrick Kane, David Perron, Cam Talbot, Eduards Tralmaks, James van Riemsdyk, Austin Watson.

EDMONTON

Cam Dineen, James Hamblin, Adam Henrique, Connor Ingram, Max Jones, Kasperi Kapanen, Curtis Lazar, Calvin Pickard, Jack Roslovic.

FLORIDA

Sergei Bobrovsky, Louis Domingue, Noah Gregor, Radko Gudas, Aleksi Heponiemi, Vinnie Hinostroza, Logan Hutsko, Luke Kunin, Tomas Nosek, Jack Studnicka, Daniil Tarasov.

LOS ANGELES

Logan Brown, Kyle Burroughs, Pheonix Copley, Glenn Gawdin, Mathieu Joseph, Anze Kopitar, Andrei Kuzmenko, Scott Laughton, Jeff Malott, Jacob Moverare.

MINNESOTA

Nicolas Aube-Kubel, Zach Bogosian, Robby Fabbri, Nick Foligno, Ben Gleason, Marcus Johansson, Ben Jones, Cal Petersen, Jeff Petry, Vladimir Tarasenko, Mats Zuccarello.

MONTREAL

Alex Belzile, Sammy Blais, Nathan Clurman, Kaapo Kahkonen, Patrik Laine, Hunter Shepard.

NASHVILLE

Andreas Englund, Kevin Gravel, Erik Haula, Tyson Jost, Jordan Oesterle.

NEW JERSEY

Dennis Cholowski, Evgenii Dadonov, Brian Halonen, Mike Hardman, Zack MacEwen, Ryan Schmelzer, Colton White.

NEW YORK ISLANDERS

Adam Boqvist, Matthew Highmore, Marcus Hogberg, Anders Lee, Matt Luff, David Rittich, Carson Soucy.

NEW YORK RANGERS

Jonny Brodzinski, Casey Fitzgerald, Trey Fix-Wolansky, Connor Mackey, Jonathan Quick, Brandon Scanlin, Conor Sheary.

OTTAWA

Lars Eller, Dennis Gilbert, Claude Giroux, Nick Jensen, Garrett Pilon, James Reimer.

PHILADELPHIA

Rodrigo Abols, Oscar Eklind, Luke Glendening, Carl Grundstrom, Noah Juulsen, Boris Katchouk, Lane Pederson, Anthony Richard, Garrett Wilson.

PITTSBURGH

Noel Acciari, Sebastian Aho, Connor Clifton, Rafael Harvey-Pinard, Kevin Hayes, Bokondji Imama, Joona Koppanen, Anthony Mantha, Ryan Shea, Stuart Skinner.

SAN JOSE

Laurent Brossoit, Lucas Carlsson, Sasha Chmelevski, Vincent Desharnais, Mario Ferraro, John Klingberg, Samuel Laberge, Nick Leddy, Carey Price, Ryan Reaves, Colin White.

SEATTLE

Max McCormick, Matt Murray, Jamie Oleksiak, Gustav Olofsson, Jaden Schwartz, Mitchell Stephens, Eeli Tolvanen.

ST. LOUIS

Julien Gauthier, Justin Holl, Hugh McGing, Oskar Sundqvist.

TAMPA BAY

Oliver Bjorkstrand, Mitchell Chaffee, Brandon Halverson, Waltteri Merela, Ian Mitchell, Corey Perry.

TORONTO

Matt Benning, Travis Boyd, Calle Jarnkrok, Vinni Lettieri.

UTAH

Andrew Agozzino, Ian Cole, Kevin Connauton, Alexander Kerfoot, Scott Perunovich, Kevin Rooney, Kevin Stenlund, Vitek Vanecek, Matt Villalta.

VANCOUVER

Teddy Blueger, Derek Forbort, Evander Kane, Joseph LaBate, Jiri Patera.

VEGAS

Rasmus Andersson, Dylan Coghlan, Ben Hutton, Tanner Laczynski, Jeremy Lauzon, Jonas Rondbjerg, Brandon Saad, Colton Sissons, Cole Smith, Reilly Smith.

WASHINGTON

Brandon Duhaime, Tobias Geisser, Brett Leason, Sonny Milano, Alex Ovechkin, Corey Schueneman, Trevor van Riemsdyk.

WINNIPEG

Jacob Bryson, Kale Clague, Eric Comrie, Phillip Di Giuseppe, Colin Miller, Gustav Nyquist, Mason Shaw, Jonathan Toews, Kristian Vesalainen.

UNRESTRICTED FREE AGENTS – GROUP 6

The following players qualify for unrestricted free agency, having met the requirements for Group 6 free agency. This group is defined as players whose contracts have expired, are age 25 or older, have completed three or more professional seasons, and (i) in the case of a player other than a goaltender, have played fewer than 80 NHL games (regular-season and playoff), or (ii) in the case of a goaltender, have played fewer than 28 NHL games (regular-season and playoff).

ANAHEIM

None.

BOSTON

Matěj Blümel, Michael Callahan, John Farinacci, Georgii Merkulov, Victor Soderstrom.

BUFFALO

Trevor Kuntar.

CALGARY

Nick Cicek.

CAROLINA

Ryan Suzuki.

CHICAGO

Olivier Rodrigue.

COLORADO

Magnus Chrona, Matt Stienburg.

COLUMBUS

None.

DALLAS

None.

DETROIT

Antti Tuomisto.

EDMONTON

Samuel Poulin.

FLORIDA

Nolan Foote.

LOS ANGELES

Nikita Alexandrov, Jan Jenik.

MINNESOTA

None.

MONTREAL

Marc Del Gaizo.

NASHVILLE

None.

NEW JERSEY

Jonathan Gruden, Nathan Légaré, Marc McLaughlin.

NEW YORK ISLANDERS

Adam Beckman, Cole McWard, Travis Mitchell.

NEW YORK RANGERS

None.

OTTAWA

Graeme Clarke, Olle Lycksell, Mads Sogaard, Lassi Thomson.

PHILADELPHIA

Adam Ginning, Max Guenette.

PITTSBURGH

None.

SAN JOSE

Egor Afanasyev, Shane Bowers, Pavol Regenda, Jakub Skarek, Jett Woo.

SEATTLE

None.

ST. LOUIS

Hunter Skinner, Akil Thomas, Vadim Zherenko.

TAMPA BAY

Declan Carlile, Ryan Fanti.

TORONTO

None.

UTAH

None.

VANCOUVER

Curtis Douglas.

VEGAS

Raphael Lavoie.

WASHINGTON

Wyatt Bongiovanni, Henrik Rybinski.

WINNIPEG

Samuel Fagemo, Ville Heinola.

UNRESTRICTED FREE AGENTS

The following players were not tendered a qualifying offer and are therefore Unrestricted Free Agents not subject to a right to match or draft choice compensation.

ANAHEIM

Jeremie Biakabutuka, Jan Mysak, Jaxsen Wiebe.

BOSTON

Alexis Gendron, Jordan Harris, Maximus Wanner.

BUFFALO

Isaac Belliveau, Zac Jones, Olivier Nadeau, Nikita Novikov.

CALGARY

John Beecher, Parker Bell, Lucas Ciona, Artem Grushnikov, Carter King, Owen Say, Gavin White.

CAROLINA

Skyler Brind’Amour, Domenick Fensore, Kyle Masters, Amir Miftakhov, Nikita Quapp.

CHICAGO

Dmitry Kuzmin, Ryan Mast.

COLORADO

Danil Gushchin.

COLUMBUS

Stanislav Svozil, Egor Zamula.

DALLAS

Francesco Arcuri, Vladislav Kolyachonok, Ben Kraws, Kyle McDonald, Jeremie Poirier, Antonio Stranges, Samu Tuomaala, Chase Wheatcroft.

DETROIT

Alexandre Doucet, Carter Mazur, Michael Milne, Jakub Rychlovsky, Wojciech Stachowiak.

EDMONTON

Josh Bloom, Matvey Petrov.

FLORIDA

Mike Benning, Evan Nause, Cole Schwindt, Donovan Sebrango, Wilmer Skoog.

LOS ANGELES

None.

MINNESOTA

Cameron Butler, Samuel Hlavaj, Bradley Marek, Oskar Olausson.

MONTREAL

Jake Chiasson, Gannon Laroque, Joe Veleno.

NASHVILLE

Dalton Bancroft, Jack Matier, Ryder Rolston, Christoffer Sedoff.

NEW JERSEY

Calen Addison, Tyler Brennan, Paul Cotter, Dylan Wendt.

NEW YORK ISLANDERS

Marc Gatcomb, Tristan Lennox, Eetu Liukas, Matthew Maggio, Max Shabanov, Cam Thiesing.

NEW YORK RANGERS

Talyn Boyko, Brendan Brisson, Hugo Ollas, Massimo Rizzo.

OTTAWA

Samuel Ersson, Arthur Kaliyev, Riley Kidney.

PHILADELPHIA

Karsen Dorwart, Artem Guryev, Brett Harrison, Christian Kyrou, Tucker Robertson, Philip Tomasino.

PITTSBURGH

None.

SAN JOSE

Noah Beck, Gabriel Carriere, Philipp Kurashev.

SEATTLE

None.

ST. LOUIS

Jonatan Berggren, Thomas Bordeleau, Matthew Kessel.

TAMPA BAY

Ethan Samson.

TORONTO

Braeden Kressler, Matias Maccelli, Vyacheslav Peksa, John Prokop, Henry Thrun.

UTAH

Michal Kunc, Anson Thornton.

VANCOUVER

Nils Aman, Jayden Grubbe, Pierre-Olivier Joseph, Danila Klimovich, Chase Stillman.

VEGAS

None.

WASHINGTON

Garin Bjorklund, Ryan Hofer, Jesper Vikman.

WINNIPEG

Jaret Anderson-Dolan.

The post NHL Releases 2026 Free Agent List appeared first on In Play! magazine.

MAPLE LEAFS SELECT GAVIN 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.

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).
• 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.

Get To Know: Jaxon Cover

• 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).

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