The NHL Draft has come and gone in 2026, as it happened from June 26th to June 27th. Amongst the hype and transactions leading up to the draft, the draft itself, and what has happened since then and is yet to come, there have been and will continue to be fireworks.
2026 NHL Draft and Pre-Free Agency Chaos: Before the draft itself…some of the biggest trades this offseason
A multitude of trades happened prior to the NHL Draft this year, and they are surely going to be accepted by some sides and regretted by others. The first big trade this offseason saw the villainized American winger Brady Tkachuk being traded to the Florida Panthers from the Ottawa Senators in exchange for two 2026 first-round picks, one 2029 first-round pick, and one second-round pick in 2027.
The next trade saw the Toronto Maple Leafs acquire defenseman Darren Raddysh from the Tampa Bay Lightning in exchange for a 2026 fifth-round pick. This trade sees Toronto getting a premier defenseman and allows Raddysh to return home to play for his favorite childhood team.
The Washington Capitals are preparing for a possible last run with the Alex Ovechkin one, and to do so, they went out and acquired Alex Tuch in a sign-and-trade. In exchange, the Buffalo Sabres got forward David Kampf and a third-round pick for the 2027 NHL draft.
The last, and probably most puzzling, trades I will cover in this section happened between the Sabres and Chicago Blackhawks. Chicago sent Louis Crevier and the 4th and 45th overall picks in the 2026 draft to Buffalo in exchange for Bowen Byram (who reportedly is expecting Cale Makar– and Quinn Hughes-type money in a new contract) and Jordan Greenway.
2026 NHL Draft and Pre-Free Agency Chaos: Toronto Maple Leafs
Dating all the way back to the post-2025 NHL draft, all eyes were on who would be the first pick and the top picks to follow for 2026. Most of the hype was around the left-handed Canadian winger Gavin McKenna, who left the WHL’s Medicine Hat Tigers to join the Penn State Nittany Lions for the 2025-2026 collegiate season. A season that saw McKenna start slowly but finish with 51 points (15 goals and 36 assists), cold cock some dude at a bar in State College, PA for talking smack about his mom, and an early exit from the NCAA tournament in a loss to Max Plante and Minnesota Duluth on March 27th, 2026.
However, looking back at McKenna’s time in the WHL with Medicine Hat, he was a force to be reckoned with as he posted 270 points (86 goals and 184 assists) in 138 games, which is absolutely insane. Given the stats posted by McKenna in his prep/collegiate career, I would deem the Toronto Maple Leafs as winners after the draft, and McKenna will surely have an immediate impact at the NHL level come October.
2026 NHL Draft and Pre-Free Agency Chaos: San Jose Sharks
An already buzzing organization in San Jose with the next face of the NHL in Macklin Celebrini and a supporting cast of Will Smith, Yaroslav Askarov, and Michael Misa stole the show in Buffalo. The Sharks had the 2nd, 9th, and 21st overall picks and drafted, in order, Ivar Stenberg, Keaton Verhoeff, and Ryan Lin. With that star-studded lineup of players, San Jose is set up for success for a very long time, and given his age and short time in the league, Macklin Celebrini will already have this team competing for the Cup next season.
2026 NHL Draft and Pre-Free Agency Chaos: Buffalo Sabres
Coming off a historic season in Buffalo, the Sabres were able to acquire the 4th overall pick from the Blackhawks, as I mentioned above. They already had the 20th overall pick, and in order, they drafted Daxon Rudolph and Ilia Morozov, with Rudolph having a huge upside and being a great replacement for Byram. This year’s success for the Sabres, combined with the results of this trade/draft, will surely put this team back at the top of the league this next hockey season.
2026 NHL Draft and Pre-Free Agency Chaos: New York Rangers/Vegas Golden Knights
Another trade that happened this off-season that did not make sense to me was between the New York Rangers and Vegas Golden Knights. This trade happened during the NHL draft on June 26th and saw the Knights send Pavel Dorofeyev to New York in exchange for the 26th overall pick in 2026, a third-round pick in 2026, and a first-round pick in 2028. Dorofeyev led VGK in goals this past season with 37 and was fourth in points with 64, and immediately following the trade, he was signed by the Rangers to a 7-year, $11 million-a-year contract.
2026 NHL Draft and Pre-Free Agency Chaos: What could be next?
There have been plenty of rumors of trades that could be happening sooner or later, given the start of NHL free agency on July 1st at 12 PM. Some of the rumors include Detroit Red Wings center Dylan Larkin, who requested a trade weeks ago, and fellow American gold medalist and the master of standing on his head, Connor Hellebuyck, who could be dealt from the Winnipeg Jets as well.
Up until the writing of this article, there was yet another big trade which saw the New Jersey Devils deal Jacob Markstrom and Angus Crookshank to the Florida Panthers for Evan Rodrigues, Jesper Boqvist, and Ben Steeves. This trade may solve Florida’s goalie problem with another stand-on-his-head artist in Sergei Bobrovsky going to the free agent market.
All in all, NHL fans should keep their heads on a swivel in the next few days with free agency about to begin and some other potential trades coming.
Lastly, please be sure to check out my previous articles for the NHL playoffs here!
