Vancouver Canucks will pick third in NHL draft
Posted May 5, 2026 5:32 am.
Last Updated May 5, 2026 9:05 pm.
After having one of their worst seasons ever and the best chance to win the NHL Draft lottery, the Vancouver Canucks will pick third in this summer’s draft.
The Leafs won the NHL’s Draft Lottery, giving them the first-overall pick on June 26 in Buffalo.
Toronto had the fifth-best odds to win, but also could have lost its first-round pick had it fallen out of the top five. In that case, the pick would have gone to the Boston Bruins as part of the Brandon Carlo deal at last year’s trade deadline.
The huge news comes one day after the Leafs unveiled John Chayka as their new GM and Mats Sundin as senior executive adviser of hockey operations.
Penn State winger Gavin McKenna has been the projected top pick in most recent mock drafts. He’s been in a season-long battle with Swedish winger Ivar Stenberg.
The San Jose Sharks won the second-overall pick after winning the second lottery.
The full draft order for the first round is as follows:
- 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 (via Detroit Red Wings)
- Washington Capitals
McKenna, from Whitehorse, had 15 goals and 36 assists in 35 games in his freshman season at Penn State. He was CHL player of the year the previous season, leading the Medicine Hat Tigers to the Memorial Cup final.
McKenna has played for Canada’s world junior team the past two years.
It marks the third time Toronto will have the first-overall pick in the draft.
In 1985, the Leafs took Wendel Clark, and in 2016, Toronto grabbed current star Auston Matthews.
The Matthews-led 2016 draft was also in Buffalo.
President Jim Rutherford will step down
Meanwhile, Jim Rutherford announced that he will step down from his role as the team’s president of hockey operations following next month’s NHL Draft.
“I’m going to get away from the day-to-day operations,” he said at an unrelated press conference. “I’m going to stay with the team as an adviser and alternate governor. But as far as the day-to-day operations, we’re going to put together a really good staff here going forward.”
The 77-year-old, three-time Stanley Cup winner said Tuesday that he’s been thinking about his future a lot recently.
“This is something I’ve thought about anyway for a couple of years,” Rutherford said. “But it’s time for me to do that. I feel bad that I have to do it at such a young age, but I decided to do it anyway.”
