{"id":626832,"date":"2026-05-06T12:38:09","date_gmt":"2026-05-06T12:38:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/626832\/"},"modified":"2026-05-06T12:38:09","modified_gmt":"2026-05-06T12:38:09","slug":"2026-nhl-draft-lottery-takeaways-gavin-mckennas-readiness-caleb-malhotras-ascent-and-more","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/626832\/","title":{"rendered":"2026 NHL Draft Lottery takeaways: Gavin McKenna\u2019s readiness, Caleb Malhotra\u2019s ascent and more"},"content":{"rendered":"

The conclusion of U18 worlds<\/a> and the drawing of the NHL Draft Lottery<\/a> means draft season is officially upon us.<\/p>\n

After Tuesday night\u2019s lottery, the order of the first 16 selections in the 2026 NHL Draft is now determined.<\/p>\n

League finals in junior hockey are about to get started, and men\u2019s worlds in Switzerland won\u2019t be far behind them. Then we\u2019ll wrap up another year on the prospects calendar with the Memorial Cup in Kelowna, B.C., at the end of the month and then the NHL Scouting Combine in Buffalo in the first week of June before returning to Buffalo a few weeks later for the draft.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s everything I\u2019m thinking about and hearing after the drawing of this year\u2019s ping pong balls.<\/p>\n

A new Core Four in Toronto?<\/p>\n

You almost have to laugh.<\/p>\n

On Monday, the Toronto Maple Leafs were introducing<\/a> two new heads of their hockey operations in a testy and uncomfortable news conference, and inheriting the potential loss of a No. 6 or No. 7 pick in this year\u2019s draft to the Bruins as part of the previous regime\u2019s decision-making. Now they\u2019re sitting atop the draft.<\/p>\n

After news broke on Tuesday evening that McKenna will not, in the end, play for Canada at men\u2019s worlds, his draft year is officially over.<\/p>\n

McKenna remains, through a tumultuous year of his own, the likely choice at No. 1. And while there was a time when his camp was at least considering a return to college for his sophomore year, that was months ago, and the expectation now is that he\u2019s going to sign his entry-level contract and play in the NHL next year. He\u2019s not entirely ready: physically, or from a maturity\/habits\/details\/defensive standpoint. It\u2019s going to be hard for him on the ice, and he\u2019s going to have to go through it in the league\u2019s highest-pressure market right now if he\u2019s the pick. But you\u2019ll see the talent shine through right away, and he would give the Leafs a dynamic playmaking winger and immediate power-play upgrade.<\/p>\n

I think it\u2019ll be McKenna, and he\u2019s my first-ranked prospect in the draft still, too.<\/p>\n

What to do at No. 2?<\/p>\n

If the Maple Leafs take McKenna, I\u2019m sure the Sharks will consider Ivar Stenberg at No. 2. How could you not at least imagine what it would look like to pair the Swedish winger with forwards Macklin Celebrini, Will Smith and Michael Misa atop that lineup?<\/p>\n

And yet, precisely because of those three players, the Sharks feel like the real winners of this lottery, if only because they\u2019re now positioned to fill the position they need most by picking their top D in the class. My sense is that\u2019s Chase Reid at the moment. He feels like the most natural fit to run their first power play long term and better slot Sam Dickinson in their depth chart. But Sharks fans should be learning about Carson Carels and even Alberts Smits, Keaton Verhoeff and the red-hot Daxon Rudolph in the lead-up to draft night as well.<\/p>\n

Malhotra, the topic of the day<\/p>\n

On the eve of the lottery, the Brantford Bulldogs lost in Game 7 of the OHL\u2019s Eastern Conference Final to the Barrie Colts. As their season ended, so did Caleb Malhotra\u2019s. Tuesday morning, rumors started circulating connecting Malhotra, a Boston University commit, to next year\u2019s Memorial Cup host Guelph. There was even a suggestion online of a pre-ordained trade.<\/p>\n

After doing some due diligence of my own on it, I was told by two sources that those rumors are meritless. Malhotra isn\u2019t being traded to Guelph and never was. And he remains committed to BU. If there\u2019s a consideration for him, it\u2019s an NHL one. Those around him think he should be playing in the NHL or NCAA next year.<\/p>\n

And BU are very excited about him.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat a player he is,\u201d Terriers head coach Jay Pandolfo told The Athletic on a phone call a couple of weeks ago. \u201cI\u2019ve watched most of his playoff games, and you can still see that the strength portion for him will show up more at this level than it does in the OHL, but his sense and everything that goes along with it, he\u2019s just a player.\u201d<\/p>\n

Malhotra\u2019s draft year concluded with 42 goals and 110 points in 82 combined regular-season and playoff games. The belief around the NHL is that he\u2019s in the conversation starting at No. 2 after a meteoric draft year ascension, and the belief around the OHL is that\u2019s the range he belongs in. On a loaded Bulldogs team that featured a top-10 pick from last year\u2019s draft in Jake O\u2019Brien, Malhotra was their best player in these playoffs.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s now the clear top center prospect in this class, ahead of Boston University\u2019s Tynan Lawrence and Djurgarden\u2019s Viggo Bjorck. Centers always go early, but Malhotra is a top-of-the-draft talent. He\u2019s a nearly 6-foot-2 pivot who drives two-way results, can play in all situations, and has his dad Manny\u2019s pro habits, but he was also viewed as one of the most talented and intelligent players in the OHL this year and has a still-lean frame that offers him legitimate growth potential moving forward. Don\u2019t scoff at him if your team takes him at the very top of the draft, even if you\u2019ve been hearing about McKenna and Stenberg over the last couple of years.<\/p>\n

Notable prospects still playing<\/p>\n

Some teams have their final scouting meetings coming out of U18 worlds. Others hold off until closer to the combine. But even with Malhotra\u2019s elimination, there are still a fair number of draft-eligibles playing. Not all NHL teams give the end of the year the same attention, but here\u2019s who is still playing.<\/p>\n

Stenberg and Bjorck are both currently auditioning for Sweden\u2019s men\u2019s worlds roster. Stenberg has five points in his first two games, and Bjorck has two goals in his first two. Smits will also play for Latvia at the men\u2019s worlds.<\/p>\n

In the WHL championship, Rudolph and the Prince Albert Raiders will play the Everett Silvertips for a spot in the Memorial Cup. Rudolph has been outstanding and leads the Raiders in scoring with nine goals and 23 points in 15 playoff games. Raiders overage goaltender Michal Orsulak, Silvertips defenseman Brek Liske and winger Matias Vanhanen should all be mid-to-late-round picks.<\/p>\n

In the OHL final, Kitchener Rangers defenseman Alexander Bilecki should be a mid-round pick, while Barrie Colts overager Ben Wilmott should be a late-round pick.<\/p>\n

In the QMJHL, the Moncton Wildcats and Blainville-Boisbriand Armada are playing Game 7 of their third-round series Tuesday night. If the Wildcats advance, they have three prospects of note: defenseman Tommy Bleyl (one of the top rookies in the CHL this year), overage forward Niko Tournas and American forward Rian Chudzinski. If the Armada advance, dynamic and diminutive defenseman Xavier Villeneuve plays on. The winner will play Chicoutimi and mid-round overager Liam Lefebvre in the Q final.<\/p>\n

And four teams remain in the USHL\u2019s Clark Cup Playoffs, with goaltender Samuel Hernak, fresh off a silver medal with Slovakia at U18s, back with Fargo, and Muskegon forward Rudolfs Berzkalns projected to be a mid-round pick.<\/p>\n

The MHL playoffs aren\u2019t complete yet either. Lokomotiv has already punched its ticket to the final and will meet the winner of Spartak Moscow and Avto Yekaterinburg. Spartak is up 3-2 in that series. Spartak D Vsevolod Matveyev and Yekaterinburg forward Lavr Gashilov are the draft-eligibles of note there.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The conclusion of U18 worlds and the drawing of the NHL Draft Lottery means draft season is officially…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":626833,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[66],"tags":[385,99,1788],"class_list":["post-626832","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-nhl","tag-sports","tag-toronto-maple-leafs"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/626832","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=626832"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/626832\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/626833"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=626832"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=626832"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=626832"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}