{"id":761119,"date":"2026-07-13T21:40:13","date_gmt":"2026-07-13T21:40:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/761119\/"},"modified":"2026-07-13T21:40:13","modified_gmt":"2026-07-13T21:40:13","slug":"2026-nhl-draft-1st-round-pick-signings-tracker","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/761119\/","title":{"rendered":"2026 NHL Draft 1st-round pick signings tracker"},"content":{"rendered":"

The 32 players picked in the first round of the 2026 NHL Draft have NHL hopes. Some have gotten a start toward that goal by signing a three-year, entry-level contract.\u202f\u202f\u202f\u202f\u00a0<\/p>\n

More could sign as we make our way toward the 2026-27 season.\u202f\u202f\u202f\u202f\u00a0<\/p>\n

Here is a look at which players have signed and the status of the others:\u202f<\/p>\n

1.\u00a0Gavin\u00a0McKenna<\/a>, LW, Toronto Maple Leafs
Signed entry-level contract July 3<\/a>. Expected to play for Maple Leafs<\/p>\n

2. Ivar Stenberg<\/a>, LW, San Jose Sharks\u00a0
Signed entry-level contract July 2<\/a>. Expected to play for Sharks<\/p>\n

3. Caleb Malhotra<\/a>, C, Vancouver Canucks (unsigned)
Will play for Boston University<\/p>\n

4. Daxon Rudolph<\/a>, D, Buffalo Sabres (unsigned)\u00a0
Will play for University of Denver this season<\/p>\n

5. Alberts Smits<\/a>, D, New York Rangers (unsigned)
Could play for Rangers or Jukurit in Liiga, the top league in Finland<\/p>\n

6. Carson Carels<\/a>, D, Calgary Flames (unsigned)
Will play for University of North Dakota<\/p>\n

7. Chase Reid<\/a>, D, Seattle Kraken (unsigned)
Will play for Michigan State<\/p>\n

8. Viggo Bjorck<\/a>, C, Winnipeg Jets
Signed entry-level contract July 13<\/a>. Could play for Jets, Manitoba of the AHL or be returned to Djurgarden in the SHL<\/p>\n

9. Keaton Verhoeff<\/a>, D, San Jose Sharks (unsigned)
Will play for University of North Dakota<\/p>\n

10. Wyatt Cullen<\/a>, LW, Nashville Predators (unsigned)\u00a0
Will play for University of Minnesota<\/p>\n

11. Tynan Lawrence<\/a>, C, St. Louis Blues (unsigned)
Will play for Boston University<\/p>\n

12. Alexander Command<\/a>, C, New Jersey Devils (unsigned)
Will play for Orebro in the SHL<\/p>\n

13. Malte Gustafsson<\/a>, D, New York Islanders (unsigned)
Will play for HV71 in the SHL\u00a0<\/p>\n

14. Oscar Hemming<\/a>, LW, Columbus Blue Jackets (unsigned)
Will play for Boston College<\/p>\n

15. Nikita Klepov<\/a>, RW, Anaheim Ducks (unsigned)
Will play for Michigan State\u00a0<\/p>\n

16. Maddox Dagenais<\/a>, C, St. Louis Blues (unsigned)
Will play for Quebec of the Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League<\/p>\n

17. Ethan Belchetz<\/a>, LW, Utah Mammoth (unsigned)
Will play for Michigan State\u00a0<\/p>\n

18. Oliver Suvanto<\/a>, C, Washington Capitals (unsigned)\u00a0
Will play for Tappara in Liiga<\/p>\n

19. Elton Hermansson<\/a>, RW, Los Angeles Kings (unsigned)\u00a0
Will play for MoDo in Allsvenskan, Sweden’s second division<\/p>\n

20. Ilia Morozov<\/a>, C, Buffalo Sabres (unsigned)
Will play for Miami University<\/p>\n

21. Ryan Lin<\/a>, D, San Jose Sharks (unsigned)\u00a0
Will play for University of Denver\u00a0<\/p>\n

22. Liam Ruck<\/a>, RW, Pittsburgh Penguins (unsigned)
Will play for Medicine Hat of the Western Hockey League<\/p>\n

23. JP Hurlbert<\/a>, LW, Detroit Red Wings (unsigned)\u00a0
Will play for University of Michigan<\/p>\n

24. Adam Novotny<\/a>, LW, Vancouver Canucks (unsigned)\u00a0
Will play for Peterborough of the Ontario Hockey League<\/p>\n

25. Jonas Lagerberg Hoen<\/a>, RW, Ottawa Senators (unsigned)
Will play for Leksand in Allsvenskan<\/p>\n

26. Gleb Pugachyov<\/a>, RW, Montreal Canadiens (unsigned) \u00a0
Will play for Nizhny Novgorod in the Kontinental Hockey League<\/p>\n

27. Maksim Sokolovskii<\/a>, D, Philadelphia Flyers (unsigned)\u00a0
Will play for London of the OHL<\/p>\n

28. Marcus Nordmark<\/a>, LW, Anaheim Ducks (unsigned)
Will play for Djurgarden in the SHL<\/p>\n

29. Juho Piiparinen<\/a>, D, Vegas Golden Knights (unsigned)\u00a0
Will play for Tappara in Liiga<\/p>\n

30. Jack Hextall<\/a>, C, Calgary Flames (unsigned)
Will play for Michigan State<\/p>\n

31. Thomas Bleyl<\/a>, D, Nashville Predators (unsigned)\u00a0
Will play for Michigan State<\/p>\n

32. Jaxon Cover<\/a>, RW, Ottawa Senators (unsigned)
Will play for London of the OHL<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The 32 players picked in the first round of the 2026 NHL Draft have NHL hopes. Some have…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":761120,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[66],"tags":[385,99],"class_list":["post-761119","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-nhl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/761119","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=761119"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/761119\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/761120"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=761119"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=761119"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=761119"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}