Toronto Maple Leafs fans should circle May 5 on their calendars. That’s the date the league announced the 2026 NHL Draft Lottery. And it could be the date on which the Leafs could find themselves in a franchise-altering move.
As insider Frank Seravalli reported, the NHL Draft Lottery will occur in real time. That situation will allow teams and their fans to know where they stand to select for June’s draft.
Sources say the 2026 #NHLDraft Lottery is scheduled for May 5.
— Frank Seravalli (@frank_seravalli) March 19, 2026
Details here:https://t.co/7XojvkmUfY
The event could be a major opportunity for the Leafs to recover their 2026 first-round pick. As it stands, Toronto would cede the pick to the Boston Bruins. But since the pick is top-five protected, a substantial shift in the Draft Lottery could land the Leafs in the top five. In that event, the club gets its pick back.
Such an outcome could lead to one of the most impactful drafts in team history. Landing a top-five pick would most certainly yield an opportunity to select a potential generational talent.
That said, there’s always the chance the Maple Leafs don’t land in the top five after the Lottery is over. If that were the case, the Leafs would lose the pick, benefiting the Bruins.
May 5 could become an important date in Leafs’ history, especially after the way the New York Islanders miraculously won last year’s Lottery.
Maple Leafs eyeing crown jewel of 2026 NHL Draft
The possibility of winning the NHL Draft Lottery has to be a tantalizing one. This year’s crown jewel is current Penn State forward Gavin McKenna. He’s been the consensus #1 pick for some time now. Just about every pundit agrees that McKenna is the best player available in the draft.
But the top end of the 2026 NHL Draft isn’t just McKenna. The top-three picks are believed to be franchise-altering players. Forward Ivar Stenberg out of Sweden and defenseman Keaton Verhoeff out of the University of North Dakota are the sorts of players teams build around.
In particular, Verhoeff has already sounded off on the possibility of joining the Maple Leafs. If Auston Matthews sticks around for a while longer, the Leafs could shift their focus to Verhoeff. Toronto could do much worse than taking a future number-one defenseman.
Of course, that’s just a supposition at this point. There are still about a dozen games to go in the season. That will determine the Leafs’ initial placement in the Draft Lottery. Then, it will be up to the hockey gods to determine if Toronto gets to pick in the top five or if the Boston Bruins get another high first-rounder.