At least by the unpopular demand of fans and media, the 2026 NHL Draft is once again decentralized. The New Jersey Devils retained their first-round selection all year, and have a chance to have an early-round pick.
However, with Sunny Mehta in charge, will they do the same?
The 2025-26 regular season has ended and the first round of the 2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs is firmly underway.
The Devils finished 21st overall in the NHL with a 42–37–3 record, not qualifying for the postseason.
On Saturday, the 2026 NHL Draft Lottery odds were released:
| Teams (lowest to highest points) | odds | Combination (out of 1,000) |
| vancouver canucks | 18.5% | 185 |
| chicago blackhawks | 13.5% | 135 |
| New York Rangers | 11.5% | 115 |
| calgary flames | 9.5% | 95 |
| Toronto Maple Leafs (released to BOS)* | 8.5% | 85 |
| seattle kraken | 7.5% | 75 |
| winnipeg jets | 6.5% | 65 |
| Florida Panthers | 6.0% | 60 |
| san jose sharks | 5.0% | 50 |
| Nashville Predators | 3.5% | 35 |
| st louis blues | 3.0% | 30 |
| New Jersey Devils | 2.5% | 25 |
| New York Islanders | 2.0% | 20 |
| columbus blue jackets | 1.5% | 15 |
| St. Louis Blues (from DET) | 0.5% | 5 |
| washington capitals | 0.5% | 5 |
According to the NHL’s draft lottery rules (in effect after the 2022 draft), No team can move up more than 10 places In draft order, regardless of which lottery draw they win (for first or second overall pick).
This 10-spot cap is a hard limit on any single lottery win. This means:
- Only the bottom 11 teams in the standings (based on points, with tiebreakers) are eligible to win the No. 1 overall pick.
- Teams seeded 12th–16th can win the lottery draw, but are limited to moving up exactly 10 places (the lowest finishing qualifying team moves up to the vacant higher place if necessary).
Well, the Devils are the 12th seed, meaning they can’t select higher than the second overall pick in the 2026 NHL Draft.
This isn’t the worst case scenario, but their chances of moving up 10 spots are only 2.5% less.
We’ll see what Mehta and company have in store for the draft, which will likely depend on where they fall in the first 12 selections.
However, with a clear need in the top six, particularly a left wing to line Jack Hughes, it should be no surprise if Mehta moves up to selection.
The 2026 NHL Draft Lottery will be held on Tuesday, May 5. The draft lottery will be held at NHL Network’s Secaucus, NJ, studios, with a live broadcast on ESPN, Sportsnet and TVA Sports.
NHL Central Scouting released its final rankings for the 2026 Upper Deck NHL Draft, where left wing Gavin McKenna of Penn State leads the list of North America-based skaters and left wing Ivar Stenberg of Frölunda (Swedish Hockey League) leads all international-based skaters.
#high #climb
