James Nichols
By unpopular demand—at least, from the fans and the media, the 2026 NHL Draft is decentralized once again. The New Jersey Devils kept their first-round pick all year, and have a chance to select in the opening round.
However, with Sunny Mehta in charge, will they?
The 2025-26 regular season is finished and the first round of the 2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs are firmly underway.
The Devils finished 21st overall in the NHL with a 42-37-3 record, which did not qualify for the postseason.
On Saturday, the 2026 NHL Draft Lottery odds were released:
| Teams (Fewest Points to Most) | Odds | Combinations (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 (cond. 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 place since the 2022 draft), no team can move up more than 10 positions in the draft order, regardless of which lottery draw they win (for the first or second overall pick).
This 10-spot cap is a hard limit on any single lottery win. It means:
- Only the bottom 11 teams in the standings (by points, with tiebreakers) are eligible to win the No. 1 overall pick.
- Teams seeded 12th–16th can win a lottery draw but are capped at moving up exactly 10 spots (with the lowest-finishing eligible team sliding into the vacated higher position if needed).
Well, the Devils are the 12th seed, meaning they can select no higher than the second overall pick in the 2026 NHL Draft.
It’s not the worst position to be in, but their chances of moving up 10 spots are low at just 2.5%.
We’ll see what Mehta and Co. have in store for the draft, likely dependant on where they fall in the first 12 picks.
However, with a clear need in the top-six, specifically a left-wing for Jack Hughes‘ line, it should come as no surprise if Mehta were to move the selection.
The 2026 NHL Draft Lottery will be held on Tuesday, May 5. The Draft Lottery will be conducted at NHL Network’s Secaucus, N.J., studio, with the event broadcast live on ESPN, Sportsnet and TVA Sports at a time to be announced.
NHL Central Scouting released its final rankings for the 2026 Upper Deck NHL Draft, where Penn State left wing Gavin McKenna tops the list of North America-based skaters and Frolunda (Swedish Hockey League) left wing Ivar Stenberg leads all international-based skaters.
