Facing their leanest draft in years, the Ducks look to navigate a vacant first round and leverage limited capital to climb back up the board in Buffalo.
The 2026 NHL Entry Draft will begin on Friday at 4 PM PST with the entirety of the first round. Rounds 2-7 will begin on Saturday at 8 AM PST.
This draft will offer a different look for the Anaheim Ducks, as for the first time since 2018, they won’t have a pick in the top ten selections, and for the first time since 2017, they won’t even have a pick in the first round.
This is the Ducks’ leanest draft in terms of draft capital and pick value, as they only own picks 50, 82, 117, 146, 178, and 210.
Anaheim traded their first-round pick in 2026 to the Washington Capitals at the trade deadline, along with a third-round pick in the 2027 draft, in exchange for veteran defenseman John Carlson. Carlson (36) was on an expiring contract, but at the time of the deal, Ducks general manager Pat Verbeek stated his desire to sign him to an extension following the conclusion of the 2025-26 season.
Carlson played 16 regular season games for the Ducks and all 12 on their playoff run to the second round, but has since informed Verbeek, through his agent Richard Curran, of his decision not to re-sign with the Ducks and head to the unrestricted free agency market. The Ducks’ first-round pick traded to the Caps will be the 18th overall selection on Friday.
The Ducks traded their own fourth-round pick this year (114th overall) to the Seattle Kraken in exchange for defenseman Brian Dumoulin ahead of the 2024-25 season. Dumoulin was traded at the 2025 trade deadline to the New Jersey Devils in exchange for a 2025 second-round pick (Lasse Boelius) and forward prospect Herman Traff. The Ducks’ 2026 fourth-round pick has since been traded by Seattle and is now in the possession of the Toronto Maple Leafs.
The Ducks will still have a pick in the fourth round (117th overall), however, a pick they acquired from the Philadelphia Flyers in the summer of 2025, along with a 2025 second-round pick (Eric Nilson) and Ryan Poehling, in exchange for forward Trevor Zegras.
Ducks assistant general manager and director of amateur scouting Martin Madden met with the media on Wednesday to discuss the upcoming draft. He stated the team’s want to remain aggressive in moving their position throughout the draft and hopes to move up from the 50th overall pick. Given the picks they hold, however, it’s unlikely they’ll be able to crack back into Friday’s first round and select in the top 32.
“I don’t know if it’s a priority,” Madden said when asked if he intends to trade up into the first round. “Would we like to get up from the 50th overall as we stand today? I would say yes. I think it has more to do with how we view the prospect pool, the draft pool this year, and where we see the best value.
“It’s nice to want to do something, but you need a partner to do it. I think opportunities will arise because, as you are well aware, many teams have a lot of picks in the top-60. So we think teams will be willing to move around the draft floor at the draft board. So, hopefully, we’re involved.”
Author’s Notes
There are several intriguing draft-eligible prospects currently ranked by media outlets within the 40-60 range who would be quality additions to the Ducks’ pipeline.
Juho Piiparinen (6-foot-2, 201 pounds) is a right-shot defenseman from Finland who is long, mobile, efficient, and intelligent. He leaves a lot to be desired offensively, but is as defensively polished as they come and projects as an NHL player.
Marcus Nordmark (6-foot-1, 180 pounds) had a highly productive season in Sweden’s U20 junior division. He’s a smart, toolsy forward who drives play and possesses a heavy shot. The skating is his only drawback, which causes him to become uninvolved at times.
Ryan Roobroeck (6-foot-3, 209 pounds) was once considered a top-15 pick in this draft, but a disappointing season compounded with an injury has him projected in the second round. He’s a prototypical power forward and possesses all the necessary skill and IQ tools to become a 30-goal, 60-point player in the NHL, but his engagement and consistency will need improvement.
Victor Plante (5-foot-10, 163 pounds) and Adam Valentini (5-foot-10, 184 pounds) are both players who, if they were three inches taller, would have been considered in the first round. They’re high-energy, detailed wingers whose defining traits include relentlessness and involvement.
In every draft, there are players projected and ranked as first-round picks by the public who teams have lower on their internal boards and end up dropping to the second or mid rounds. They’re typically players with one or two “fatal flaws” or who have questionable translatability to the NHL.
Some players to keep an eye on as the selections continue to come off the board are winger Mathis Preston, center Yegor Shilov, and defenseman Xavier Villeneuve. Preston (5-foot-11, 176 pounds) is as electric as they come with every offensive tool in the toolbox, but didn’t produce as much as expected in his draft year. Shilov (6-foot, 177 pounds) is a calculated, play-controlling center who may lack the top-end pace desired by many. Villeveuve (5-foot-11, 162 pounds) is an offensive dynamo from the backend, but frame and projectability like his has caused many of his ilk to drop to the second round.
Of course, on the opposite end of the spectrum, as players fall down draft boards from their projected ranges, others are selected well ahead of their expected ranges. It would be recommended for one to enter the draft without many expectations or reliance on public rankings and projections.
