The NHL Draft Lottery will take place on Tuesday night, and the Chicago Blackhawks have great odds to win it.
The National Hockey League is going to conduct a lottery on Tuesday evening to decide who will make the first and second overall picks in the 2026 NHL Draft.
Every pick after will be in reverse order of the standings, except for the teams that make it to the final four, who will pick 28th-31st. The Ottawa Senators will pick 32nd as a punishment handed down by the league for an infraction made involving a no-trade clause.
Ottawa originally had to forfeit one first-round pick from 2024, 2025, or 2026. Their pick was given back to them in 2026, but it must stay at 32 no matter what. It stems from a trade involving Evgenii Dadonov, where Ottawa wasn’t forthright about his no-trade list.
Blackhawks Odds
The Chicago Blackhawks finished in 31st place out of 32. That means they have the second-best odds of winning the lottery and securing the first overall pick at 13.5 percent. They have a 14.1 percent chance of winning the second lottery, which will retain the second overall pick for them.
There is a 30.7 percent chance they fall one spot to third, and a 41.7 percent chance they fall two spots to fourth. They can go no further down than that. No matter what, this will be the fourth straight year that they make a top-four draft pick.
Top Prospects
Gavin McKenna and Ivar Stenberg are the consensus top two picks in the drafts. Both of them are forwards who bring a different element to their game. Each of them will be part of their new team’s core going forward.
In the tier below them is another forward in Caleb Malhotra. There are also three defensemen, Keaton Verhoeff, Carson Carels, and Chase Reid, who are all possible top-five picks. There are always going to be varying opinions, but these young men stick out as the likely top prospects unless someone reaches.
How To Watch
The 2026 NHL Draft Lottery will begin at 6 PM CT on ESPN. The lottery balls will be drawn at the NHL Network studios in Secaucus, New Jersey.
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