The NHL draft is just around the corner. With that, The Hockey News' Ryan Kennedy ranked his top 120 prospects for the draft. Here are the prospects who fall in the slots of the Toronto Maple Leafs' top five picks for the 2026 draft.
The 2026 NHL draft is coming up at the end of the week, with the first round taking place on Friday and the remaining six rounds coming on Saturday.
Both days of the draft will be of significance for the Toronto Maple Leafs, as they will be for any team. On top of the precious first overall pick that the Leafs have, they own a total of seven picks for the 2026 draft.
TheHockeyNews.com's Editor in Chief and prospect expert, Ryan Kennedy, made a ranking of the top 120 prospects for the upcoming draft. With that, here is who was projected to be selected with Toronto's top five picks.
That's the Maple Leafs' first, 60th, 69th, 85th and 114th picks.
Pick No. 1 - Gavin McKenna, LW
The main event of the draft every single year is the first overall pick, and the Maple Leafs have that honor for the first time since 2016 when they selected current captain Auston Matthews.
Kennedy, like most of the prospect and draft experts this off-season, projects Gavin McKenna to be the first overall pick of the draft, joining the Maple Leafs.
"An offensive dynamo whose best traits are the ones you can't teach," Kennedy wrote. "He was one of the best players in all of college hockey in the second half, and his plan to get stronger and challenge himself at Penn State worked out great."
McKenna is coming off a 15-goal and 51-point campaign in 35 games with Penn State.
Pick No. 60 - Luke Schairer, D
Luke Schairer is a right-handed defenseman who has spent the last couple of seasons playing in the USHL for the USA Hockey National Team Development Program.
The 6-foot-3 blueliner made 25 appearances last season, putting up nine points. He also had a great showing in the U-18 World Championship for Team USA, registering four assists in five contests. But the Americans were eliminated in the quarterfinal by Latvia in a 5-2 defeat.
Schairer is set to join the Boston University Terriers in the NCAA next season.
Pick No. 69 - William Hakansson, D
William Hakansson is a left-handed defenseman with plenty of range with his 6-foot-4 frame.
Hakansson featured for multiple teams this past year. His main team was Lulea of the SHL, appearing in 22 games for the professional team. He played an additional six games, putting up four assists, with Lulea's U-20 team.
He also went on loan to Allsvenskan's Almtuna for a 16-game spell. For 2026-27, he's expected to be with Lulea once again.
Hakansson has proven to play with some bite as well, accumulating 36 penalty minutes in his six games with Lulea U-20 and 39 penalty minutes in 16 games with Almtuna.
The Swedish blueliner also has an SHL championship and a gold medal from the 2026 World Junior Championship.
Pick No. 85 - Brek Liske, D
Brek Liske is another right-handed blueliner. It seems like the Maple Leafs will have multiple opportunities to select one in this upcoming draft.
Liske is coming off a very strong campaign with the WHL's Everett Silvertips, who led the WHL in the regular season, won the Ed Chynoweth Cup as league playoff champions, and advanced to the Memorial Cup final.
The 6-foot-1 D-man had a respectable year all around, but was particularly impressive in the WHL post-season. He scored four goals and 17 points in 18 playoff games for the Silvertips. Liske also completed his WHL playoff campaign with a plus-25 rating and never picked up a minus throughout the post-season.
Pick No. 114 - Martin Psohlavec, G
Martin Psohlavec makes the list as the only goaltender. Up to this point, he's never played hockey at the professional level, but has been pretty solid lately at the junior level in Czechia, his home nation.
He spent this past season with HC Energie Karlovy Vary at the U-20 level and dominated between the pipes. Playing in 42 regular-season contests, he's featured in the most games among all goaltenders in Czechia's U-20 league, yet still ended his year with an impressive .928 save percentage, and finished second in the league in goals-against average with a 1.92.
For his country, he stepped up in the U-18 World Championship, recording an excellent 1.68 GAA, a .926 SP and a 3-1-0 record in four appearances. Czechia went on to win bronze at the tournament, with Psohlavec playing a big role.
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