The Canucks will select third-overall in the 2026 NHL Entry Draft.
Barring any sudden moves, the Vancouver Canucks will be selecting third-overall at the 2026 NHL Draft.
The NHL’s 32nd-placed team, with the best odds at picking first-overall prior to the lottery, were delivered a shocker on Tuesday afternoon when the Toronto Maple Leafs won the 2026 NHL Draft Lottery and the San Jose Sharks jumped up to second. This sent Vancouver back to third-overall, a spot that could bring both intrigue and controversy.
It’s a spot that, despite not being the first or second-overall selection, could still drastically change the franchise’s future.
“This is a really strong draft. You really don’t know how the draft is going to fall,” Canucks President of Hockey Operations Jim Rutherford said in a post-lottery media availability. “You’ve got a number of good defencemen in there — don’t know how high they’re going to go — so until we get to the draft, [...] it’ll just be speculation how it ends up falling. But whatever way it falls, we feel very strongly that we’re getting a really good player, and who that player is, we’ll just have to wait and see.”
The message is clear: the Canucks are trying to stay optimistic despite the lottery results.
“With the disappointment of all the excitement that goes with picking number one, number three is still going to be a great building block for the Vancouver Canucks.”
With third-overall, Vancouver will face a sea of choices. In the hypothetical world where both Gavin McKenna and Ivar Stenberg are off the board by the time the third-selection comes along, a crop of strong defencemen — Chase Reid, Carson Carels, or Daxon Rudolph, to name a few — as well as a group of intriguing forwards — Caleb Malhotra, Nikita Klepov, Viggo Björck, and others — will still be available.
“There’s always a premium on right-shot defencemen, but I also think there’s a premium on centres. When you’re building a team that’s going to be a championship team, you’ve got to be strong down the middle, and so you’ve got the premium at centre ice, and you’ve got the premium on defence.”
There's also the event that San Jose picks a defenceman with their second-overall selection, leaving the door open for Vancouver to pick top Swedish prospect Ivar Stenber third.
Jan 2, 2026; St. Paul, Minnesota, UNITED STATES; Sweden forward Ivar Stenberg (15) skates with the puck as Latvia forward Daniels Serkins (24) defends during the second period in the quarterfinals of the 2026 IIHF World Junior Championship at Grand Casino Arena. Mandatory Credit: Matt Krohn-Imagn ImagesThe third-overall selection also opens some doors for the Canucks to potentially deal their pick — though, as Rutherford says, whether they consider this option or not will depend on their new General Manager.
“It’s going to depend on how creative our new General Manager is; does he want to start that game where you get an extra pick and you move down one or two spots, things like that. Clearly, there’s a lot of good players at the top of the draft.”
Having another first-round selection in this year’s draft doesn’t hurt the Canucks and their potential options, either. With the Minnesota Wild still competing in the post-season, the highest Vancouver’s second first-round pick can be is 24th-overall.
The options don’t stop there, however, as the Canucks also have two second-round picks — 33rd and 41st overall — putting them with four picks within the top-50. If they want to move down in exchange for more picks, the option is there. Their current draft-capital puts the Canucks in a good place to choose their own adventure when it comes to how they approach the draft.
“Picking at the top of the second, and even in the middle of the second, our staff feels very confident. They like players that are going to fall in there. So this could be a game-changer for the Canucks if, in fact, the staff hits on three or four of these players.”
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