BOSTON –– The 2026 NHL Draft Lottery is on Tuesday night, and while the Boston Bruins were one of the 16 teams to make the playoffs this year, they still have stakes in the order selection.
The B’s acquired Fraser Minten, a 2025 fourth-round pick and a 2026 conditional first-round pick from the Toronto Maple Leafs in March 2025 in exchange for Brandon Carlo. Toronto’s first-round pick is top-five protected, meaning the Bruins will receive the pick only if it falls outside the top-five selections. That will be determined in the draft lottery.
The Maple Leafs finished the year last in the Atlantic Division with a 32-36-14 record and 78 points. They have an 8.5% chance of winning the lottery and moving to No. 1 overall. The lottery will happen in two stages: first to determine the first overall pick and then to determine the second overall pick.
The 2026 NHL Draft Lottery – which starts at 7 p.m. ET – will be held at NHL Network’s studio in Secaucus, N.J., and will be broadcast on ESPN, Sportsnet and TVA Sports. It will have the same format as last year, with a live drawing of the lottery balls.
The NHL Draft is set for June 26-27 in Buffalo, New York, at KeyBank Center. The Bruins currently hold eight selections this year: two first-round picks (including Toronto's), one second-round pick, one third-round pick, three fourth-round picks and one seventh-round pick.
