The 2026 Upper Deck NHL Draft will be held at KeyBank Center in Buffalo, New York. Round 1 of the Draft will be on Friday, June 26 and Rounds 2-7 will be on Saturday, June 27.

The Devils have the 12th overall pick in Round 1 of the 2026 NHL Entry Draft. They also have one pick in each of Round 2, 4, 5 and 6.

Round 1 of the 2026 Upper Deck NHL Draft will be broadcasted live on Friday, June 26 at 7 PM ET on ESPN, ESPN+, Sportsnet and TVA Sports.

Rounds 2-7 of the Draft will be broadcasted live on Saturday, June 27 at 11:30 AM ET on ESPN+, NHL Network, Sportsnet and SN1.

There are seven rounds in the NHL Draft.

For Round 1, the 16 non-playoff teams are sorted in reverse order of their final regular season standings position, with the lowest team in the standing in the top position for the NHL Draft Lottery.

The NHL Draft lottery provides those 16 non-playoff teams with a chance at getting an earlier first-round pick. Each team in the lottery is assigned a set of random four-number combinations with a set of ping pong balls. The better the team’s regular season record is, the less combinations they receive for a chance at moving up in the draft order.

There are two draws of the ping pong balls, with the first winner receiving the highest pick.Teams who win the draft lottery may move up a maximum of 10 picks. And a team may not move if they've won the lottery in two of the previous five seasons

The remaining picks in Round 1 and all picks in Rounds 2-7 are determined by regular season and playoff results.

NHL teams are permitted to trade their draft picks, prior to (sometimes years prior) or during the NHL Draft. When a team trades a pick, the draft order is based on the original holder of the pick, not the team that received it.

To be eligible for the NHL Draft, the NHL rules are as follows:

All players age 19 or older [(i) any player who will be age 18 on or before September 15 in the year in which such Entry Draft is held, or (ii) reaches his 19th birthday between September 16 and December 31, both dates included, next following Entry Draft, can attain eligibility by delivering to the League a written notice (Opt in Form) prior to the later of May 1, or seven days following the date such player finishes competing on his team in the year in which such draft is to be held.] are eligible for claim in the Entry Draft, except:

• A Player on the Reserve List of a Club, other than as a try-out;
• A player who has been claimed in two prior Entry Drafts;
• A player who previously played in the League and became a free agent pursuant to the Collective Bargaining Agreement;
• A player age 21 or older who had played hockey for at least one season in North America when he was age 18, 19 or 20

Tickets for the 2026 NHL Draft at KeyBank Center in Buffalo, NY are available! Get Tickets