EmailPrintOpen Extended ReactionsThe 2026 NHL draft is complete, and 224 prospects officially have new homes.However, it wasn't just about the players selected in Rounds 1-7, as a number of franchise-altering trades occurred during the past week.With a busy week now in the rear-view mirror, ESPN reporters Ryan S. Clark, Kristen Shilton and Greg Wyshynski identify the winners, losers and other surprises of the 2026 NHL draft.WINNERSToronto Maple LeafsYou have to hand it to John Chayka, the Leafs' general manager certainly didn't let his years out of the game lead to any trepidation about jumping back in with both feet. He's been busy during the past week making moves to get Toronto back on track. The trade for Darren Raddysh (coupled with that eight-year, $68 million contract extension) was aggressive and, perhaps high-risk, but it also gives the Leafs a potential top-pairing, right-shot defenseman that is just stepping into the prime years of his career. That's a bet worth taking if you're the Leafs.Now, Toronto got some help from the hockey gods by winning the draft lottery on May 5 and being able to select Gavin McKenna at No. 1 overall. This is massive for them in the short and long term. No, he won't be Mitch Marner as a rookie, but McKenna is creative and skilled and Chayka was right to not go off-book and target someone else in that slot.Moving on from Brandon Carlo in Saturday's trade with St. Louis was more smart business for Toronto, giving them a pair of third-round choices in Saturday's draft that Chayka used on a couple 18-year-old prospects. And even their smaller transactions have solid upside. The Leafs shipped Joseph Woll to Philadelphia for Samuel Ersson's rights (and then sent him off to Ottawa for draft capital) and got 24-year-old defender Emil Andrae in the transaction for Simon Benoit.All of these moves are indicative of how Chayka is not going to stand pat. Add to all that getting Jim Hiller in as the team's new head coach -- one who comes highly regarded by players and fellow bench bosses alike -- and it's starting to feel like the Leafs are turning in the right direction. -- ShiltonAdam Nightengale and the Michigan State programEvery college program or front office for a professional team goes through a dark period. That includes Michigan State. The program that produced Rod Brind'Amour, Duncan Keith, Jeff Petry and Ryan Miller was going through an extremely difficult time. MSU had made the NCAA men's ice hockey tournament just once between 2009 and 2020.Not since the 1977-78 season had the Spartans finished with single digits wins. But it happened twice in 2016-17 and again in 2020-21. That led to MSU's athletic department making a change, naming Adam Nightengale, who played two years in East Lansing, as head coach prior to the 2022-23 season. The Michigan native had been MSU's director of hockey operations for four years, before serving as a video coach for the Detroit Red Wings and then the head coach at the United States National Team Development Program.The idea was that Nightengale could restore Michigan State back to being the type of power that reached 12 Frozen Fours and won three national titles. And the Spartans have returned to prominence in his time there, including three consecutive 20-win seasons in which they've reached the NCAA tournament.Friday might have been one of the biggest days in recent history. The Spartans have five commits -- Chase Reid (7th, SEA), Nikita Klepov (15th, ANA), Ethan Belchetz (17th, UTA), Jack Hextall (30th, CGY) and Tommy Bleyl (31st, NSH) -- go in the first round. This is a team to watch for the title this season in college hockey. -- ClarkJarmo KekalainenThe Sabres GM is going to have to rent out a storage unit for all the goodwill he's earned with Buffalo fans.It started when Kekalainen replaced Kevyn Adams in mid-December and the Sabres went 36-9-5 (a league best .770 points percentage) to end the longest playoff drought in NHL history at 14 seasons. The lovefest has continued with an impressive offseason, from trades to the draft.Kekalainen offloaded RFA defenseman Michael Kesselring to the Sharks while moving from the 27th overall pick to 20th, where they drafted physical shutdown center Ilia Morozov from Miami (OH). Then came Kekalainen's masterstroke: Trading defenseman Bowen Byram and forward Jordan Greenway to the Chicago Blackhawks for the 4th overall pick, the 45th overall pick and Louis Crevier, who led Chicago in scoring by a defenseman. One NHL general manager told me it was a fleecing that lit up his group texts with praise of Buffalo and befuddlement with Chicago.In the process, the Sabres opened up $9.35 million in cap space, which they used to hand 21-year-old winger Zach Benson a seven-year, $52.5-million extension. They traded Alex Tuch's rights to Washington rather than commit to the eight-year, $10.5 million AAV deal that the Capitals gave him, getting a third-rounder from the Caps in the process.They used the No. 4 pick from Chicago on another stunner: WHL defenseman Daxon Rudolph, projected to go later in the top 10, but "one of the smartest offensive defenders in the draft" according to ESPN's Rachel Kryshak.Kekalainen wasn't done. He used the 45th overall pick acquired from Chicago and Anton Wahlberg to trade for Ducks defenseman Olen Zellweger, an undersized but offensively gifted 22-year-old, in a much-lauded trade.There's still work to do, like replacing Tuch's goals and potentially taking another run at Jets star goalie Connor Hellebuyck. But Jarmo's on a heater. The previous GM lamented that players were attracted to Buffalo because it lacked palm trees. Kekalainen said recently that agents are telling him the Sabres are coming off their clients' no-trade lists. -- WyshynskiNew York RangersThis was a critical offseason for New York after how last year went down (and by "down" we mean "freefall").The Rangers' prospects are looking up though -- especially now that they plucked towering Latvian defenseman Alberts Smits (a whopping 6-3 and 205-pounds at just 18 years old) off the draft board at No. 5 on Friday. That's a potential top-pairing blueliner for the Rangers, whose size, smarts and shutdown capabilities should have fans eager over how quickly he might transition to the NHL. Fine, Smits might not be an elite scoring threat or offensive standout but he can shoulder big minutes, is a strong puck mover already and his physicality will (literally) throw off the competition.And if he happens to rattle the New Jersey Devils and New York Islanders in particular, all the better!Right before New York took Smits, there was a trade being brokered between the Rangers and Golden Knights that brought Pavel Dorofeyev to the Big Apple, with a new seven-year, $77 million contract to boot. Dorofeyev could be a key piece in the Rangers' turnaround this coming season; he had 37 goals and 64 points in 82 games during the 2025-26 campaign, and was a standout on the Golden Knights' ultimately unsuccessful Stanley Cup Final run (with 12 goals and 16 points in 22 games).The Rangers lost a serious offensive weapon parting ways with Artemi Panarin last February, and the team is actively shopping Vincent Trocheck, so landing Dorofeyev and seeing him take on a significant role will be huge. There should be some genuine excitement now for the club after how disappointing their last nine months had been. -- ShiltonThe Malhotra familyThis offseason, the Vancouver Canucks have put control of the organization in the hands of those who know it extremely well. That was evident when they hired new general manager Ryan Johnson, along with naming Canucks greats Daniel and Henrik Sedin as co-presidents. They kept it going when that group promoted Manny Malhotra, a former Canucks player who was coaching their AHL affiliate, to be head coach.The Malhotra move comes with the belief he can get the Canucks back to where they want to be as a playoff team. It also brought on weeks of speculation that the Canucks would be inclined to draft his son, Caleb, with the third overall pick. Caleb, a center with the OHL's Brantford Bulldogs, came into the draft in the top 5 of most public rankings after he scored 29 goals and 84 points in the regular season before scoring 13 goals and 26 points in 15 playoff games. So, it wasn't like the idea of taking him was solely related to, well, who he's related to.The Canucks could have gone in any number of directions that would have left the younger Malhotra going to another franchise altogether. But when it came time to make a decision, they drafted Caleb.Like any prospect, it could take him time to reach the NHL, with the idea that choosing to keep it in the family could one day pay dividends for the Canucks. -- ClarkLOSERSVegas Golden KnightsOne could take an understandably nihilistic approach to grading the Golden Knights at the NHL draft. Vegas has earned its reputation as a team willing to move picks and prospects the minute a shiny new toy catches their eye. Whether No. 29 pick Juho Piiparinen plays for them or not, most talent evaluators see his ceiling as a third-pairing defenseman. The Athletic ranked the Golden Knights' first-rounder as one of the worst of the first round.Of course, they wouldn't have even made this pick without one of the most notable trades of the draft: Sending leading goal-scorer Pavel Dorofeyev to the Rangers for the 26th and 92nd overall picks, as well as a conditional first-rounder in 2028. Dorofeyev was a restricted free agent that priced himself out of the Golden Knights' budget with two great goal-scoring seasons (35 and 37 goals, leading Vegas both years), signing for eight years and an average annual value of $11 million.There's a chance Vegas can create another Dorofeyev, as it's my belief they see him as a product of Jack Eichel's playmaking. That's a fair reading, but so is this: Vegas just gave up a 25-year-old finisher from a lineup that doesn't have enough of them.But there's another reason the Knights are in the "losers" category: The 63rd overall pick. That's the one the Vegas was forced to forfeit for restricting media access during the Stanley Cup playoffs, or as the NHL put it, "after previous warnings were issued to the club regarding their compliance with media regulations and other associated policies." Despite an in-person appeal, the punishment stood.Remember, this report card is for everything through the draft. By that measure, the Knights have had an underwhelming stretch since losing in the Stanley Cup Final. But it's Vegas, and it's a long offseason. We can all look back and have a laugh about them being losers when they end up with Dylan Larkin and Connor Hellebuyck, or some such. -- WyshynskiChicago BlackhawksIt's been four days and still, nothing about Chicago swapping the No. 4 overall pick for Bowen Byram makes any logical sense.It's not that the Blackhawks didn't need help on the back end -- and there's no denying Byram's potential to improve a defensive group that gave up the sixth-most goals last season -- but paying a price that high wasn't giving "we are being bold" vibes. It simply reeked of desperation or delusion.Was GM Kyle Davidson so convinced that he couldn't find reinforcements elsewhere -- or that the player Chicago could select at No. 4 would ultimately be incapable of stepping into the league any time soon -- that he agreed on one of the most baffling trades in recent memory? Remember, Byram has just one year remaining on his contract. He's a pending unrestricted free agent next summer, who could easily walk away and leave Chicago behind -- while the rest of us are probably still scratching our heads over how that whole deal went down.Kudos to Buffalo GM Jarmo Kekalainen though. That's a legendary fleecing. -- ShiltonGetting rejectedRejection is hard to handle in any situation. But when it impacts the success and perception of an NHL franchise, that rejection really stings. Just ask the Columbus Blue Jackets and Seattle Kraken.After Team USA members Quinn Hughes and Brady Tkachuk sparked trades by telling their teams they didn't intend to sign extensions when their contracts were up -- the old Matthew Tkachuk move -- speculation started about whether Norris Trophy winner Zach Werenski could be next. He's led the Blue Jackets in scoring in consecutive seasons with over 80 points, skating well over 26 minutes per game. But Columbus has missed the playoffs for six straight seasons, and once you've enjoyed the spoils of an Olympic gold medal ... well, one can get a little impatient.In the week leading up to the draft, Columbus' worst fears were confirmed: Multiple reports said that Werenski doesn't intend to sign another contract after his current deal expires in 2028. GM Don Waddell said he'd sit down with his top player after the draft to figure out next steps.But just as Blue Jackets fans were reeling from that body blow, Kirill Marchenko delivered another jab. ESPN's Kevin Weekes reported that Marchenko is also "unlikely to re-sign" with the Jackets when he becomes a restricted free agent next summer.While Columbus was dealing with current players potentially seeking to leave, the Kraken were going through the emotional fallout from a player refusing to arrive.Seattle thought it had a deal with the Dallas Stars that would have delivered star winger Jason Robertson to the Pacific Northwest -- especially since the Kraken were exceeding the restricted free agent's ask with an eight-year deal carrying a $15 million average annual value.But despite that windfall, Robertson said no. The trade was off. So that's two star players that have spurned the Kraken, with winger Artemi Panarin having done the same last season before the Rangers traded him to Los Angeles, who extended him.At a time when both the Kraken and Blue Jackets are desperate to build contenders, these reported rejections weren't just embarrassing but deleterious to those efforts. -- WyshynskiBeing a former member of a promising young coreRebuilds are born out of previous plans that either did not work or simply ran their course. Then they become the new plan -- with the reality that this design will fall prey like its predecessors. Then there are times when the original plan still exists, but changes must be made -- and that's exactly what happened going into the final full week before free agency.It started Tuesday, when the San Jose Sharks traded William Eklund to the Ottawa Senators for the No. 9 pick. Eklund was a top-six presence for a Sharks team that missed the playoffs by four points. But he clearly became expendable, with the Sharks trading the player who was the first cornerstone of the rebuild ... before finding Eklund's replacement with the second pick in fellow Swedish winger Ivar Stenberg.There were three more examples of this on Friday.Mason McTavish was once thought to be a central part of the Anaheim Ducks' future. That all changed as he fell down the lineup while still being early in a long-term contract worth $7 million annually. Thus his eventual exit to the St. Louis Blues.A year ago, the Utah Mammoth traded for JJ Peterka, with the intent that he could find a place within a young core that was knocking on the door of the playoffs. Utah made it to the postseason ... where Peterka was pointless in six games. This took place in after a challenging first season in which he averaged 0.57 points per game, compared to the 0.88 points he averaged in his final season with Buffalo. Thus Peterka was moved to the Boston Bruins.Sebastian Cossa with the 15th pick in 2021, and believed to be the goaltender of the future for the Detroit Red Wings. But the rise of Michigan State goaltender Trey Augustine, a second-round pick in 2023, eventually led to the Red Wings needing to make a choice. They opted to move on from Cossa, trading him for a first-round pick to the Mammoth. -- Clark
