2026 NHL Mock Draft 1.0: Scott Wheeler predicts the entire first round

Welcome to my first mock draft for the 2026 NHL Draft.At the conclusion of Tuesday night’s lottery, I started sending out texts to agents, scouts and team staff around the top players in this year’s class to try to piece together my initial crack at predicting Round 1.As I work toward finishing my final top 100 draft board, this is a step back from my own evaluations to consider potential targets and fits for each team. Call them my best guesses based on a combination of team need, my sense for team leanings and amateur scouting department preferences, the consensus and my info gathering.Advertisement