Updated

Updated · prohockeyrumors.com · Jun 27

NHL Draft Reaches Day 2 After 64 Picks as Maple Leafs Take Gavin McKenna at No. 1

Updated

Updated · prohockeyrumors.com · Jun 27

NHL Draft Reaches Day 2 After 64 Picks as Maple Leafs Take Gavin McKenna at No. 1

Q: Is the CHL's dominance as the top NHL pipeline fading as more elite prospects emerge from NCAA and Europe?

Yes. The 2026 draft points to a clear erosion of the CHL’s once near-unquestioned hold as the NHL’s main elite pipeline, even if it remains a major source of talent. The first round alone showed a much more balanced map. The CHL still produced the largest single bloc, with 14 of 32 first-rounders from the OHL, WHL or QMJHL. But Europe supplied 11, and NCAA/US-based programs supplied seven, including No. 1 pick Gavin McKenna from Penn State. Combined, non-CHL routes accounted for 18 of 32 first-round selections, more than the CHL total. The top of the board was especially revealing. Among the first 15 picks, CHL, Europe and NCAA were essentially running even. San Jose took Sweden’s Ivar Stenberg at No. 2, the Rangers took Finland-based Alberts Smits at No. 5, and several NCAA-linked players went early, including McKenna, Keaton Verhoeff, Tynan Lawrence and Oscar Hemming. A record seven Sweden-born players in the first round underscored Europe’s growing weight. The bigger shift is structural. Recent eligibility changes have made the NCAA a more attractive destination for players who once would have stayed in the CHL, and several top prospects now move between those tracks. McKenna and Verhoeff are emblematic of that change, while multiple CHL-developed players are now NCAA-bound. So the CHL is not being replaced, but its dominance is fading. The NHL talent pipeline is now more distributed, with the NCAA and Europe firmly established as co-equal producers of elite prospects.

3 articles · Updated · prohockeyrumors.com · Jun 27

Day 2 of the 2026 NHL Draft began Saturday at 10:00 a.m. CT in Buffalo, with teams moving beyond the first round and through the second and third rounds.
Toronto opened the draft Friday by taking Gavin McKenna at No. 1, while San Jose picked Ivar Stenberg at No. 2 and Vancouver selected Caleb Malhotra at No. 3.
The second round ran from No. 33 to No. 64, starting with Vancouver's Brooks Rogowski and ending with the Rangers taking Benjamin MacBeath after Vegas forfeited Pick 63.
By the third round, clubs were still adding depth across positions, including goalies such as Samuel Hrenak at No. 71 and Juuso Ainasto at No. 85.
The live tracker is set to continue through all 224 picks, underscoring a busy NHL offseason already marked by heavy draft-week activity.