Buffalo to host 2026 NHL Draft

The NHL Draft is coming to Western New York.

Buffalo will host the annual draft this June, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reported on Friday’s episode of 32 Thoughts: The Podcast. An announcement from the NHL is expected next week.

“It’s a done deal,” Friedman said. “Buffalo is the team.”

Friedman added that the upcoming FIFA World Cup, which is being hosted by Canada, the United States and Mexico this summer, impacted the selection for a host city for the draft. He also said that Montreal was interested in the event but the NHL chose Buffalo because Montreal had hosted more recently, in 2022.

Buffalo last hosted the draft in 2016, when Auston Matthews went first overall to the Toronto Maple Leafs.

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The 2026 event will mark the second year in a row that teams will draft players remotely from their home cities.

Last year, the draft was hosted in Los Angeles but most of the players who were selected in the first round were in attendance at the Peacock Theater.

Earlier this season, Friedman reported that the NHL is looking into ways it can streamline the event based on feedback from last year.

Some of the changes being considered include:

• Scrapping the virtual interview room on stage, where teams got a first chance to speak to their newest player.

• Limiting one stage interview to one reporter to be shared with all the national broadcasters.

• Changing the seating configuration so that drafted players are closer to the stage and don’t have as far to walk.

Three players are in the running to go first overall in this year’s draft: Penn State’s Gavin McKenna, North Dakota’s Keaton Verhoeff and Sweden’s Ivar Stenberg.