Bruins on pace to get lottery pick in 2026 NHL Draft from Maple Leafs originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston
The NHL resumed play on Feb. 25 after taking about three weeks off for the Winter Olympic break, and up until Thursday, 31 of 32 teams had won at least one game over that span.
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The only winless squad? The Toronto Maple Leafs.
Even the Seattle Seahawks, who last played in Super Bowl LX more than a month ago, had won a game more recently than Toronto.
The Leafs finally won Thursday night when they defeated the Anaheim Ducks 6-4 to end an eight-game losing streak. But the positive result will do nothing to quell the frustration of fans in Toronto.
The 2025-26 season has been an unmitigated disaster for the Leafs. They entered the campaign with expectations of extending their playoff appearance streak to a league-best nine seasons. But not only will Toronto miss the playoffs, it might not even get the chance to make its own first-round pick in the 2026 NHL Draft.
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That’s because the pick is owned by the rival Boston Bruins as a result of the Brandon Carlo trade from March of 2025. The B’s got the Leafs’ 2026 first-rounder (top-five protected), a 2026 fourth-rounder (via Flyers) and young center Fraser Minten in exchange for Carlo.
Here are the full conditions of the 2026 first-round pick from Toronto, per PuckPedia:
“Top 5 protected, slides to 2027. The 2027 pick goes to Philadelphia (as part of Laughton trade) if it is outside the top 10, which converts this pick to Boston to a 2028 unprotected 1st Round Pick. If this Pick slides to 2027 and is in the top 10, TOR can either transfer it to BOS to satisfy this trade and then give PHI the 2028 unprotected, or transfer it to PHI and give BOS the 2028 unprotected 1st Round Pick.”
The TL;DR explanation that fans need to know right now is the pick is top-five protected in 2026, and based on the current standings and projections, there’s a good chance the pick conveys to the Bruins this year.
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The Maple Leafs enter Friday with the eighth-worst record in the league based on points percentage. HockeyStats.com projects Toronto to finish with 85 points and the 10th-worst record. MoneyPuck’s analytics model projects the Leafs to finish with 82 points and the seventh-worst record.
The Bruins have gone 2-0-0 vs. the Leafs this season and might get their first-round pick, too.
If the Leafs finish with the seventh- or eighth-worst record, they’d have less than a 14 percent chance of jumping into one of the top two picks in the NHL Draft Lottery in May and keeping their pick. The Maple Leafs do have a chance to finish in the bottom-five of the league standings and keep their pick. It’s not inconceivable, especially when you consider they have the eighth-toughest remaining schedule, per Tankathon.
That said, unless the Maple Leafs continue to lose games at a rapid pace, combined with teams below them in the standings improving a bit, we could be looking at another top-10 pick going from Toronto to Boston.
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Fans will remember the Phil Kessell trade from 2009 that resulted in the Bruins getting two first-rounders from the Maple Leafs that ended up being the No. 2 overall selection (Tyler Seguin) in 2010 and the No. 9 overall selection (Dougie Hamilton) in 2011.
History is likely to repeat itself for these Original Six rivals.
This lottery pick would be a huge boost to the Bruins as they continue their retool. The Bruins’ prospect pool is stronger than it’s been in a long time, with Boston College stars James Hagens (No. 7 overall, 2025) and Dean Letourneau (No. 25 overall, 2024) headlining the group. Boston also has an impressive stash of draft picks, including four first-rounders in the next two drafts and three fourth-rounders in 2026.
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Adding another high-end prospect in what should be a strong 2026 draft would bolster the Bruins’ future and give them a chance to develop another franchise cornerstone player.
The Bruins have a good chance of returning to the playoffs in 2026. They occupy the second wild card playoff spot in the Eastern Conference with 17 games to go.
The B’s could be in the unusual spot of reaching the postseason and having a lottery pick. But they need the Leafs to do their part. If history is any indication, Toronto will come through for Boston.
