2026 NHL Draft By The Numbers: Canada, OHL Get Bragging Rights

The NHL draft brings fans amazing storylines every single year. It's many kids' dream to play in the NHL, and 223 players got to live out their dream of hearing their name called this past weekend.

The big weekend also saw some notable stats given the prospects chosen.

It was another year in which non-North American-born players saw a lot of success.

Teams drafted 97 players born outside of North America, the second-most in the NHL's last 22 drafts. The only draft in that timeframe to outdo this one was 2024, when 99 was the magic number. Nine of those players in 2024 came in the first round, highlighted by the second overall pick, Artyom Levshunov, who went to the Chicago Blackhawks and has since played 86 NHL games.

Three Winners And Losers Of The 2026 NHL Draft: Sharks Win Big, American Prospects Fall

Making immediate judgment calls about the NHL draft is difficult, but we nonetheless grade three winners and three losers of the 2026 NHL draft.

Here are some more NHL draft numbers, according to #NHLStats:

Picks By Position

Defense: 74

Center: 50

Right Wing: 35

Left Wing: 32

Goalies: 32

Although the first two picks ended up being left wingers – Gavin McKenna and Ivar Stenberg – the position still landed at the bottom of the skaters.

The Vancouver Canucks took the first center third overall, selecting Caleb Malhotra, son of newly appointed coach Manny Malhotra.

The first defenseman came fourth overall, where the Buffalo Sabres took Denver commit Daxon Rudolph.

It took until the 15th pick for the first right winger to come off the board, when the Anaheim Ducks chose Nikita Klepov from the OHL's Saginaw Spirit. In last year's draft, for comparison, the Philadelphia Flyers took right winger Porter Martone sixth overall.

The Calgary Flames selected the first goalie this year, Tobias Trejbal of the United States League's Youngstown Phantoms.

2026 NHL Draft Grades: Maple Leafs, Sharks Score Well, Unimpressive Hauls For Lightning, Flyers

In one of the more eventful NHL drafts in recent times, there were plenty of teams that did very well for themselves and could be fast-tracking a rebuild or extending their contending window. On the other side, there are teams that whiffed or reached on selections that could hurt them down the road.

Picks By Birth Country

Sixteen birth countries were represented in Buffalo.

Canada led the way with 68 Canadian-born players selected. The United States followed them with 58, and Sweden just beat Russia out for third, 25 to 23.

Alexander Karmonov, who is the tallest player to be drafted in NHL history at 7-foot-1, is also the first player born in Moldova to be selected in an NHL draft. The San Jose Sharks got him 201st overall.

There were some other players who were natives of other countries despite being born elsewhere.

Simas Ignatavicius, who was born in Memphis, Tenn., is a Lithuanian national and has represented Lithuania six times on the international stage. The Florida Panthers selected him 40th overall.

Ignatiavicius became the fourth Lithuanian native to be selected in the NHL draft following Darius Kasparaitis (fifth overall in 1992), Dainius Zubrus (15th in 1996) and Andrey Pedan (63rd in 2011).

Niklas Aaram-Olsen, Vancouver's 41st selection, became the third-highest Norwegian player drafted behind only Detroit Red Wings prospect Michael Brandsegg-Nygard (15th in 2024) and Anaheim Ducks defenseman Stian Solberg (23rd in 2024).

Doman Szongoth, who went to the Sabres 156th overall, became the fourth Hungarian player ever selected in the NHL draft and first since Janos Vas went 32nd overall to the Dallas Stars in 2002.

Six Czech goaltenders were selected, the most ever in a single NHL draft. It beat the previous record of four in 2015, which included current NHLers Dan Vladar and Karel Vejmelka.

2026 NHL Draft: Lemieux, Croskery, And Boettiger Among Best Players To Go Undrafted

The 2026 NHL draft came and went, and a total of 224 players were selected. But that doesn't mean there weren't players who were not selected and likely should have been. They'll have the opportunity to re-enter the draft next year, but first, we highlight the best players to go undrafted in 2026.

Picks By League

A total of 30 leagues had prospects selected in the NHL draft, with a few dominating the selections.

The OHL led the pack with 45 players. That league also had the most picks in the first round, with seven; the fifth round, with seven; and the sixth round, with 10. They were also tied with the USHL for the most players selected in the seventh round, with seven.

The OHL had the most players selected, despite only two of them going in the first 14 picks. Last year, six OHLers went in the first 12 selections, including Erie's Matthew Schaefer going first overall to the New York Islanders and Saginaw's Michael Misa joining the Sharks second overall.

After finishing with 32 picks, the USHL ranked third while also leading in rounds four and seven. The son of three-time Stanley Cup champion Matt Cullen, Wyatt Cullen, was the first pick from that group when the Nashville Predators took him tenth overall.

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This story was originally published June 29, 2026 at 11:07 AM.