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How to watch tonight’s NHL Draft Lottery
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Photo credit: © NHL Public Relations
Tyson Cole
May 5, 2026, 10:00 EDTUpdated: May 5, 2026, 01:48 EDT
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The time has finally come. Tonight is the night Vancouver Canucks fans have been waiting for since they officially locked up 32nd place on April 2: the NHL Draft Lottery.
Here’s how you can watch tonight’s draft lottery:
Where: Sportsnet broadcast / sportsnet.ca
When: 4:00 PM PT / 7:00 PM ET
With the new draft lottery odds, where teams can only move up 10 spots, there are only 11 teams that could potentially win first overall. Here are those teams, along with their percentages of winning the lottery.
  1. Vancouver Canucks (18.5%)
  2. Chicago Blackhawks (13.5%)
  3. New York Rangers (11.5%)
  4. Calgary Flames (9.5%)
  5. Toronto Maple Leafs (8.5%)
  6. Seattle Kraken (7.5%)
  7. Winnipeg Jets (6.5%)
  8. Florida Panthers (6.0%)
  9. San Jose Sharks (5.0%)
  10. Nashville Predators (3.5%)
  11. St. Louis Blues (3.0%)
However, that only adds up to 93%. So, who holds the remaining 7%? Well, there are still lottery balls in the machine for teams 12, 13, 14, 15 and 16. So if any of those teams win the lottery and can only move up 10 spots, then the last-ranked team would win by default. That means that the extra 7% this season will go to the Canucks, bringing their odds at landing the first overall pick to 25.5%.
There are just two traded first-round draft picks of teams that missed the postseason this season. The Detroit Red Wings traded their first-round pick to the Blues in exchange for Justin Faulk. That pick is 15th overall as of now. Last season, the Toronto Maple Leafs sent their 2026 first-round pick to their rival Boston Bruins, along with centre Fraser Minten, in exchange for Brandon Carlo. Luckily for the Maple Leafs, that pick is top-five protected. They currently hold the 5th pick. If they fall out of the top five, that pick will go to Boston.
Vancouver is one of seven teams with multiple first-round picks in this year’s draft: Canucks (x2), Rangers (x2), Flames (x2), Kraken (x2), Sharks (x2), Blues (x3), and Washington Capitals (x2).
If they do not win the draft lottery, the Canucks can fall no further than third overall. There is no true consensus for the top of this draft. Still, here are some of the top prospects heading into the draft lottery: Gavin McKenna, Ivar Stenberg, Chase Reid, Keaton Verhoeff, Carson Carels, Alberts Smits, Caleb Malhotra, and Viggo Björck.
You can follow along and see exactly what lottery ball numbers the Canucks have for the draft lottery and cheer them on here!
In just a few short hours, we will see if the Canucks will finally get lucky in the lottery and earn the first-overall pick for the first time in franchise history.
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