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NHL draft winners, losers: Pavel Dorofeyev trade aids Rangers, hurts Golden Knights

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The 2026 NHL Draft delivered some intrigue in the first round on Friday, June 26.

For the first time in years, it was more than just the selection of draft picks.

Two big trades were announced back-to-back early in the draft. Pavel Dorofeyev went from the Vegas Golden Knights to the New York Rangers and JJ Peterka went from the Utah Mammoth to the Boston Bruins. Later, Mason McTavish also moved, going from the Anaheim Ducks to the St. Louis Blues.

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The Toronto Maple Leafs took Penn State’s Gavin McKenna No. 1 as expected and the San Jose Sharks went with forward Ivar Stenberg at No. 2, rather than a defenseman.

Here are the winners and losers from the first day of the NHL draft:

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WINNERS

New York Rangers

The Rangers traded defenseman K’Andre Miller before last season and forward Artemi Panarin during the season and missed the playoffs for the second year in a row. But they added some potential replacements at the draft. Dorofeyev has goal-scoring ability, totaling 72 goals over the last two seasons, and agreed to a seven-year, $77 million extension. Draft pick Alberts Smits is a big defenseman who played for Latvia at the Olympics, world championships and world junior championships.

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San Jose Sharks

They kept everyone guessing before the draft and took skilled forward Stenberg with the No. 2 overall pick. Even though they passed on a defenseman, they landed a good one in Keaton Verhoeff with the No. 9 pick. They moved up six spots in a trade to draft Ryan Lin, another solid defenseman, at No. 21.

Caleb Malhotra

He went No. 3 overall and gets a chance to play for his dad, new Vancouver Canucks coach Manny Malhotra.

Toronto Maple Leafs

Buffalo has been a good draft site for the Maple Leafs. Ten years ago, they took Auston Matthews No. 1 overall, and top pick McKenna has an opportunity to put his imprint on the franchise, too.

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LOSERS

Vegas Golden Knights

The defending Western Conference champions have success because they trade futures for name players. But because of a salary cup crunch, they traded Dorofeyev, their best homegrown player, for futures. The move at least gave the Golden Knights a rare opportunity to draft in the first round, but they traded down twice before finally selecting Juho Piiparinen with the 29th overall pick.

Chase Reid drops

He had been mentioned as high as No. 2 if the Sharks wanted to draft a defenseman. General manager Mike Grier hinted at the possibility before the draft. But the Sharks took Stenberg and Reid fell to No. 7 with the Seattle Kraken. That’s the same Kraken team that has made the playoffs once in its existence and reportedly had its $15 million-a-year contract offer turned down by the Dallas Stars’ Jason Robertson.

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Columbus Blue Jackets

During the draft, TSN’s Pierre LeBrun reported that the Blue Jackets were listening to offers on Norris Trophy winner Zach Werenski. ESPN’s Kevin Weekes later reported that Kirill Marchenko, the team’s leading goal scorer, might not be willing to re-sign beyond the end of his contract. That’s not a good sign for a team that has missed the playoffs for six consecutive seasons and whose effort down the stretch was questioned by coach Rick Bowness.

Production drags on

ESPN got rid of last year’s worst feature, the virtual room in which prospects talked to their new teams. But having drafted players sitting on a couch during interviews wasn’t much better. Even though the trades were exciting, they caused the show to drag. It lasted four hours.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: NHL draft winners, losers: Pavel Dorofeyev trade aids Rangers, hurts Golden Knights

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