Pencils down.After a season of travel, video and phone calls and texts speaking with agents, scouts, coaches, family members and those around these players, here is my final mock draft for the 2026 NHL Draft.Packed with intel, this two-round mock combines my sourcing over the last couple of weeks with my sense for team need, each amateur scouting department’s preferences and the consensus around the top prospects’ projected draft ranges. Throughout, I’ve also mapped out different scenarios, potential contingencies and likely considerations for certain teams.1. Toronto Maple Leafs: Gavin McKenna, LW, Penn State (NCAA)You can put this one in permanent marker, and nothing I’ve heard in recent weeks has led me down any other path. As I’ve reported previously, I know the Maple Leafs’ group liked Chase Reid. But there have been murmurs that McKenna was told earlier this month that he was going to be the selection, and other teams have been operating as if it’s a done deal.2. San Jose Sharks: Ivar Stenberg, RW, Frölunda (SHL)It felt like everyone in the public sphere just assumed it was going to be Reid because the Sharks have a clearer need on defense. But I mocked Stenberg to the Sharks after the combine, and I’m sticking with that hunch at the buzzer after further info gathering. I think they like Carson Carels and Reid (so don’t assume it’s Reid if they take a D), but Mike Grier has made it clear he’ll take the best player available with these high picks and figure the rest out later, and I never got the sense that any one of the D was ever actually ahead of the top forwards in this class in the consensus. If they stay put at No. 2, I’d bet they’re going to lean Stenberg.3. Vancouver Canucks: Caleb Malhotra, C, Brantford (OHL)I’ve reported pretty extensively on this connection for months, and if the Canucks take Malhotra — and I have been led to believe he’s atop their list at No. 3 — I’ll say this: Their interest in him has been a season-long one and precedes them zeroing in on his dad, Manny, as their head coach. I believe they also like Reid, and know they did their due diligence on Keaton Verhoeff and company, but I’ll be surprised if it’s not Malhotra.4. Chicago Blackhawks: Chase Reid, RHD, Sault Ste. Marie (OHL)If the forwards go 1-2-3, and everything I’ve gathered has led me to believe that’s the most likely outcome, I’d bet that Verhoeff, Alberts Šmits and Daxon Rudolph are less the Blackhawks’ type and that they’ll favor either Carels or Reid. The sense I get is they’re high on both. Carels would fit as a lefty opposite righties Artyom Levshunov and Sam Rinzel, but Reid is narrowly favoured as the consensus No. 1 D, and if you’re not sold on Levshunov as your PP1 QB of the future, then he’s probably the guy.5. New York Rangers: Alberts Šmits, LHD, Munich (DEL)I’ve heard three names, to varying degrees, connected to the Rangers here: Šmits, Carels and Verhoeff. While their pool could use both a top center and D, I haven’t gotten any indication that they’re going to be the team to take Viggo Björck. I could see Šmits’ proximity to the NHL mattering to the Rangers’ brass, and I could see them being drawn to his swagger. I also wonder if Carels’ recent comments about big cities could at least be back-of-mind for a market like New York.I’ve also heard talk of the Rangers moving back, for what it’s worth.6. Calgary Flames: Carson Carels, LHD, Prince George (WHL)The sense I have with the Flames’ pick is that they’ve zeroed in on Carels and Verhoeff, in that order. I know others have mocked Björck, and he makes sense as the kind of player they need and have targeted recently, but my hunch is that they’re higher on the D. If the Rangers don’t pick Carels, he’d be a hand-to-glove fit for the Flames and potentially a future partner for Zayne Parekh. They’ve also done their due diligence with Verhoeff, who billeted with Jarome Iginla once upon a time as well. But I think Carels is the likely lean for them if he’s there.7. Seattle Kraken: Keaton Verhoeff, RHD, North Dakota (NCAA)The belief around the league is that this is finally going to be the year that the Kraken use a top pick on a defenseman, and I know they’ve done their due diligence on both Verhoeff and Rudolph. If the Rangers don’t take Verhoeff, I think he gets to the Kraken here. And if he does, he’s the slight consensus choice over Rudolph. Either would give the Kraken something they haven’t had since the inception of their organization: a top-end D prospect.8. Winnipeg Jets: Viggo Björck, C, Djurgården (SHL)I think there’s a real chance Björck goes before this (particularly to Calgary), but if he doesn’t, I’d bet the Jets pounce and take the top center prospect their pool desperately needs. Björck’s stock is at its peak right now, too.If Björck is gone, they probably pivot to one of the D (Rudolph and Šmits being the most likely).9. Ottawa Senators: Ethan Belchetz, LW, Windsor (OHL)Because of how late the Senators entered the picture, they’re the team in the top 10 I have the least amount of info on. Before Sunday’s Brady Tkachuk trade, I had Rudolph to the Panthers. I don’t think Ottawa takes another offensive right-shot D in the top 10 just two years after taking Carter Yakemchuk, though. Malte Gustafsson would fit with how they’ve drafted in the past, but my hunch is the Senators take a forward, and Belchetz fits their type more than Tynan Lawrence or Wyatt Cullen. And though I could see them liking Lawrence, the sense I get is he’s falling.10. Nashville Predators: Daxon Rudolph, RHD, Prince Albert (WHL)All of Belchetz, Gustafsson and even Lawrence fit as Predators types. Cullen would represent more of the skill they chased with Ryker Lee last year as well, and is a lefty to Lee’s right-handedness. But I think there’s a higher chance Rudolph gets here with the Sens picking at No. 9 now, and I just can’t see him lingering much longer. This is also a bit of a new chapter with a new general manager in Chris MacFarland, which makes them trickier to handicap than in the past (for a long time, they’ve had a clear type). Lawrence would give them another competitive center down the middle and make sense in particular if they think Brady Martin may be a winger (which is how many outside of the organization view him), but Rudolph, Gustafsson and Belchetz are ahead of him in the consensus these days. Gustafsson would give their smallish crop of D prospects (Cameron Reid, Tanner Molendyk) some needed size, but he’s also another lefty. Belchetz, who is going to MSU with Lee next season, was my pick for them in my previous mock because their pool has nothing like him, but he’s gone now.Rudolph as the power-play quarterback of the future and a righty should be hard for the Preds to pass up on, though.11. St. Louis Blues: Tynan Lawrence, C, Boston University (NCAA)I think the Blues would strongly consider Belchetz, Gustafsson and Cullen, but their pool could use a center, and I’ve heard they like Lawrence. His stock has certainly softened within the league, and he’s a candidate to fall, but he would fill an area of need, and he’s the Blues’ type. The Blues have good depth on the wing and the back end within their pool, and I’ve come back to Lawrence repeatedly with their pick. They can also take a winger or a D with their next pick at No. 15. One calculation they may now consider: the odds that Lawrence gets to No. 15 are higher than you might think, which could potentially push them to Gustafsson, Belchetz or Cullen.12. New Jersey Devils: Wyatt Cullen, LW, U.S. NTDP (USHL)I expect the Devils to take a forward and could see them considering both Lawrence (who has some Nico Hischier to him) and Belchetz (for his uniqueness/rarity) here. But I’ve kept coming back to the very talented Cullen for new Devils general manager Sunny Mehta’s first selection. Their pool could use a high-skill forward, too. Multiple teams I’ve spoken with have had Cullen in their top 10, so he could be gone by this pick. But if he’s here, I’d wager the Devils take him.13. New York Islanders: Malte Gustafsson, LHD, HV71 (SHL)If Belchetz doesn’t go 9, 10 or 11, I can’t see him getting past the Islanders or Blue Jackets (the Islanders have good wing prospects in Victor Eklund and Cole Eiserman, but none like Belchetz). The Isles’ pool could still use a center more than a winger, too, so I’d circle Lawrence for them if the Blues don’t take him as well. Both of them are gone here, though, and if Gustafsson is the one player from this group who now lingers in this new draft order (I think in multiple scenarios he goes in front of this and could even go top 10), I think they’d take him. I know both Matthew Schaefer and Kashawn Aitcheson are lefties, but I don’t think that precludes them from taking a nearly 6-foot-5 stopper who could slot in between those two on their second pair long-term.14. Columbus Blue Jackets: Ryan Lin, RHD, Vancouver (WHL)The Blues could use another big body up front, and I’m sure they’d jump on Belchetz if he were to get here. This is also Hemming’s range, and I can understand why he has been the default mock to them. But I wonder about the Blue Jackets and Lin as well. League sources have indicated to me that more teams in the teens are high on Lin than people realize, and I could see the Blue Jackets liking him for the same reason they liked Denton Mateychuk when they took him 12th. They obviously have two good young D prospects in Mateychuk and Jackson Smith, but both are lefties, and they could use a good right-shot D in their system (which is arguably harder to find than a winger like Hemming).15. St. Louis Blues: Oscar Hemming, LW, Boston College (NCAA)If the Blues take Lawrence with their first pick, I think it frees them up to potentially select a left-shot winger (both Justin Carbonneau and Jimmy Snuggerud are righties) like Hemming or Adam Novotný here or a right-shot D like Lin (Philip Broberg and Theo Lindstein are both lefties, and they don’t have a D with Lin’s look). I’ve heard they like Novotný, but Hemming is the higher guy in the consensus.If the Blues take lefty forwards Belchetz or Cullen at No. 11, I’d bet they pivot to make sure they get a center here and take the one-the-rise Alexander Command (or, if Lawrence gets here, take him here instead). That’s the game they’re likely going to have to play.