The NHL draft: order and lottery
7 rounds, a lottery and player rights that are not a signed contract. How the draft works and what selection means for a Swedish prospect.
The NHL Draft gives clubs the right to negotiate an NHL contract with eligible young players. It has 7 rounds. Being selected is a step toward the league, but it does not provide a signed contract or guarantee an NHL roster spot.
How does the NHL Draft work?
Clubs select players in a set order. Every pick has both a round number and an overall number. The first selection is No. 1 overall; with 32 clubs, the first regular selection in Round 2 is No. 33. Trades, compensatory selections and forfeited picks can affect how many selections a club actually makes.
The basic allocation is one pick per club per round. Teams can trade those picks or acquire more. One club can therefore select several times in the first round while another makes no selection there. The NHL's published selection order also identifies original owners of traded picks.
How old must a player be?
A player normally needs to turn 18 by September 15 of the draft year to become eligible for the first time. Two players born in the same calendar year can consequently enter different first-time draft classes. An October birthday means waiting until the following draft.
Older players can also be eligible. The detailed rules depend on age, previous selections and whether the player has played in North America. A birth year alone does not establish an individual's eligibility. Article 8 of the collective agreement governs the draft and club rights.
Who gets the first pick?
The 16 clubs that miss the Stanley Cup Playoffs enter the draft lottery, or are represented by the club holding their first-round selection. A worse regular-season result brings a better starting position and stronger lottery odds, but does not guarantee the first pick.
There are 2 lottery drawings. A club can move up no more than 10 places by winning, so only the first 11 lottery seeds can reach No. 1 overall. A club can move up through a lottery win at most twice in a five-year period. Retaining an already-held top position does not count as such a move.
These principles follow the NHL's lottery rules and its 2026 lottery guide. For the 2027 draft, dates, odds and participating teams need to be checked separately.
Where do playoff teams pick?
For playoff clubs, the order reflects both regular-season performance and how far they advance. It is not simply the regular-season standings in reverse. The Stanley Cup champion takes the last regular position, the runner-up the next-to-last, with the conference-final losers immediately ahead of them.
The order can also differ between the first round and later rounds because the lottery applies to Round 1. Following the official selection order is more reliable than trying to infer every position from the standings.
Being drafted is not the same as signing
A draft selection gives the club rights against other NHL teams. The player still needs a contract before playing in the league. How long those rights last depends on the player's circumstances, with different provisions for situations such as European club hockey and college hockey.
A Swedish player can therefore be drafted and continue developing in Sweden. Draft position, contract date and NHL debut are 3 separate facts. Our NHL rookie-contract guide explains the next contractual step.
Leo Carlsson: from draft selection to debut
Anaheim selected Leo Carlsson No. 2 overall in the 2023 draft, on June 28. His NHL debut came on October 19 that year, several months after the draft. The dates are recorded in Anaheim's draft announcement and the NHL's debut game report.
A draft position does not decide an NHL career
A high draft pick reflects the clubs’ assessment at that draft, not how the NHL career will turn out. Many Swedish players selected later went on to become highly successful. Nicklas Lidström was a third-round selection, while Henrik Zetterberg, Tomas Holmström and Patric Hörnqvist waited even longer:
Swedish draft history records which Swedes were selected, by which club and at which position.