Blackhawks drop in the NHL draft lottery and will have the No. 4 pick

Kalen Lumpkins, Chicago Tribune on May 5, 2026

Published in Hockey

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CHICAGO — The Chicago Blackhawks will pick fourth in the NHL draft, their fourth consecutive year with a top-four pick.

The Hawks entered Tuesday’s draft lottery with the second-highest odds (13.5%) of landing the No. 1 pick, which wound up going to the Toronto Maple Leafs (8.5%).

The San Jose Sharks then won the second draw, dropping the Vancouver Canucks — who had the highest odds — to No. 3 and the Hawks to No. 4. The New York Rangers will pick fifth.

The Hawks already have the youngest roster in the NHL and will get even younger with the arrival of the new draftee. Forwards Ivar Stenberg of Sweden and Gavin McKenna of Penn State, both 18, are the consensus top prospects in the draft, which will take place June 26-27 in Buffalo, N.Y.

With both players likely off the board when the Hawks are on the clock, they could target Brantford Bulldogs center Caleb Malhotra, considered the third-best forward prospect. While Hawks general manager Kyle Davidson has drafted a long line of forwards in recent years, the pending free agency of Ilya Mikheyev and the uncertain status of André Burakovsky, whom the Hawks might buy out, could open roster spots.

Malhotra, 17, made noise with a dominant showing in the Ontario Hockey League playoffs, totaling 26 points (13 goals, 13 assists) in 15 games to add to his regular-season total of 84 points in 67 games. He could give the Hawks another immediate scoring threat, either adding to their depth at center or potentially flipping to a wing.

Other top forward prospects are Windsor Spitfires left wing Ethan Belchetz, Swedish center/right wing Viggo Björck, Boston College left wing Oscar Hemming, Boston University center Tynan Lawrence and Finnish center Oliver Suvanto.

Having used high picks in recent years on Artyom Levshunov (No. 2 in 2024) and Kevin Korchinski (No. 7 in 2022), the Hawks are less likely to take a defenseman at No. 4. This draft class has several highly rated blue-liners, however, so the Prince George Cougars’ Carson Carels, the Soo Greyhounds’ Chase Reid, Latvia’s Alberts Šmits and North Dakota’s Keaton Verhoeff could be options when the Hawks are on the clock.

The Maple Leafs entered with the fifth-highest odds of landing the top pick and moved up four spots. They would have had to transfer their pick to the Boston Bruins if it hadn’t been in the top five.

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