While the Philadelphia Flyers are busy trying to overcome a 2-0 series deficit to the Carolina Hurricanes in the second round of the playoffs, they still had stakes in the result of the 2026 NHL Draft Lottery. And now we know that they came up with a big win.
The Toronto Maple Leafs won the draft lottery. The results poured out and went in Toronto’s favor to land them the projected top prospect Gavin McKenna as they search for relevancy yet again.
The Maple Leafs had an 8.5 percent chance at the first-overall pick after they finished with the fifth-worst record in the league this past season. They also had an 8.6 percent chance at the second-overall pick and a 24.5 percent chance at staying put and having the fifth-overall pick. Thanks to some basic math that we can do as hockey bloggers, the Flyers therefore had a 41.7 percent chance of this 2027 first-rounder of the Leafs that they own becoming an unprotected pick.
But what does that have to do with the Flyers? Well, a whole lot.
Flyers get clarity surrounding the Leafs’ 2027 first-round pick
The Leafs originally traded their 2026 first-round pick to the Boston Bruins for defenseman Brandon Carlo at last year’s trade deadline but made it top-five protected. And now that it is top five (wow, the first overall pick is in the top five) that pick stays with the Leafs.
But the Leafs also traded their 2027 first-round pick to the Flyers at last year’s deadline. So now — if we are reading the brief clarification from the NHL correctly — Toronto gets to decide which team of the Flyers and Bruins get their next two picks, but the major thing is that now it is unprotected.
It is still unclear whether or not the Flyers will get the 2027 or 2028 first-round pick, but it is now looking like that that pick will be completely unprotected. Meaning that even if the Leafs finish dead last and get another very high draft pick, that goes right to the Flyers. And with things very much on the rocks and star Auston Matthews potentially heading out the door, this could be an incredibly massive win.
This is all thanks to the now brilliant move that general manager Danny Briere made with the Maple Leafs at last year’s trade deadline. With two years left on his deal, the Flyers traded veteran center Scott Laughton to Toronto for this 2027 first-round draft pick and prospect Nikita Grebenkin.
While that was a win almost immediately — after we got over the fact that the Flyers traded the heartbeat of their locker room and a fan favorite — thanks to them getting a first-round pick and a decent prospect for a depth forward that wasn’t doing much, it is now so much better.
It is a kind of trade that we can all point at and praise the current regime for taking advantage of a team desperate to try and get that kind of playoff performer and cashing in on Laughton’s prestine reputation.
Some clarification is still needed surrounding the pick
We got clarity earlier this afternoon after multiple reports started saying the same thing about what would happen if the Maple Leafs won the draft lottery or kept their pick. While it was originally thought that there would be some top-10 protection on the 2027 selection for the Flyers because of earlier reporting from PuckPedia, that was no longer the case and as we know now, the pick is unprotected.
While Chris Johnston is confident in the years, the NHL itself is saying that the Leafs will get to decide what pick goes to which team. And, well, it can be easy enough to suggest that if it’s a very good draft pick, the Leafs don’t want that to stay within their division and will instead transfer it to the Flyers.
Thank goodness for that. The Flyers having to then deal with waiting around to see where the Leafs finish in the standings next season and then maybe waiting for Toronto’s decision surrounding this pick if they were given the choice between Boston and Philadelphia to send those next two draft picks too — that just sounds like a miserable time.
Now, we just get to know for some instant gratification instead of needing to hope for the Leafs to finish with the 11th-worst record in the NHL next season.
