1/12: The NHL has officially announced that Buffalo will host the 2026 NHL Draft on June 26th and 27th per NHL.com’s Adam Kimelman.
1/9: The NHL Draft could be returning to Buffalo, New York this year. The Buffalo Sabres have made an earnest push to host the First Round of the 2026 NHL Draft, sources told Mike Harrington of The Buffalo News. A potential return to draft day in Buffalo was first teased by broadcaster John Buccigross on Thursday.
Buffalo has hosted three other NHL Drafts. It became the third American city to serve as host in 1991, seven years after the NHL moved away from a yearly trip to Montreal. The Quebec Nordiques drafted centerman Eric Lindros first-overall in Buffalo, but the future Hall-of-Famer refused to sign with the club, prompting a trade to Philadelphia in 1992. Meanwhile, the NHL Draft didn’t return to Buffalo until 1998, when the Tampa Bay Lightning drafted Vincent Lecavalier with the top pick. By then, the league had begun traveling to a new city every year for the Draft, which kept the league from returning to Buffalo again until 2016, when Auston Matthews landed with the Toronto Maple Leafs at first-overall.
The 2026 Draft will be unlike any previously held in Buffalo, though. NHL general managers voted to decentralize the NHL Draft beginning last season. This format is more in-line with other professional sports leagues, like the NFL, and saw NHL management teams stay in their home city while draft prospects were greeted on stage by league personnel. The change in format was criticized by fans and media after the 2025 Draft wrapped up but NHL managers voted to uphold it headed into 2026.
That places a unique challenge on the next host to try and spark a format that landed flat last year. The heap of talent set for the first-round in 2026 could make that task a bit easier. The hockey world is in the midst of debating the first-overall chair after hopefuls Gavin McKenna, Ivar Stenberg, Keaton Verhoeff, and Chase Reid dueled out at the 2026 World Junior Championships. Stenberg – a standout in Sweden’s top pro league – earned the last laugh of the tournament with a Gold Medal win. Whether that trend will continue through June – and into host city Buffalo – is yet to be seen.
Fans: we’d like the league to do something we like.
NHL: 😂🤣😂🤣
@Gbear — This is the time we need the ability to underscore “we like”, eh? 😄 And, it’d be cool to see BUF fans reply to the NHL with the “Hawaiian Good Luck Sign”, too. (emoji deleted)
At least it’s in July. It’s even warm in Buffalo then. I think. Maybe.
Not sure having player(s) and/or family members arrested at gun point for breathing will be good optics…
I was at that Lindros draft in ’91. Met Bobby Clarke and Scotty Bowman, got Alex Mogilny’s autograph. Good times.
NHL wanting to do anything like last year’s snooze fest shows how little they know about marketing and that all they care about is saving money for billionaires and boring fans to death. Screw you Gary.
So the Sabres basically want to tell their fans up close and personal: “Here’s a guy we’re gonna select with a top pick just to trade him in a few years.” Convenient. Will the Pegulas be there to harvest fans’ tears to drink later?
The NHL draft has become must not watch TV with nobody being there anyway. Might as well hold it in Siberia because it wouldn’t make a difference.
I’m trying to think of something as awkward as last years draft format, but I can’t think of anything. Almost painful to watch.
can”t get enough of those pre-pick war room check-in’s .. fifty guys crammed into a conference room .. staring at the big board .. praying they’re not gonna mess up the next pick .. makes for some scintillating tv
@alstott40 — And then when the NHL Network breaks for a commercial, you can flip over to the “Let’s watch beige paint dry on the walls” channel. Bettman will be the only one who thinks that’s a good thing. Some of us will turn the set off, while others will need the paddles to come back to life.