We didn't just publish a mock draft — we graded it. Scored against the final 2026 results alongside eight major outlets, our last mock finished 2nd-most-accurate of nine — behind only ESPN, and ahead of The Athletic, TSN, Yahoo, theScore and Sportsnet.
📋 VIEW FULL DRAFT RESULTS →Every outlet's final Round 1 mock, scored against the actual results on the same scale. Points: exact pick = 3, within three slots = 2, correct round = 1 (max 96).
| # | MOCK | PTS | EXACT | IN R1 | ±5 | AVG MISS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 🥇 | ESPN | 57 | 8 | 29 | 23 | 3.8 |
| 🥈 | ⭐ HockeyMockDraft.com | 55 | 8 | 28 | 23 | 4.2 |
| 🥉 | The Athletic (Wheeler) | 55 | 9 | 27 | 22 | 4.6 |
| 4. | NHL.com (Morreale) | 51 | 5 | 27 | 24 | 3.7 |
| 5. | theScore | 51 | 5 | 28 | 25 | 4.7 |
| 6. | Yahoo Sports | 50 | 4 | 27 | 25 | 3.8 |
| 7. | NHL.com (Kimelman) | 49 | 8 | 26 | 22 | 4.7 |
| 8. | TSN | 47 | 5 | 27 | 21 | 5.5 |
| 9. | Sportsnet | 47 | 6 | 27 | 20 | 7.8 |
Right player, right slot — calls our final mock nailed to the pick.
| PICK | PLAYER | TEAM |
|---|---|---|
| #1 | Gavin McKenna | Toronto Maple Leafs |
| #2 | Ivar Stenberg | San Jose Sharks |
| #3 | Caleb Malhotra | Vancouver Canucks |
| #5 | Alberts Smits | New York Rangers |
| #6 | Carson Carels | Calgary Flames |
| #8 | Viggo Björck | Winnipeg Jets |
| #13 | Malte Gustafsson | New York Islanders |
| #29 | Juho Piiparinen | Vegas Golden Knights |