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NHL Notebook: Canadian GM’s react to Draft Lottery results as league announces salary cap for 2026-27
Toronto Maple Leafs John Chayka
Photo credit: Dan Hamilton-Imagn Images
Alicia LaBine
May 6, 2026, 19:00 EDTUpdated: May 6, 2026, 19:32 EDT
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On Tuesday morning, Auston Matthews’ future in Toronto was reported as uncertain, and later that night, those may have been quelled.
The 2026 NHL Draft Lottery had the Toronto Maple Leafs jump from fifth best odds, to the sweepstakes winners as they were awarded the first overall selection in this year’s draft.
Matthews was the last first overall pick for the organization back in 2016, this is the first time in the years since that the Leafs have missed the playoffs, and their luck has immediately turned around.
New general manager John Chayka is keeping an open mind to who they select with their first overall pick.
“The nice part is…we haven’t had scouting meetings yet,” Chayka said. “Second day on the job. We’ll get together and we’ll go through everything as we should, and be super diligent and make sure we know everything… always a lot of diligence when you’re picking No. 1 overall and making sure you nail it.”
For a franchise that has faced years of disappointing playoff runs, the arrival of a new young superstar in either Gavin McKenna or Ivar Stenberg could be what gets them over the hump and leads them into a more successful 2026-27 season.
“Just really excited for the organization and fan base,” Chayka said.
The Calgary Flames were projected to land the fourth overall pick in this draft, but instead fell down to sixth. With their hopes of landing one of McKenna or Stenberg stymied by the Leafs and San Jose Sharks, Flames GM Craig Conroy still has high hopes for what they will get out of the draft.
“We’re gonna get a good player,” Conroy said. “We always want to win anything we do, but now we just know six is our spot, and we’ll really dig in.”
For the Flames, they will not be drafting positionally, and will instead elect to pick the best available player when their selection begins.
“I think there’s a group of maybe seven or eight players that most teams like,” Conroy told the media. “We’ll see what they pick, and then we’ll be able to make our decision at six.”
The Flames are yet to obtain a top-three pick in the NHL Entry Draft, and they will have to wait at least another year to do so. Sam Bennett was the highest pick that the Flames have ever had, when they selected the centre at fourth overall in 2014.
Going into the draft with the highest odds was not enough luck for the Vancouver Canucks, who have missed the playoffs the last two years, and traded away their franchise defenseman five months ago. Despite having a 25.5 per cent chance to select first, the Canucks fell to third in the 2026 draft.
There are a handful of exceptional picks that will still be available, such as Chase Reid, Caleb Malhotra Keaton Verheoff, and Carson Carels, assuming McKenna and Stenberg are the first two selections.
“Despite the fact that the Canucks aren’t going to pick number one, it doesn’t mean that we have to be all upset about this. This is a really strong draft. You really don’t know how the draft is going to fall,” said president of hockey operations Jim Rutherford.

Salary cap set to rise substantially

The NHL has officially set the salary cap and payroll rules for the 2026-27 season.
Elliotte Friedman reported the salary cap will raise to an all-time high of $104 million, which is $8.5 million higher than the 2025-26 cap. This marks the largest increase to the salary cap since its introduction prior to the 2005-06 season.
The new salary floor will be $76.9 million and the maximum salary for an individual NHL player’s contract will be lifted to $20.8 million.
According to PuckPedia, the Edmonton Oilers will enter free agency with $16.4 million in cap space, that they will likely end up using a large chunk of to re-sign current unrestricted free agents such as Connor Ingram, Jason Dickinson, Kasperi Kapanen, and Connor Murphy.
This offseason’s free agency pool doesn’t have any dramatic headliners, but there are some interesting names available, like Alex Tuch from the Buffalo Sabres, and Darren Raddysh from the Tampa Bay Lightning. However, with the upcoming 2027 UFA class of Sidney Crosby, Nikita Kucherov, and Quinn Hughes, we might see some large deals handed out next year.
For the Oilers, they will have to re-sign Connor McDavid in 2028, who will likely be asking for a massive contract after taking two years of a very team-friendly $12.5 million AAV. The Toronto Maple Leafs’ Auston Matthews is also set to become a free agent that summer, and will see a pay raise from his current $13.25 million deal.
Edmonton’s need for a goaltender could potentially be solved in free agency this year. However, the front runners of the 2026 UFA goaltender class are highlighted by Sergei Bobrovsky, Frederik Andersen, and Petr Mrazek, who are all in their mid-to-late thirties.

Rutherford stepping away from day-to-day ops

Jim Rutherford has announced that he will be stepping away from day-to-day operations after the NHL Entry Draft.
Rutherford will oversee the hiring of the Canucks’ next general manager, and then after the draft he will take on a different role with the organization as alternate governor and advisor.
He was hired as the team’s president of hockey operations in Dec. 2021 and acted as the team’s interim general manager until the hiring of Patrik Allvin in Jan. 2022.
In that time, the team has made the playoffs once, coming in the 2023-24 season where they lost in Round 2 to the Edmonton Oilers after seven games. Rick Tocchet won the Jack Adams that year, then left the team to pursue different opportunities after a highly disappointing 2024-25 season.
Under Rutherford, Elias Pettersson and Brock Boeser were signed to enormous deals, eight years for $11.6-million per yera and seven years for $7.25-million per year, respectively. The recent Quinn Hughes trade that brought in Zeev Buium, Marco Rossi, Liam Ohgren, and the Wild’s first round pick in 2026, was also overseen by the current president of hockey operations.
However, he has seen great success throughout his long career. As the president of the Hartford Whalers, now Carolina Hurricanes, he won his first Stanley Cup in 2006. Then, he was hired as the GM of the Pittsburgh Penguins in 2014, who went on to win back-to-back cups in 2016 and 2017.
The success has not carried over to Vancouver, and now he is stepping down to allow a new face to lead the Canucks team out of their playoff drought.

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