Key takeaways
- Check the September 15 cut-off before projecting a prospect's draft year: a player must turn 18 by September 15 after the draft, so some draftees are still 17 on draft day.
- Expect seven rounds with one pick per club in each, plus occasional second-round compensatory picks for clubs that could not sign a first-round choice.
- Under the lottery format announced in 2021, a team can move up no more than 10 places by winning a draw, and no team can win more than twice in five years.
- For players drafted from 2027 on, a club holds an 18-year-old draftee's rights until the fourth June 1 after the draft, and an older draftee's until the third.
- Don't confuse the entry draft with the draft in a GM game: one assigns the rights to teenagers entering the league, the other is a team-building puzzle.
The NHL draft is a seven-round selection held each June in which clubs claim the exclusive rights to negotiate with players entering the league; a player is eligible in the year he turns 18 by September 15. The order of the first picks for teams that missed the playoffs is set by a two-drawing lottery, and a drafted player's club then holds his rights for a fixed period — a period that changes for players drafted from 2027 on.
The rules come from Article 8 of the collective bargaining agreement between the league and the NHL Players' Association, as amended by the memorandum that took effect on September 16, 2026, and from the league's lottery rules.
Who is eligible
The CBA's starting point is simple: all players aged 18 or older are eligible to be claimed. The detail is in how "18" is defined. For the draft, it means a player reaching his 18th birthday between January 1 before the draft and September 15 after it, both dates included.
That cut-off produces some young draftees. Using the 2027 draft as an example:
| Date of birth | First eligible draft |
|---|---|
| September 16, 2008 to September 15, 2009 | 2027 |
| September 16, 2009 to September 15, 2010 | 2028 |
A player born on September 15, 2009 can be drafted in June 2027 while he is still 17; one born the next day waits a year.
The CBA also rules some players out:
- a player already on a club's reserve list, other than as a try-out;
- a player who has already been claimed in two previous drafts;
- a player who previously played in the league and became a free agent;
- an undrafted player aged 21 or older who played at least one season in North America at 18, 19 or 20 — he enters the league as an unrestricted free agent instead;
- any undrafted player aged 22 or older, who is likewise a free agent.
For those last two rules, "age 21" and "age 22" mean reaching that birthday by December 31 of the draft year.
Seven rounds, and the compensatory picks
The draft has seven rounds, each with as many selections as there will be clubs in the league the following season. With the 32 clubs on the 2026-27 schedule, that is 224 regular selections.
There is one addition. If a club cannot sign its first-round pick and loses his rights because he re-enters the draft or becomes an unrestricted free agent (or dies), it automatically receives a compensatory pick: the same numerical choice in the second round of the next draft. The CBA's own example is a club that cannot sign the third pick of the first round receiving the third pick of the second. The number of compensatory picks in a draft cannot exceed the number of clubs. A club that loses rights because it failed to make a required offer gets no compensation.
The draft is held in June, on a date the Commissioner sets. The order of selection is the league's to determine, within limits the CBA sets.
The lottery
For clubs that miss the playoffs, the top of the order is decided by a draw. The current format comes from changes the league announced in March 2021, approved by its Board of Governors:
- Two drawings, not three. The league moved to two drawings from 2021. Under the old three-drawing system, the last-place team could fall as far as fourth; with two, it can pick no lower than third.
- A 10-place limit. From 2022, a team cannot move up more than 10 places by winning a drawing. In practice that means only the bottom 11 teams can win the first pick, and only the bottom 12 can win the second.
- Two wins in five years. From 2022, no team can win the lottery more than twice in a five-year period. Wins before 2022 do not count.
The league said the changes were meant to reduce the chance that the worst team drops in the order, to limit how far it can drop, to narrow the number of teams eligible for the first pick, and to stop the same team benefiting repeatedly. Lotteries in general — why they exist and what flattening the odds does — are covered in how draft lotteries work, and how draft order works covers reverse-standings ordering, the system lotteries modify. The exact odds attached to each finishing position are not covered here.
After the draft: how long a club holds the rights
Being drafted does not mean signing. It means one club has the exclusive right to negotiate with the player for a set time. If the rights expire unsigned, the player becomes a draft-related free agent — or, if he is still eligible, re-enters the draft.
Players drafted from 2027 onwards
The 2025 memorandum simplifies the rule for the 2027 draft and every draft after it:
| Age when drafted | Club holds exclusive rights through |
|---|---|
| 18 | The fourth June 1 after the draft |
| 19 or older | The third June 1 after the draft |
College players get one extension. If a draftee is a bona fide college student when he is drafted, or becomes one while the club holds his rights, and is still a student when those rights would expire, the club keeps them until 30 days after the player tells the league's Central Registry that he will no longer play college hockey.
Players drafted through 2026
Earlier draft classes stay under the older, more complicated rules, which turned on where a player played and whether his club made him a "bona fide offer" — a qualifying entry-level contract offer — by the June 1 after the draft. Among the main cases:
- the basic rule ran to the first June 1 after the draft, extended to the second if the club made a bona fide offer in time;
- a player drafted at 18 or 19 from a club outside North America was held through the fourth June 1;
- a college player drafted at 18 or 19 who stayed in college through graduation was held through the August 15 after his class graduated;
- junior players who left junior hockey early could be held for longer periods.
The memorandum also commits the league to seek a change to its agreement with the Canadian Hockey League, so that each club could loan one 19-year-old a year to the AHL without first offering him back to his junior club. That is a commitment to negotiate, not a finished rule.
From draftee to contract
When a drafted player signs, his first contract is an entry-level deal. Its length depends on his age at signing: three years if he signs at 18 to 21, two at 22 or 23, one at 24. An 18- or 19-year-old who plays fewer than 10 NHL games in the first season of that contract generally has it extended by a year, so a teenager who signs and then spends most of the season back in junior, college or Europe does not use up a year of his entry-level deal.
Two different kinds of draft
The entry draft assigns the rights to young players entering the league. The draft in a GM game is a different exercise. In 84-0 Hockey Draft & GM Manager you pick a starting six and a coach from a pool built on real players' careers, rated by the game itself, and the simulator projects an 84-game record for your lineup — a team-building puzzle, not a prospect lottery. The hockey draft simulator guide explains how to approach it.
Hockey Career Sim 2026 starts somewhere closer to the real draft: you take one player from a young prospect through a full career, in a league, teams and roster that are entirely fictional, so its path follows the game's own rules rather than the NHL's eligibility dates. The Hockey Career Sim 2026 guide covers choosing a position and building that career. Both games are independent of the league and its players' association. The hockey hub gathers our other hockey explainers, and every title is under sports career and GM games.
Good to know
Frequently asked questions
What is the age cut-off for the NHL draft?
How many rounds are in the NHL draft?
How does the NHL draft lottery work?
How does the NHL draft work for college players?
Can a player be drafted twice?
Sources
- Collective Bargaining Agreement between National Hockey League and National Hockey League Players' Association (February 15, 2013): Articles 8 and 9 (opens in a new tab)NHL Players' Association — accessed
- National Hockey League/National Hockey League Players' Association Memorandum of Understanding (June 27, 2025) (opens in a new tab)National Hockey League and National Hockey League Players' Association — accessed
- NHL Draft Lottery changes announced for 2021 (Tom Gulitti, March 23, 2021) (opens in a new tab)NHL.com — accessed
- Collective Bargaining Agreement (opens in a new tab)NHLPA.com — accessed
- NHL releases 2026-27 regular-season schedule (opens in a new tab)NHL.com — accessed
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