So much more than just the draft happened on Friday, but we'll start with the draft anyway.

The Toronto Maple Leafs kicked things off, selecting Gavin McKenna with the first overall pick to no one's surprise. That was also the case for the San Jose Sharks selecting Ivar Stenberg second overall, especially with the Sharks trading William Eklund to Ottawa earlier in the week. That meant everything lined up perfectly for Caleb Malhotra to go third overall to the Canucks, who just hired his dad Manny Malhotra as head coach. That will be an interesting dynamic.

The first real surprise seemed to be the Sabres selecting Daxon Rudolph fourth overall with the pick they received in the Bowen Byram trade. Chase Reid seemed like he would be the first defenseman off the board, but he fell to seventh after fellow d-men Alberts Smits (fifth to NY Rangers) and Carson Carels (sixth to Calgary). In need of something to feel good about after Jason Robertson reportedly turned them down, the Kraken selected Reid at seventh. Viggo Bjorck (Winnipeg), Keaton Verhoeff (San Jose), and Wyatt Cullen (Nashville) rounded out the top 10.

With the selections of Stenberg, Verhoeff, and Ryan Lin, the Sharks look like the big winners of Day 1 of the draft, at least from a picks perspective.

Only one of the Ruck twins was picked in the first round: Liam Ruck at #22 by Pittsburgh. The Penguins have the #39 pick, so they will have the chance to pick Markus Ruck there if he is still on the board.

Below is a full list of all of the first-round picks from Friday. You can also view all of the picks at the NHL’s Draft Tracker. Victor Nuno is at the draft in Buffalo and will provide much more extensive coverage of the first round in the upcoming Journey. Round 2 begins today (Saturday) with Vancouver selecting the #33 pick.

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With everything that happened on Friday, this news might fall under the radar, but it will be meaningful for fantasy leaguers for the upcoming season. According to Hurricanes GM Eric Tulsky, Seth Jarvis will likely need 4-6 months of recovery time following shoulder surgery. At minimum, that would mean Jarvis would miss the first month of the season. A worst-case scenario would have Jarvis making his season debut at around Christmas. Even in a best-case scenario, you'll need to slide Jarvis down your single-season draft boards.

Tulsky said, "There’s a very real chance that we end up with sort of an open spot in our lineup for a month or two for a young player to step in and get an opportunity to show what he can do." Tulsky was then asked about Bradly Nadeau, to which he said Nadeau "absolutely will be in the conversation if we need a call-up at the start of the year." Nadeau was limited to three points (all goals) in 12 games when he was called up this season, but he scored 27 goals and 56 points in just 52 games in the AHL this past season. Nadeau makes sense as a potential deep sleeper for upcoming drafts, especially since the Canes were able to roll three scoring lines during the playoffs.

For the Hurricanes, that's part of the bill for a long playoff run that resulted in a Stanley Cup. At least their lineup is pretty well set with almost everyone returning from their playoff run. Armed with a new contract, Jackson Blake could move up onto the top line. Jesperi Kotkaniemi could even come out of hiding. Kotkaniemi did not play a single playoff game this season.

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In perhaps the most significant and most surprising trade of the day, the Vegas Golden Knights sent power-play specialist Pavel Dorofeyev to the New York Rangers for the #26 and #92 picks this year and a conditional 2028 first-round pick. Vegas then traded the #26 pick and eventually ended up with the #29 pick, which they used to select Juho Piiparinen. The Rangers promptly signed Dorofeyev to a seven-year contract with a $11 million AAV. I'll let Mike Clifford take it from here with the Fantasy Take.

St. Louis acquired Mason McTavish from Anaheim for two first-round picks. I wrote the Fantasy Take for that one.

Boston acquired JJ Peterka from Utah, also for two first-round picks. I also wrote the Fantasy Take for that one.

One of the Mammoth's first-round picks acquired in the Peterka trade was then flipped to Detroit for goalie Sebastian Cossa. The Red Wings then used that pick to select J.P. Hurlbert. This is a solid trade for Utah, who need a backup goalie for Karel Vejmelka and now have a top goaltending prospect to fill that spot. Cossa will no longer be waiver-exempt next season, while the Wings already have goaltending depth with veteran John Gibson along with prospects Trey Augustine and Michal Postava in the system. In fact, Postava started over Cossa in the AHL's Grand Rapids Griffins' playoff run this season.

The Buffalo Sabres acquired defenseman Olen Zellweger from the Anaheim Ducks for prospect forward Anton Wahlberg and a second-round pick. Cliffy wrote the Fantasy Take for that one too. Buffalo continues to shuffle its defense this offseason with Bowen Byram and Michael Kesselring being moved out and Zellweger and Louis Crevier coming in.

The Chicago Blackhawks shipped Andre Burakovsky to the Ottawa Senators for a 2027 sixth-round pick. This trade is simply the Hawks clearing the final year of Burakovsky's $5.5 million cap hit from the books, a contract that he originally signed with Seattle fresh off a 61-point season with Colorado. Even though he received significant minutes with Connor Bedard, Burakovsky recorded 33 points in 75 games in 2025-26. I don't see how his value improves much, if at all, with the trade to the Senators.

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The Los Angeles Kings have signed Brandt Clarke to a five-year contract with a $7.4 million AAV. In his second full season, Clarke finished with a career-high 40 points, including 13 power-play points. Clarke is a legitimate fantasy option, as he has unseated veteran Drew Doughty on the Kings' top power play. Clarke offers more than scoring, also leading the Kings with 185 blocked shots. Given the sizable contract, the 23-year-old Clarke appears to be a core piece for the Kings going forward.

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The New York Islanders signed defenseman Tony DeAngelo to a two-year extension with a $4.5 million AAV. This is a significant raise for DeAngelo, who just finished a contract with a "prove it" $1.75 million AAV. 

After bouncing around through several teams with even a brief stop in the KHL, DeAngelo seems to have found a home on Long Island. In his first full season with the Islanders, DeAngelo finished with 35 points in 76 games. The fact that Matthew Schaefer is the Islanders' top defenseman for everything limits DeAngelo's upside in fantasy leagues, as DeAngelo finished with just seven power-play points. That used to be his bread and butter in fantasy leagues, as he has three prior seasons of 19, 20, and 19 power-play points. As a result, DeAngelo is more of an option for deeper leagues. 

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The Ottawa Senators signed defenseman Jordan Spence to a four-year extension with a $5 million AAV. Like DeAngelo, Spence receives a significant pay hike. Spence was earning $1.5 million in 2025-26.

In his first season with Ottawa, Spence reached career highs in both points (31) and icetime (18:44). The 25-year-old Spence has an inclination toward offense, which means that he should be of interest in at least some fantasy leagues. However, Spence will be behind Jake Sanderson and possibly Thomas Chabot on the power-play pecking order. Carter Yakemchuk is also on the way up, so the Sens have no shortage of options. The fact that the Senators have invested this contract in Spence should help his cause, though.

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The Senators weren't done on Friday, trading for goalie Samuel Ersson from Toronto for a fifth-round pick in the 2027 draft. Unless further development occur, Ersson is projected to compete with Leevi Merilainen to be the Senators' backup goalie behind Linus Ullmark. Both Ersson and Merilainen are RFAs this offseason.

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Brent Burns is back for another season! The 41-year-old defenseman has re-signed with the Colorado Avalanche for one more season. Burns finished his first season in Colorado with 35 points in 82 games while averaging just under 19 minutes per game. Burns is more of a depth defenseman at this point in his career, but he should at least get into every game to keep his consecutive games streak intact (1007 games) as long as he is healthy. Burns still averages around two shots per game and one block per game, so he still offers something in deeper multicategory leagues.

The Avalanche also re-signed Brett Kulak to a five-year contract with a $4.5 million cap hit. Kulak received the somewhat rare statistical anomaly of playing 83 games in 2025-26, split between Edmonton, Pittsburgh, and Colorado. Kulak was also the only player to play more than 82 games this past season. With just 12 points all season, Kulak is a much better real-life defenseman than fantasy league option. He recorded just three points in 27 games with the Avalanche.

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More to come on Saturday, I'm sure. In the meantime, follow me on X @Ian_Gooding and Bluesky @goodsfantasyhockey.bsky.social