Where?
Peacock Theatre, Los Angeles.
When?
The night until June 28 at 01.00 Swedish time, the selections in the first round are made. The remaining rounds, second to seventh, start on June 28 at 18.00.
Draft order (top 5): 1) New York Islanders, 2) San Jose, 3) Chicago, 4) Utah, 5) Nashville.
How does it work?
All 32 NHL teams have basically one selection per round, but since draft picks are often used in trades, it's not that simple in practice. The draft order was drawn among the 16 teams that missed this year's playoffs, the remaining teams have been placed according to their final result this season. Stanley Cup champion Florida thus selects as 32nd and last team.
The draft is generally open to players born between January 1, 2005 and September 15, 2007.
+ Which Swedes are highly ranked?
Last year, no Swedish player was selected in the first round – which had not happened since 2010.
This year it's different and several Swedish players are highly ranked.
Anton Frondell, Djurgården's center, is expected to go somewhere between three and eight, teammate and forward Victor Eklund somewhere between four and ten. Eklund's older brother William plays in San Jose and was selected for the World Championship in Tre Kronor before an injury stopped him.
Defender Sascha Boumedienne – son of former NHL player Josef Boumedienne, now general manager in Tre Kronor – and Modo's Milton Gästrin are others who are mentioned with a chance to go in the first round. Boumedienne plays college hockey in Boston University.
+ Latest Swedish top names?
Only two Swedes have been selected first in the NHL draft, Mats Sundin (1989) and Rasmus Dahlin (2018). It's also unusual with Swedish top 5 picks, here are the latest who were selected that high:
2023: 2) Leo Carlsson, Anaheim/Örebro, 2020: 4) Lucas Raymond, Detroit/Frölunda, 2018: 1) Rasmus Dahlin, Buffalo/Frölunda, 2017: 5) Elias Pettersson, Vancouver/Växjö, 2013: 5) Elias Lindholm, Carolina/Brynäs, 2011: 2) Gabriel Landeskog, Colorado/Djurgården, 4 Adam Larsson, New Jersey/Skellefteå.
+ Who is expected to go first?
Canadian defender Matthew Schaefer is the favorite to be selected as number one. The 17-year-old talent has had a few tough years besides hockey when his mother passed away in breast cancer in February 2024. Just three months earlier, the mother in the family where he was a lodger during his debut season in the junior team Erie had taken her own life.
He says that his mother Jennifer will be with him during the draft and especially when he has been selected by his future team:
She would have cried and been filled with emotions. It will bring back so many old memories, he says to the Canadian The Hockey News.
+ Why a concert arena?
This year's draft has changed shape to make it more TV-friendly. Firstly, it's not being held in one of the teams' home arenas, but this time in a concert arena with room for 7,100 spectators in central Los Angeles. Previously, all teams have been present in the arena, they will now be present via link. The 50 highest ranked talents are invited to be on site.
NHL boss Gary Bettman will present the player who is selected as number one, the other 31 players who are selected in the first round will be presented by specially invited guests, some celebrity or some active or former active player.
