While the Washington Capitals aren’t participating in this year’s playoffs, their front office likely has a vested rooting interest – at least in the second round.
Out west, the Vegas Golden Knights are going toe to toe with the Anaheim Ducks for a spot in the Western Conference Finals. The Golden Knights, with a natural hat trick from star winger Mitch Marner, went up 2-1 in the series over the Ducks on Friday night, and the Capitals likely want that winning to continue for another two games. Now, why is that so?
The Capitals own Anaheim’s first-round pick in the 2026 NHL Draft from the John Carlson deal at the trade deadline, and where that pick ends up in the first round will be determined by the result of their second-round series.
Here is how the NHL determines the order of the picks.
- The teams that did not qualify for the playoffs (picks 1–16)
- The teams that made the playoffs but did not win either their division in the regular season or play in the Conference Finals (picks 17–24 up to 28)
- The teams that won their divisions but did not play in the Conference Finals (potentially picks 25–28)
- The teams that lose in the Conference Finals (picks 29 and 30)
- The team that was the runner-up in the Stanley Cup Finals (pick 31)
- The team that won the Stanley Cup (pick 32)
The Ducks qualified for the playoffs but did not win the Pacific Division, so they currently sit in that second bucket of teams. Anaheim finished with the second-worst record among all 16 playoff teams, so their first-round pick is slated to be 18th overall, just two picks ahead of where the Capitals are already set to select with their own pick.
However, if the Ducks make a comeback in their series against the Golden Knights and advance to the next round, their pick will automatically jump to at best 29th overall, a loss of 11 spots for the Capitals. The better the pick, not only the better the prospect available to draft, but also the more valuable trade asset.
The Capitals have made it known that they are in the market for an upgrade at forward and could use one or both of their first-round picks to achieve that goal. Through just simple math, the 16th and 18th overall picks likely sound better to a selling team than the 16th and 29th+ overall picks.
Washington has selected at 18th overall three times prior in their history, taking Alex Forsyth in 1975, Tim Coulis in 1978, and Eric Fehr in 2003.
