2026 NHL Draft Round 3: 32 More Names, Including a Leafs Pick
Table of Contents
Round 3 is where NHL careers get weird
More NHL regulars come out of Round 3 than any other day-two round by percentage of picks that stick. Joel Farabee (14th-overall territory turned third-rounder in class redistribution discussions), Adam Fantilli's linemates, and a long list of reliable role players — the round rewards scouts who have logged extra games on overage or late-developing prospects.
Below: the 32 prospects most likely to come off the board in Round 3 of the 2026 NHL Draft, synthesized from Foley's top 100, Tankathon's big board, and NHL Central Scouting's final rankings. Toronto owns their own 3rd-rounder and will pick somewhere in this range per the draft page.
The 32
65. Måns Gudmundsson, D, Färjestad U20 (J20 Nationell)
Swedish junior blueliner. Smooth skater, still developing defensively. Classic third-round European bet.
66. Timofei Runtso, RD, Victoria (WHL)
WHL right-shot D. Solid in-zone positioning, long stick. Skating is the tool that either moves or doesn't.
67. Noel Pakarinen, LW, Kiekko-Espoo U20 (SM-sarja)
Finnish junior winger. Pakarinen's shot release is his standout tool; everything else is about catching up to NHL-level pace.
68. Parker Vaughan, RW, North Bay Battalion (OHL)
North Bay winger. Two-way engagement above his offensive totals. Plays a lineup-anchor role for the Battalion at 17.
69. Yaroslav Fedoseyev, RD, Belye Medvedi (MHL)
Russian junior defender with strong frame. Picking in Russia gets tricky; teams with established development pipelines take him.
70. Adam Andersson, C, Leksands U20 (J20 Nationell)
Swedish junior center. Low-flash but high-structure game. The kind of player scouts remember fondly when he's still around at pick 90.
71. Landon Nycz, LD, UMass (NCAA)
NCAA freshman defender. Projection is a steady third-pair NHL contributor. NCAA timeline stretches development out four years.
72. Landon Hafele, C, Green Bay (USHL)
USHL center. Strong dot numbers, above-average playmaking in the offensive zone. NCAA commitment ahead.
73. Anttoni Uronen, C, HIFK U20 (SM-sarja)
Finnish junior center. Gets pushed up and down rankings depending on weekly viewings. Consistency is the developmental question.
74. Charlie Morrison, LD, Quebec (QMJHL)
Q-league defender with frame to stick. Shows offensive tools on the power play that haven't translated to 5-on-5 yet.
75. Jonah Sivertson, RW, Prince Albert (WHL)
WHL winger with physical profile. Top-six production at the junior level hasn't yet converted to projected NHL offense.
76. Nikita Ovcharov, LW, Quebec (QMJHL)
Russian-born Q-leaguer with NHL-translatable skating. Better two-way game than the stat line suggests.
77. Onni Kohvakka, LD, Vaasa U20 (SM-sarja)
Finnish junior blueliner, technically sound. Draft position will depend heavily on the May-June European scouting showcases.
78. Ethan MacKenzie, LD, Edmonton (WHL)
WHL left-shot defender. Keeps plays simple. Third-pair projection, possibly better with puck-moving development.
79. Sawyer Dingman, LW, Swift Current (WHL)
Big-bodied WHL winger. Physical game translates; scoring development is ongoing.
80. Tyus Sparks, C, Vancouver Giants (WHL)
WHL center. Lower-third junior production with flashes that suggest more. Developmental bet.
81. Alexander Bilecki, LD, Kitchener (OHL)
OHL defender. Moves the puck north under pressure. Needs to add physical maturity.
82. Ludvig Andersson, RW/C, Örebro U20 (J20 Nationell)
Swedish junior forward. Versatile; plays center or wing. Standout trait is processing speed.
83. Jean-Cristoph Lemieux, LW, Windsor (OHL)
Windsor winger. Name-brand pedigree aside, projection is a solid middle-six developer if the shooting touch keeps tracking up.
84. Zac Olsen, LW, Saskatoon (WHL)
Saskatoon winger. Playoff visibility gets him into this range; regular-season production has been reliable.
85. Rian Chudzinski, RW, Moncton (QMJHL)
QMJHL right wing. Finishing touch in tight spots, average skater, NHL projection is depth wing with upside.
86. Rhys Jamieson, C, Everett (WHL)
WHL center. Two-way grinder profile. Not top-six projection, but the floor is a reliable pro player.
87. Simon-Xavier Cyr, C, Gatineau (QMJHL)
Q-league center, strong on faceoffs. Offensive game catching up to his defensive reliability.
88. Olivers Murnieks, C, Saint John (QMJHL)
Latvian center in the Q. European-born Q-leaguers have a better-than-expected NHL hit rate in recent drafts.
89. Jakub Frolo, C, Ilves U20 (SM-sarja)
Czech-Finnish development path. Junior production has been uneven; scouts rank him on tools rather than results.
90. Liam Ruck, F, Medicine Hat (WHL)
Older Ruck brother. Plays on the same team as his younger brother Markus (see Round 2). Different style — more of a power-forward profile.
91. Egor Barabanov, F, Saginaw (OHL)
Russian-born OHL import. Saginaw gave him top-six minutes this season; output was streaky but promising.
92. Cole Zurawski, RW, Owen Sound (OHL)
Owen Sound winger on a team that leaned heavily on him late in the season. Improvement rate has caught scouting attention.
93. Braidy Wassilyn, F, London (OHL)
London Knights forward. High-pedigree development environment, but Wassilyn has been a depth OHL player, not a top-six piece.
94. Ryan Brown, LW, London (OHL)
Another London Knights winger. Program's developmental track record alone gets him into the round.
95. Beckett Hamilton, C, Red Deer (WHL)
WHL center, mid-level junior production. Skating is the concern; the rest of the game projects.
96. Tomáš Galvas, LD, Liberec (Czechia)
Czech extraliga blueliner at 17 — unusual for his age to be in the men's league. If the processing speed holds at pro level, he could move up into the second.
Where the Leafs likely pick
Toronto owns its own 3rd-rounder in 2026, which after trades and offsets places them somewhere in the 77-to-85 range, depending on how the post-lottery order resolves and whether the conditional pick from Los Angeles via the Laughton trade converts further. Per the draft page, the Leafs inherited a conditional pick that upgraded to a 2nd-rounder (which they then flipped in the McMann trade to Seattle), so the 3rd-round slot is their own.
In that range the realistic targets are either a Russian-born junior with skill and a long development runway (Ovcharov, Barabanov) or a Finnish pro-environment bet (Uronen, Kohvakka). If Toronto wants a North American defenseman, Morrison and MacKenzie are the value adds.
The Leafs scouting department's recent third-round hits — Easton Cowan was a late-first, Noah Chadwick a mid-sixth — suggest the organization is best at identifying higher-floor OHL/WHL players rather than high-ceiling Europeans. That's a scouting-staff-dependent pattern, not a rule.
The rounds 4-through-7 piece covers what to watch for in the later rounds, where the Leafs pick more frequently.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do the Leafs have a 2026 3rd-round pick?
Yes. Toronto owns their own 2026 3rd-round pick, which will land somewhere in the 77-to-85 range depending on post-lottery draft order. It is the Leafs' only pick on day two of the draft unless a trade adds one.
What is the typical NHL value of a third-round pick?
Third-round picks turn into NHL regulars at roughly a 25% rate historically. The range produces reliable bottom-six forwards, bottom-pair defensemen and backup goalies, along with occasional top-six breakouts. Recent Leafs 3rd-round hits include late-round gems who outpaced their draft slot.
Who is the first goalie typically projected in Round 3 of the 2026 Draft?
Dmitri Borichev of Russia's MHL is often the second goalie off the board after Tobias Trejbal, typically going in the late 2nd or early 3rd round. Brady Knowling, the top-ranked North American goalie, may also land in this range depending on how teams weigh the position.
Which 2026 Round 3 prospects have the highest NHL projection floor?
Prospects playing in men's pro leagues as 17-year-olds typically grade with the highest floors — in this class, Tomáš Galvas (Czechia), Anttoni Uronen (SM-sarja) and Olivers Murnieks (QMJHL as a European import) check that box. Pro-environment reps translate better than junior-league numbers.
How often is the NHL Draft Round 3 mock board accurate?
Mock drafts beyond Round 1 are approximate; scout-to-team information is imperfect, team needs shift, and late-cycle jumpers shuffle the order. Industry consensus lists are typically within 10-15 spots of where a prospect is actually selected, though individual picks can vary by 20+.
