The Athletic gives Panthers one of NHL's lowest 2026 Draft grades

The Florida Panthers didn’t have a first-round selection in the 2026 NHL Draft; instead, they made their first pick at 40th overall in the second round. After that, the organization had five more picks, including one in the seventh round, where they selected a goaltender who stands 6-foot-8.

Considering the Panthers have swapped out most of their top picks for the remainder of the decade, it’s become quite difficult to find a game-breaker like Gavin McKenna or Ivar Stenberg, who were the top two prospects in this year’s draft.

Despite not having a chance to land a top pick like Aleksander Barkov and Aaron Ekblad were, many picks outside of the first round have gone on to become hockey legends, meaning the Panthers didn’t walk away from the 2026 NHL Draft empty-handed. However, according to The Athletic, they bombed.

Whether someone goes by alphabetical order or just by divisional ties, Florida ended up one of 21 teams to earn a “C” and one of 12 clubs to earn a “C” rather than a “C+” or “C-”. If anyone looks at The Athletic’s chart, the Panthers earned the 24th-best grade at the draft. Surprisingly, this year’s mark falls in line with Florida’s most recent draft grades, which include a C- in 2021, C- in 2022, C- in 2023, B- in 2024, and a C last year.

Interestingly, the top grades for the 2026 Draft went to the teams who picked first, second, and third overall, an odd coincidence, since they started the event with availability to the top prospects. Meanwhile, the Calgary Flames earned the fourth-best grade, even as many online are questioning their selection of Hall of Famer Jarome Iginla’s son, Joe, who wasn’t even ranked, in the third round.

Looking back at recent drafts, the last time the Panthers picked in the first round was in 2021, when they selected Mackie Samoskevich, whom they recently traded to the Seattle Kraken to acquire draft capital to bring in Brady Tkachuk.

Florida didn’t break much from a tradition that has developed over recent years at the NHL Draft. This year, the club selected forwards Simas Ignatavicius, Ryder Cali, Vilho Vanhatalo, Cole Zurawski, defenseman Jonas Kemps, and goalie Louise-Antoine Denault. Last year, they followed the same pattern, with four forwards, one defenseman, and one goalie, just like the 2024 Draft class.

If there is one silver lining in these draft grades, Panthers fans get the last laugh over their rivals, the Tampa Bay Lightning, who had the 30th-worst grade with a “C-”.

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