The Bruins hold the No. 23 pick in the NHL Draft. Follow live updates.

When the 2026 NHL Draft begins at 7 p.m.

Friday, were almost guaranteed to hear Gavin McKennas name called first when the Toronto Maple Leafs make the first pick.

But which players will follow him? Were tracking the NHL Draft as it happens.

The Bruins make their first selection at No.

23 and enter the draft with eight selections over two days.

You can watch the festivities, which are being held at Buffalos KeyBank Center, on ESPN on Friday.

Follow live updates below.

pinned What to know about the 2026 NHL Draft The Bruins own eight picks across the two days of the draft, highlighted by their first-round selection No.

23 on Friday night.

Heres where the Bruins are scheduled to make selections: First round: 23rd Second round: 56th Third round: 88th Fourth round: 104th, 111th, 122nd Fifth round: 157th Sixth round: None Seventh round: 216th And heres the first-round draft order: 1.

Maple Leafs; 2.

Sharks; 3.

Canucks; 4.

Sabres (from Blackhawks); 5.

Rangers; 6.

Flames; 7.

Kraken; 8.

Jets; 9.

Sharks (from Senators via Panthers); 10.

Predators; 11.

Blues; 12.

Devils; 13.

Islanders; 14.

Blue Jackets; 15.

Blues (from Red Wings); 16.

Blues (from Capitals); 17.

Kings; 18.

Capitals (from Kings); 19.

Mammoth; 20.

Sabres (from Sharks via Oilers); 21.

Flyers; 22.

Penguins; 23.

Bruins; 24.

Canucks (from Wild); 25.

Senators (from Panthers via Kraken and Lightning); 26.

Rangers (from Hurricanes via Stars); No.

27 Sharks (from Sabres); 28.

Canadiens; 29.

Blues (from Islanders via Avalanche); 30.

Flames (from Golden Knights); 31.

Hurricanes; 32.

Senators 2026 NHL Draft live updates Click here to refresh | Read more NHL stories Five players with local ties to keep an eye on this weekend 6:30 p.m.

By Cam Kerry, Globe Staff Casey Mutryn, F, 6-3, 203, (USNTDP, USHL) The pride of Norwell, Mutryn broke out with a line 14-2337 in 55 games for the US National Team Development Program U18 team.

Mutryn played at St.

Sebastians and for the Boston Jr.

Eagles and has long been lauded for his leadership and competitiveness, which comes now with a burgeoning offensive game.

Hes jumped from a second-round grade to someone who could sneak into the first round.

Hes committed to BC.

Rian Chudzinski, F, 6-1, 190 (Moncton, QMJHL) Another product of St.

Sebastians and the Boston Jr.

Eagles, the Needham native transferred to Dexter Southfield before making the jump to the Q.

The move proved fruitful, as Chudzinski had 21 goals and 38 points in 54 games.

Chudzinski hunts loose pucks with ferocity, using his physicality and motor to wear down opponents.

Mocked as a third-rounder, Chudzinski will play at BU.

Myles Brosnan, D, 6-0, 183 (Dexter Southfield) On a team with top-end talent up and down the roster, Brosnan was the best player.

Dexter coach Dan Donato utilized Brosnan as a puck-moving maestro, able to walk the line and distribute in every zone.

A 7-4451 line in 30 games for the Shields, not including stops with USNTDP U18 team and Sioux City Musketeers, earned him Globe All-Scholastic honors.

The Winchester resident will play at Harvard.

Will Manchuso, F, 6-0, 192 (St.

Marks) Manchuso first stood out as an instinctive wrecking ball on Concord-Carlisles first line.

He made the jump to prep hockey two years ago and saw his stock take off.

In 30 contests, he posted 32 goals and 25 assists.

Just a junior, who is committed to Dartmouth, Manchuso plays with pace and physicality, yet his most impressive trait is a cannon of a shot.

NHL Central Scouting ranked Manchuso 104th among North American skaters.

Brian McFadden, D, 6-5, 183 (Thayer Academy) Armed with a long reach, McFaddens shutdown play is a nightmare for opposing forwards.

He eliminates space and uses his body well.

The Holbrook resident, who spent the 2023-24 season at Catholic Memorial, totaled 20 points in 29 games for the Tigers and has committed to Northeastern.

What did the Bruins do in 2025? 6:15 p.m.

By Cam Kerry, Globe Staff The Bruins made seven picks in 2025, headlined by BC forward James Hagens at seventh overall.

Hagens recorded 23 goals and 24 assists in 34 games for the Eagles before signing a tryout deal with the Providence Bruins and appearing in six games.

He signed his three-year, entry-level contract with Boston and played a pair of games in the regular season and three in the playoffs.

Will Moore and Liam Pettersson, a center and a defenseman, were Bostons second-round selections.

High school forward Cooper Simpson was selected in the third round.

Vashek Blanar, Cole Chandlerm and Kirill Yemelyanov rounded out the picks.

Five players who could fit the Bruins 6:00 p.m.

By Jim McBride, Globe Staff If the Bruins hold on to their first-round pick, here are five possibilities who could fit at No.

23: Juho Piiparinen Piiparinen is a 6-foot-3-inch, 203-pound, puck-moving, right-shot defenseman from Finland.

Nadeaus take: Skates really well, had a strong year starting off at the Hlinka Gretzky Cup for Finland and then playing a lot of league games, and Tappara is one of the best organizations over there.

So, real good experience, played World Juniors for them, finished the year on their U-20 team, and then at the U-18.

So, real good player, moves around the ice well, defends hard.

He has a lot of good pro attributes.

Adam Goljer Another right-shot defenseman with good size (6-2, 194).

Hes from Zdeno Charas hometown: Trencin, Slovakia.

Nadeaus take: Slovak kid who is kind of similar [to Piiparinen] in a sense of started the year at the Hlinka Gretzky with a strong showing, played pro most of the year, World Junior, and then finished at U-18.

Kid whos heavily involved, helps to run the play, will defend, has a pretty good shot, solid with the puck, just does a lot well.

Mans Gudmundsson Sticking with the right-shot defenseman theme, Gudmundsson has length and room to add muscle on his 6-3, 190-pound frame.

Nadeaus take: He didnt play for Sweden at the Hlinka Gretzky Cup but then was a mainstay on the rest of their international events, really played himself up their lineup too at the end of the year.

He ended up on their top pair.

Hes got some length, moves around the ice pretty well, keeps it fairly simple with the puck, but does have some ability at the blue line, strong defender.

Ilia Morozov A 6-3, 205-pound center who just completed his first season at Miami (Ohio).

The Muscovite is responsible in all three zones.

Nadeaus take: Really strong, big kid, has some detail, was able to play a top-six role and a real tough conference in the [National Collegiate Hockey Conference].

Started the year off with some scoring and being involved offensively.

It got a little bit harder as the year went along for him offensively, but the details never went away in his game.

Always played hard, was really a real strong point for Miami through the middle of the ice all year.

Oscar Hemming Its likely a long shot that Boston Colleges Hemming, a big (6-4, 205), powerful left wing, will be hanging around at 23, but strange things happen on draft night.

The Finn wont turn 18 until August.

Nadeaus take: He jumped into [BCs] lineup around Christmastime, played well, big kid, has some physicality, decent skillset, gets up and down the ice.

Obviously we see him a lot in Boston when everyone knows we have a bunch of kids there so really fit in well with their group, maybe probably didnt score as much as we were expecting coming off of Hlinka Gretzky, but its so hard in college, as most people know, especially this year with all the CHL kids that moved in, that college games and particularly some of those strong conferences like Hockey East, its not easy for a kid as young as him.

Cam Kerry can be reached at [email protected].

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