Winnipeg Jets Are Quietly Playing Too Well to Land a Top Pick in the 2026 Draft Lottery

The race for the first overall pick in the 2026 NHL Draft is heating up. More than three-quarters of the season is in the books, and seven teams currently sit at or below a .500 points percentage with just over a month of games remaining.

The Jets are one of those seven teams on paper, but they have been quietly playing themselves out of the conversation. With a 26-27-10 record and 62 points through 63 games, they sit 27th in the NHL, yet their recent form suggests they no longer belong in the lottery discussion.

Connor Hellebuyck's Post-Olympic Surge Is Lifting Jets Out of Lottery Contention

The Jets have picked up points in eight of their last 10 games, and Connor Hellebuyck deserves much of the credit. His standout turn at the 2026 Olympics appears to have reignited something in the veteran netminder, who has carried that form directly back into the regular season.

The timing could not be more significant. Because the Western Conference is considerably weaker than the East this season, the Jets have gone from hovering around the league's bottom three to sitting just five points behind the Kraken for the second wild-card spot almost overnight.

The 2026 Draft Lottery will be conducted on May 4, with two separate draws for the first and second overall picks. Non-playoff teams can move up as many as 10 spots in the draft order, but even the last-place finisher holds only a 25.5 percent chance of winning.

That lottery features Gavin McKenna and Ivar Stenberg as the top two prospects, generational talents every struggling team has had circled on their calendar. The Jets currently hold 7.5 percent odds at the first overall pick, but those odds become meaningless if they keep winning at this rate.

The Jets made some notable subtractions before the trade deadline, moving on from Logan Stanley, Luke Schenn, and Tanner Pearson. But the core that carried them to the Presidents' Trophy last season remains largely intact, with Nikolaj Ehlers being the most significant departure, now thriving with the Hurricanes.

That retained core is both their strength and their lottery complication. Most of the pieces that made the Jets a Presidents' Trophy winner are still in Winnipeg, which means genuine tanking was never a realistic possibility for this group, regardless of the standings.

What the Jets genuinely need is young talent surrounding that aging core. McKenna or Stenberg would provide exactly that infusion. Still, the path to either prospect runs through losing games that this group seems increasingly unwilling to drop as Hellebuyck gets hotter each week.