By shipping off MacKenzie Weegar to the Utah Mammoth for three second-round picks, the Calgary Flames ensured they’d enter the 2026 draft with six picks in the first two rounds. We recently took a trip down memory lane, looking at the history of the sixth overall pick, and the 35th overall pick. The Flames will be right back up at 36th overall in the NHL draft.
So, how have the players selected 36th overall in the 21st century fared, and how successful has the draft slot been? Let’s take a look.
The last five 36th overall picks
2025 – Blake Fiddler – Seattle Kraken
The most recent 36th overall, Blake Fiddler is a rugged shutdown defender. Fiddler spent his D+1 season playing heavy minutes for the Edmonton Oil Kings, and will be heading to the NCAA in 2026-27. His offensive game has stalled a bit, which has raised some concerns about his future. With that said, he has the chance to become a solid 4-6 defensive specialists in the NHL one day which is decent value at 36th.
2024 – Charlie Elick – Columbus Blue Jackets
Yet another big, defensive defender selected at 36. Charlie Elick has struggled to improve his game since being drafted, registering just 20 points in the WHL this past season as a 20 year old. There are already some major red flags regarding his future, but for now he still has the chance to become a bottom-pairing defensive option in the NHL one day. Overall, this pick is trending towards being a miss but it’s too early to declare that.
2023 – Kasper Halttunen – San Jose Sharks
The last forward selected at 36th, Kasper Halttunen looks like a potential sneaky find by the Sharks. Selected in 2023, Halttunen lit up the OHL playoffs in 2024 with 17 goals in 18 games. This past season he made the jump to the AHL where he produced a solid 35 points as a 20 year old rookie. While he’s not going to be a star, Halttunen could become a good bottom-six and power play shooter one day, which is fine value at this point in the draft.
2022 – Artyom Duda – Arizona Coyotes
A bit of an off the board pick in 2022, Artyom Duda was projected to go in the third round before the Coyotes selected him at 36th. Since then, he’s proven the doubters wrong. Duda has played all over the place since being drafted, including the KHL, U Sports, and the AHL. At every level he’s shown some promise, and this past season posted 13 points in 27 AHL games from the blueline. Duda looks like a good bet by the Coyotes at 36th as he’s on his way to becoming a serviceable 4-6 NHL defender one day.
2021 – Shai Buium – Detroit Red Wings
Brother of top prospect Zeev Buium, Shai was selected at 36th overall in 2021. Originally projected as a third to fourth round talent, the Red Wings clearly saw value at 36th overall. So far, Buium hasn’t lived up to the draft slot. While his NCAA results were solid, he’s failed to take a step at the AHL level over the past two seasons. Now 23 years old, it’s unlikely Buium ever becomes more than organizational depth.
How often do 36th-overall picks make the NHL?
For a deeper overall look at how often 36th-overall draft picks become NHL players, let’s look at how many of these picks since the turn of the century have played NHL games, played in at least 200 NHL games, and have registered at least 200 points in the NHL.
I’ll exclude the last three drafts, as it’s too early to include those picks. Overall, that leaves us with 23 total ninth-overall picks between the 2000 and 2022 drafts.
| Metric | 36th overall picks (between 2000-2022) |
|---|---|
| Played NHL Games | 14 of 23 |
| >200 NHL GP | 4 of 23 |
| >200 NHL Points* | 2 of 19 |
Overall, the numbers aren’t too encouraging. While 14 of 23 36th overall picks have played at least some NHL games, a lot of them only ended up getting a handful of games before never playing in the NHL again. When we start to look at players who were full-time NHLers with at least 200 games played, the number drops all the way to just four, or around 17%. Pyotr Kochetkov however, is a lock to hit the 200 mark and join the list soon as well, bringing the total to five of 23. No one else from 2000 to 2022 is even close to hitting 200 games.
If we go one step further and start looking at production in the NHL, only two of the 19 non-goalie picks have put up at least 200 points in the NHL. That represents a low hit rate of about 10%. Those players are Jarett Stoll, picked in 2002, and Jamie McGinn, selected in 2006. No 36th overall pick since the 2006 draft has put up 200 points, and none of them are close either.
Most notable 36th-overall picks in NHL history
Throughout the history of the NHL draft, here are the most notable players selected 36th overall. I’ll consider players who have gone on to have All-Star-level or very long careers in the NHL.
| Year | Player |
|---|---|
| 2014 | Thatcher Demko |
| 2002 | Jarret Stoll |
| 1990 | Geoff Sanderson |
| 1984 | Jeff Brown |
| 1982 | Tomas Sandstrom |
The 36th overall pick has been a nightmare black hole when it comes to finding legit NHL impact players. The history of the pick is not pretty to say the least. The only true all-star calibre talent would be Thatcher Demko, who looked like a franchise goaltender before injuries derailed his career in recent years.
There’s a strong argument that Jarrett Stoll is the best skater taken 36th overall in the 21st century. While Stoll was a good NHLer, his career high in the NHL was 68 points which he only reached one single time. Across the entire rest of his career he never hit 50 points again, and only hit 45 once. Needless to say, he wasn’t exactly a star player.
After Stoll, you’d have to go all the way back to the 80’s and 90’s to find a notable name selected at 36th. Even the top names like Sanderson, Brown and Sandstrom weren’t All-Stars in the NHL, but more so role players.
A cursed pick
While the 35th overall pick at least had a good greatest hits playlist, the 36th overall selection has been nightmare fuel for NHL teams. There hasn’t been a single all-star calibre skater ever selected with the 36th overall pick, and the past 20 years of selections have largely disappointed.
