diff --git a/vllm/models/deepseek_v4/amd/model.py b/vllm/models/deepseek_v4/amd/model.py
index b382f7fd6f..cdd338d636 100644
--- a/vllm/models/deepseek_v4/amd/model.py
+++ b/vllm/models/deepseek_v4/amd/model.py
@@ -573,13 +573,11 @@ class DeepseekV4Model(nn.Module, EagleModelMixin):
             requires_grad=False,
         )
         self.hc_head_op = HCHeadOp()
-        # Pre-hc_head residual stream buffer for the MTP draft. Stable
-        # address (outside the cudagraph pool) so the copy_ in forward()
-        # refreshes it correctly across captured shapes.
-        # refreshes it correctly across captured shapes. Only allocated on
-        # the last PP rank — that's where MTP target hidden states are
-        # produced.
-        if get_pp_group().is_last_rank:
+        spec_config = vllm_config.speculative_config
+        needs_mtp_hidden_states = spec_config is not None and (
+            spec_config.use_eagle() or spec_config.uses_draft_model()
+        )
+        if get_pp_group().is_last_rank and needs_mtp_hidden_states:
             self._mtp_hidden_buffer = torch.empty(
                 vllm_config.scheduler_config.max_num_batched_tokens,
                 self.hc_dim,
@@ -679,9 +677,9 @@ class DeepseekV4Model(nn.Module, EagleModelMixin):
         if not get_pp_group().is_last_rank:
             return IntermediateTensors({"hidden_states": hidden_states})
 
-        # Stash pre-hc_head residual for the MTP draft (captured copy_).
-        num_tokens = hidden_states.shape[0]
-        self._mtp_hidden_buffer[:num_tokens].copy_(hidden_states.flatten(1))
+        if self._mtp_hidden_buffer is not None:
+            num_tokens = hidden_states.shape[0]
+            self._mtp_hidden_buffer[:num_tokens].copy_(hidden_states.flatten(1))
 
         hidden_states = self.hc_head_op(
             hidden_states,
diff --git a/vllm/models/deepseek_v4/nvidia/model.py b/vllm/models/deepseek_v4/nvidia/model.py
index 96a3c77074..bbda009372 100644
--- a/vllm/models/deepseek_v4/nvidia/model.py
+++ b/vllm/models/deepseek_v4/nvidia/model.py
@@ -1039,13 +1039,11 @@ class DeepseekV4Model(nn.Module, EagleModelMixin):
             torch.empty(1, dtype=torch.float32),
             requires_grad=False,
         )
-        # Pre-hc_head residual stream buffer for the MTP draft. Stable
-        # address (outside the cudagraph pool) so the copy_ in forward()
-        # refreshes it correctly across captured shapes.
-        # refreshes it correctly across captured shapes. Only allocated on
-        # the last PP rank — that's where MTP target hidden states are
-        # produced.
-        if get_pp_group().is_last_rank:
+        spec_config = vllm_config.speculative_config
+        needs_mtp_hidden_states = spec_config is not None and (
+            spec_config.use_eagle() or spec_config.uses_draft_model()
+        )
+        if get_pp_group().is_last_rank and needs_mtp_hidden_states:
             self._mtp_hidden_buffer = torch.empty(
                 vllm_config.scheduler_config.max_num_batched_tokens,
                 self.hc_dim,
@@ -1130,9 +1128,9 @@ class DeepseekV4Model(nn.Module, EagleModelMixin):
         if not get_pp_group().is_last_rank:
             return IntermediateTensors({"hidden_states": hidden_states})
 
-        # Stash pre-hc_head residual for the MTP draft (captured copy_).
-        num_tokens = hidden_states.shape[0]
-        self._mtp_hidden_buffer[:num_tokens].copy_(hidden_states.flatten(1))
+        if self._mtp_hidden_buffer is not None:
+            num_tokens = hidden_states.shape[0]
+            self._mtp_hidden_buffer[:num_tokens].copy_(hidden_states.flatten(1))
 
         hidden_states = hc_head_fused_kernel_tilelang(
             hidden_states,
diff --git a/vllm/models/deepseek_v4/xpu/model.py b/vllm/models/deepseek_v4/xpu/model.py
index f70cac1bce..4c6155c842 100644
--- a/vllm/models/deepseek_v4/xpu/model.py
+++ b/vllm/models/deepseek_v4/xpu/model.py
@@ -1057,11 +1057,11 @@ class DeepseekV4Model(nn.Module, EagleModelMixin):
             requires_grad=False,
         )
         self.hc_head_op = HCHeadOp()
-        # Pre-hc_head residual stream buffer for the MTP draft. Stable
-        # address so the copy_ in forward() refreshes it correctly across
-        # captured shapes. Only allocated on the last PP rank — that's
-        # where MTP target hidden states are produced.
-        if get_pp_group().is_last_rank:
+        spec_config = vllm_config.speculative_config
+        needs_mtp_hidden_states = spec_config is not None and (
+            spec_config.use_eagle() or spec_config.uses_draft_model()
+        )
+        if get_pp_group().is_last_rank and needs_mtp_hidden_states:
             self._mtp_hidden_buffer = torch.empty(
                 vllm_config.scheduler_config.max_num_batched_tokens,
                 self.hc_dim,
@@ -1139,9 +1139,9 @@ class DeepseekV4Model(nn.Module, EagleModelMixin):
         if not get_pp_group().is_last_rank:
             return IntermediateTensors({"hidden_states": hidden_states})
 
-        # Stash pre-hc_head residual for the MTP draft (captured copy_).
-        num_tokens = hidden_states.shape[0]
-        self._mtp_hidden_buffer[:num_tokens].copy_(hidden_states.flatten(1))
+        if self._mtp_hidden_buffer is not None:
+            num_tokens = hidden_states.shape[0]
+            self._mtp_hidden_buffer[:num_tokens].copy_(hidden_states.flatten(1))
 
         hidden_states = self.hc_head_op(
             hidden_states,