The NHL will hold the 2025 draft lottery on May 5; here’s what you need to know.
Like the NBA’s draft lottery, the NHL draft lottery is dictated by a random drawing of numbered pingpong balls. Each team is assigned multiple series of numbers, and the order in which they’re pulled determines the draft order.
In recent years, the NHL changed three key rules with its draft lottery.
First, no team can improve its draft position more than twice in a five-year span. It could be referred to as the “Oilers Rule” after they picked first overall three years in a row and four times in six seasons.
The second change is that no team can improve its draft position by more than 10 spots. That has never been the issue, though the Philadelphia Flyers did jump up exactly 10 spots in 2017.
Third, the draft lottery no longer determines the winner of the third overall pick.
It’s a bittersweet event for the Utah Hockey Club, which is one of six teams that neither participated in the playoffs nor has a shot at the first overall pick. If it wins the top lottery spot, it will receive the fourth overall pick.
Utah has a 1.5% chance of winning the fourth pick, according to a press release from the NHL.
The lottery drawing, which takes place at a studio in Secaucus, New Jersey, will be televised on ESPN, Sportsnet and TVA Sports.
There are no NHL playoff games scheduled on May 5.

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