Pro Hockey Rumors
at CDT | by 54 Comments
The New York Islanders have won the 2025 NHL draft lottery, jumping up from No. 10 in the pre-lottery order to No. 1. The Utah Hockey Club won the second draw but only moved to pick No. 4, as teams were only able to improve 10 spots from their pre-lottery odds. That means the San Jose Sharks, who entered the night with the top odds, will pick second overall.
The Islanders had a 3.5 percent chance of claiming this year’s top pick. After the lottery and the end of the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, the 2025 draft is locked in as follows:
For the first time since 2009, the Islanders will call the first name of the NHL Draft. It’s an incredible consolation prize for the squad after missing the postseason for just the second time in the last seven years. In picking first, New York could have a chance to repeat fate and draft an exceptional status OHL center on the heels of a red-hot season. That, of course, refers to Saginaw Spirit center Michael Misa, who led the OHL with a dazzling 62 goals and 134 points in 65 games this season.
Misa’s scoring is the most from an OHL draft-eligible player since Patrick Kane scored 145 points in 58 games before going first overall in the 2007 Draft. Misa’s 2.06 points-per-game are the sixth-most from an OHL draft-eligible since 2000, sandwiched between Jason Spezza (2.07) and Mitch Marner (2.00).
But for all of his scoring acclaim, Misa isn’t often considered the top player in this class. That title has instead been bestowed upon defenseman Matthew Schaefer, who hasn’t played since December after sustaining a collarbone injury at the World Junior Championship. Schaefer quickly underwent surgery and lost his draft season, but his performance before injury was strong enough to establish his case.
Schaefer recorded 22 points in 17 OHL games, two points in two World Juniors games, and six points in five games as Team Canada’s captain at the Hlinka Gretzky Cup before the start of the season. All the while, he looked cool, calm, and collected, making very smooth and deliberate plays in his own end and showing great jump on offense. The NHL’s top defensemen are playing an increasingly rangy, 200-foot style of offense that Schaefer mirrors well, with strong passing and a killer instinct for scoring goals.
Behind the pair of OHL stars is America’s top representation in the class – Boston College centerman James Hagens. Hagens stepped into the center role between Gabriel Perreault and Ryan Leonard this season, filling the gap after Will Smith, who centered the duo for three straight years, opted to sign his entry-level contract. And despite some early stumbles, Hagens managed to fill the role seamlessly, netting 37 points in as many games and helping to grow the total goals from BC’s top line by four percent compared to last season.
He’s a diligent playmaker with a keen hockey sense, and one who can’t be second-guessed in this draft. Hagens proved as much at the 2024 World U18 Championship, where his 22 points in just seven games broke the tournament record, previously held by Nikita Kucherov. Hagens also grew up in Hauppauge, New York, and idolized the Islanders growing up. If that wasn’t incentive enough, Hagens was also the set-up man to Cole Eiserman during his years at the U.S. National Team Development Program. The Islanders drafted Eiserman with the 20th-overall pick last year.
2025 NHL Draft| New York Islanders| Newsstand| Utah Hockey Club
Unclemike1526

Disappointing but the Hawks will have a shot at either Hagens, Misa or Schaeffer. Any of them work for me.
bigdaddyt

Miss makes the most sense to me. Gives them a 1-2 punch down the middle for the next 10 years that could be top 3 in the league quicker than people think (depending on who they can be surrounded with)
Unclemike1526

Misa would probably be the guy the Hawks would want most. But lets face it, Nobodies job is really guaranteed except Bedard. Everything else is pretty fluid on the forward line. The defense is set but Schaeffer would still be welcome. He’s a few years away anyway. A lot can happen by then.
RedFeather

What’s going to happen when Bedard requests his trade out?
Unclemike1526

He’s already said enough times he’s here for the long run. Don’t worry, He won’t be going anywhere. You should read more.
Rexhudler86

@unclemike1526. Frondell could be interesting not really a reach because he’s projected 5th, but he should be ready quicker since he’s playing in Sweden.
Unclemike1526

Anybody the Hawks draft here will be a future. After this year the Hawks should have Kantserov, and maybe Boisvert and Lardis before anybody here. Quite frankly I have no idea what Davidson will do with this pick. He can trade it for ready made talent, He can trade up for a guy he wants, or he can do the plain old boring draft the best player available. There is no wrong answer here. Right now he needs to hire a coach and together figure out what the plan is.
SkidRowe

Well that sucked! Draft lotteries are stupid.
Kesler is Wilf

You sure told draft lotteries.
JG88

I thought it was great.
I do think draft lotteries are stupid for the most part but the problem is you don’t want a team tanking to get the top pick when there’s a generational Talent to be drafted. Years ago, the devils accused the Penguins of tanking the regular season to get Mario Lemieux.
66TheNumberOfTheBest

The Devils were right in that the Penguins were tanking but it’s an odd thing for a team that was also tanking to say.
John Murphy

The penguins DID tank to draft Mario Lemieux. I am not a Devils fan, so I had no stake in what happened, but the Devils were absolutely the worst team in the NHL that year. Gretzky famously made the Mickey Mouse comment about the Devils after the Oilers blasted the Devils. The Penguins traded any player that year that could have “threatened” to have them win or prevented a Penguins loss. In fact, the Penguins did everything possible to lose short of not showing up to play a game. Tanking worked so well for the Penguins to draft Lemieux, they did it years later to draft Crosby. The only other tanking team in the Penguins class is the San Antonio Spurs of the NBA – see the circumstances around David Robinson, especially Tim Duncan and Victor Wembanyama.
66TheNumberOfTheBest

And?
That was pretty smart and worked out pretty well, no?
FTR, we tanked for Ovechkin, lost the lottery to WSH and got Malkin and it was mostly luck that landed Crosby.
Rexhudler86

@JG. Don’t think lotteries are stupid, but that layout was not fan friendly didn’t know what number to cheer for and it was like trying to crack the bank vault.
JG88

No it’s not pretty smart. It’s a form of cheating. It’s dishonest and it’s insulting to the fans who played good money to go see a team tank
JG88

I hear you. I don’t particularly like the draft lottery system in general but I see it as being a necessary evil of sorts. They have to work on the implementation of it.
66TheNumberOfTheBest

Well, I guess the Devils can sleep at night with a clear conscience.
We’ll just have to live with ourselves and our 5 Cups, 15 scoring titles and 3 of the 5 best players ever.
Rexhudler86

@JG88. Yeah they were getting complaints because it wasn’t televised. It literally could’ve been any team drawn and no one will never know because of the number combinations they didn’t explain. They need to bring back the logos on the ball. Maybe shuffle up the top 12 and you can only drop three spots and just keep drawing until you can’t draw anymore and everyone locks in.
jdgoat

I would have said this no matter who won the draft, but if I’m the Islanders I seriously look to trade down and hope you can get a ”Chicago Bears-esque” package for moving out of the 1 spot. The top 4-5 players are all in a pretty close tier imo, if you can find a team that really wants one particular player, it’d be a good opportunity to take advantage of them. It might be hard to pass up on a defenceman like Schaeffer though.
JG88

If the island is decide to take the Homegrown Prospect from Long Island then they could trade down a slot or two if one team in particular wants Schaefer
NSco1996

more like Islanders and Utah won, Utah jumps to 4th
Gbear

Frankly I’m glad teams that tried to make the playoffs got some luck in this lottery. Effort should be rewarded, not ineptitude.
Speaking of which, the Preds really lost out here. Unlikey Misa, Hagens or Martone are still there at #5 unless someone goes off the board 1 thru 4.
jdgoat

Desnoyers is up there as well. I’d be very happy with any of the top 5
SkidRowe

I disagree. The teams with less talent should get the most help. I’m a socialist when it comes to sports.
Gbear

Trading away decent players to acquire picks is why they have less talent. Why reward them for doing that?
PyramidHeadcrab

Honestly, I ain’t even mad. Not even as a Sharks fan. This is one of those drafts where any of the Top 5 prospects could make a legitimate case to be #1, so Sharks don’t really lose out, but NYI and Utah are franchises that have been stuck in this holding pattern of mediocrity for like 20 years now.
I also love that the Bruins not only crashed and burned, but also fell two spots in the draft. That’s something every hockey fan should cheer for.
jsgoody

except us Bruins fans of course. Neely and Sweeney will screw it up no matter where they picked though ..so here we go again.
PyramidHeadcrab

There are no Bruins fans. Even Bruins fans hate the Bruins.
KL

My thoughts exactly. Buck Foston.
SkidRowe

Sharks fan? No wonder you’re so bitter.
Pearlo

Schaefer is considerably better then anyone else in the draft and my bet is the Islanders don’t take him
chum5402

Hope they don’t. They need to take Michael Misa.
catonfarm

Hagens to the Islanders!
I read he bleeds blue and orange. Hagens and his family have been Islanders fans long before he became a top prospect.
DarkSide830

Lotteries suck
66TheNumberOfTheBest

This one sure did.
billysbballz

Islanders should trade with black hawks and add another first.
Move down to the third pick and draft Hagens (homegrown Long Island kid) and add another first round pick that Chicago has. Chicago wants defense and adding Schaeffer would be a priority.
Unclemike1526

In what world do the Hawks need defense? We now have Vlasic, Arty, Rinzel, Korchinski, Murphy and Kaiser, Del Mastro, Crevier Nolan Allen for depth. The Hawks need a wing to play with Bedard until Boisvert, Lardis and VanAcker get here. Now that we have Spenser Knight and Commesso is playing lights out at Rockord Goalie is settled. They should be much improved. It all depends on the right coach. Anybody thy draft this year is a future. What they should do is trade this years picks after the first one for picks next year. Next year is supposed to be huge for talent.
catonfarm

Hawks are buried in defensemen
tucsontoro1

In what world?
Did you notice that the Hawks had the second worst GA in the league this season?
Did you notice they are out shot on a nightly basis?
What’s going to change over the summer to make all these “hot prospects” NHL
defensemen?
They need to sign a FA defensemen this summer, or maybe two.
These “hot prospects” aren’t NHL ready.
Unclemike1526

They’re not gonna do that. Arty and Rinzel already proved they belong. I still believe in Korchinski but he’s been up and down. Murphy hopefully will be dealt but he has some NTC protection so he might have to be bought out. Plus I forgot they just signed Taige Harding. Even if they draft Schaeffer he would be down the chart. Hawks draft picks are finally signing and mqaking a difference. It’s a good orchestra that really needs a conductor. Davidson has failed there. Badly.
B Thomas

Look at games played….did the kids play or a bunch of old washed up veterans. Look at games played by defensemen…
NSco1996

Ekblad would be a good add
Unclemike1526

Martinez was through, Brodie was a no show and a curious signing at best. Murphy was hurt and mediocre. Seth Jones was his usual not living up to his hype. At the end when Rinzel signed Vlasic and Rinzel seemed to make a good #1 pairing and then Arty and Korchinski could be solid #2 pairing with Arty running the PP. What the Hawks really need is a coach with vision, A high scoring wing to help Bedard and somebody to teach them how to win a face off. Never seen a team that loses almost every face off succeed. They got a little better at the end, But it still is a work in progress. The D will be fine.
Unclemike1526

Rockford has swept the first round of the Calder Cup playoffs 2-0 best of 3. Now they’re about to sweep the 5 game series agst the #1 team in the division after winning the first 2 on the road. Rinzel and Moore aren’t even playing. They’re getting some valuable experience. Korchinski needs to get stronger this off season and everybody forgets he’s only a year older than Bedard. If Korchinski gets stronger and Bedard gets faster like he says he wants to then things will be moving in the right direction. Then the sky is the limit. I wouldn’t mind seeing the Hawks trade up with the Islanders like billysballz said but all they have to offer really is the Leafs 1st which should be late and they’re own 2nd which will be top 3 in the 2nd round. We could toss in Reichel and Broissoit if you need a cheap decent Goalie. I wouldn’t mind it.
Motown is My Town

And of course the Red Wings get screwed again by Bettman and the NHL. This is total BS as every year they’ve been in the lottery they have either dropped or stayed the same. I know Mike Illitch is the reason there is a salary cap and the 2005 season was cancelled, but the grudge the NHL has against the Red Wings has gone on long enough already!!!!
Kesler is Wilf

It’s fun to watch your paranoid delusions play out in real time.
PyramidHeadcrab

Bro they almost made the playoffs, they had an extremely small chance of rising. What?
Motown is My Town

I guess you’re right as I’d expect the Red Wings to move up a few places in the lottery AT LEAST ONCE in 9 years, but when they continually fall a spot or two and/or stand pat, I call that getting screwed by the NHL! If you believe that’s being treated fairly, then I want to know what planet are you from?
PyramidHeadcrab

You might have had a point in 2019 or 2020, it the Red Wings usually don’t s*** the bed enough to have high odds of rising in the draft. It’s all math my dude, not a conspiracy.
amk1920

Reminder the Islanders would not have had the #1 pick or Calum Ritchie + another 1st if Lou got Brock Nelson to take the extension he was begging him to. They are very lucky to have moved on from that senile man
JG88

True but look at Palmieri. He probably could have been treated for a first round pick as well but apparently he told Lou that he would sign an extension. If a new GM comes in and doesn’t sign Palmieri, then he could be lost for nothing when he could have gone at a first round pick.
66TheNumberOfTheBest

Do the Rangers keep the pick now and roll the dice on next year or do they grit and bear it now?
It’s now right in the sweet spot of being a tough call.
Josh Erickson

Not sure if this is out there, but I’m under the impression they only have until tomorrow evening (48 hours after the lottery) to decide.
DED

Let Pitt have this year’s. If the team doesn’t respond to Sully, then Drury is going to trade everyone for worse players and the team is going to fall even further.
Besides, Rangers have a poor record of developing their young players.
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