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Updated 7m ago
The New York Islanders won Monday’s Draft Lottery and will select first overall at the 2025 NHL Draft.
The Islanders currently are without a general manager after announcing the departure of Lou Lamoriello last month. Now, they have another big decision to make.
The San Jose Sharks, Chicago Blackhawks, Utah Hockey Club and Nashville Predators will round out the top five of the draft.
There is a clear No. 1 for most NHL scouts in defenseman Matthew Schaefer from the OHL's Erie Otters. Behind him is a well-defined group of forwards with NHL tools and legitimate top-six potential.
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GO FURTHER
2025 NHL Draft Lottery takeaways: Who goes No. 1 and 2, trades, the Rangers’ pick and more
Coming into the night, the Sabres had better odds at landing the No. 1 pick (6.5-percent) than the No. 9 pick (5.6-percent), but nine is where they landed after the Islanders and Utah Hockey Club jumped up.
This is likely going to put Buffalo out of range for the top two tiers of prospects in the draft. They'll be more in the range of tier three on Scott Wheeler's rankings. That group includes right-handed defenseman Radim Mrtka, Swedish winger Victor Eklund, Brantford center Jake O'Brien, Soo center Brady Martin, Brandon center Roger McQueen and Blainville-Boisbriand winger Justin Carbonneau.
Moving down to No. 9 in the order might be even more motivation to try and trade the pick for NHL-ready help. The Sabres, who missed the playoffs for a 14th straight season, were the youngest team in the NHL last season and would welcome a chance to bolster their NHL roster with this pick.
GO FURTHER
2025 NHL Draft ranking: Matthew Schaefer, Michael Misa lead Wheeler’s May top 64 list
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The Rangers moved from No. 11 to No. 12. They have the choice of sending the pick to Pittsburgh (via Vancouver) because of the J.T. Miller trade or keeping it and sending their 2026 first to Vancouver.
If they keep the pick, drafting a center would make sense. The team's prospect pool is thin up the middle, and it traded away a younger center in Filip Chytil to get Miller. Players like Roger McQueen, Brady Martin and Jake O'Brien could all make sense.
Cullen Potter might be a reach at this pick, but Chris Drury has shown past interest in drafting USNTDP players. He picked EJ Emery last year and Gabe Perreault in 2023.
Moving up to 4 is a huge win for Utah, which already has a nice young NHL core built around Clayton Keller, Logan Cooley, Dylan Guenther and Mikhail Sergachev. And now it has a chance to add a star prospect to what is already a very good farm system.
Top defenseman Matthew Schaefer and top forward Michael Misa aren't likely to make it to them at No. 4, but many of the other forwards at the top of this class still look like strong fits for Utah.
In particular, Caleb Desnoyers could give them a strong two-way center to pair with Cooley for the long term future, as could Anton Frondell.
James Hagens might be a tad redundant to Cooley, but he brings great pace and plenty of offense. Porter Martone would bring lots of skill in a big body. And Jake O'Brien could be in the mix as well as a 6-foot-2 center with strong playmaking.
It's not quite the star level that Utah would have gotten at 1 or 2, had they been eligible (teams can only move up 10 spots), but winning this draw will allow them to take a totally different tier of prospect than they would have otherwise.
A tradition like no other: The Ducks *falling in the draft lottery.
*With only the eighth-best odds, they likely weren't winning (then again, um, Islanders) but they'll have the 10th pick.
The Rangers will pick No. 12 in the 2025 NHL Draft — if they keep the pick. They can choose to send the pick to Pittsburgh (via Vancouver) and keep their 2026 first-round pick, or to give their 2026 first to Pittsburgh.
This draft lottery live drawing was a massive improvement over “placards revealed interspersed with reaction shots of disappointed NHL executives."
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The two big winners tonight are obviously the Islanders and Utah. New York moved up nine spots from 10 to first overall, and Utah moved up 10 spots from 14th to fourth.
In terms of how badly everyone else lost:
The Utah Hockey Club wins the second drawing all the way from the 14th spot!
They can only move up 10 spots, so they slot in with the fourth overall pick.
That's good news for the Sharks, who are now confirmed with the second overall pick.
With three of the four balls drawn for the second lottery, the odds have shifted significantly.
The Sharks have a 36.4 percent chance of winning the second lottery. The Predators and Bruins are next with 18.2 percent odds.
Now we do the second and final lottery drawing, to determine the second overall pick in the draft.
After this drawing, the remaining 14 teams will slot in behind the Islanders and the second winner in terms of draft order.
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From the 10th spot all the way up to No. 1!
They had just a 3.5 percent chance of winning the first-place lottery!
The Draft Lottery show has a window of the lottery drawing machine going during commercial break.
This entire show’s aim is seemingly to disprove conspiracy theories.
This draft lottery style is actually quite entertaining.
The Blackhawks, Penguins, Flyers and Islanders each have an 18.2 percent chance of winning the lottery.
The Sharks, Kraken and Sabres have half that at 9.1 percent odds.
All other teams have been ruled out.
The third draw is 12.
San Jose's odds have plummeted to 9 percent!
The leaders are Chicago, Philly, Pittsburgh and the Islanders.
Here comes the final ball!
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The second ball is 11.
San Jose's chances are up to 24.2 percent. Teams that started 12th-16th have all been eliminated.
Calgary is no longer able to win the lottery.
The first ball is 7!
San Jose's chances have improved, Chicago's have worsened.
