May 5, 2025 , 5:32 PM | Updated: May 6, 2025, 9:53 am
COLE BAGLEY
SALT LAKE CITY – After entering the 2025 NHL Draft lottery with the 14th best odds, the Utah Hockey Club received the No. 4 overall pick in the 2025 NHL draft.
The Utah Hockey Club will have the No. 4 overall pick in the 2025 NHL Draft!!!!!!
This is HUGE.
Just jumped 10 spots!!!
— Cole Bagley (@BagleyKSLsports) May 5, 2025
Entering the NHL lottery event, the Utah Hockey Club owned the 14th best overall odds of winning the lottery at 1.5%.
However, Utah could only move up a maximum of 10 spots to the fourth overall selection.
Once the order was determined and the balls were pulled from the mechanism, Utah overcame the odds and moved up 10 spots to the No. 4 overall pick in the upcoming 2025 NHL draft.
“To pick at four…couple seconds ago we were ten back, so it still hasn’t sunk in,” General Manager Bill Armstrong said.
“What a great opportunity for us to move up that far in the draft…this is an exciting moment for us. It’s a game changer for us.”
That was HUGE ‼️
We will have the 4th overall pick in the 2025 @NHL Draft! pic.twitter.com/gHBvqHZSzW
— Utah Hockey Club (@utahhockeyclub) May 5, 2025
Emerging from the fourth year of a rebuild, the Utah Hockey Club is quite familiar with drafting high in the first round.
In years past, that’s generally been the expectation as the team has been patient in constructing their roster and lost the majority of their games since hitting the reset button in 2020.
What’s significant about receiving the No. 4 overall pick in 2025 however, is that the team is coming off of their most successful season since the 2013-14 campaign with 89 points.
Teams that close to the playoffs generally don’t pick inside the top five, especially with only a 1.5% chance to win the lottery.
But for Utah, the hockey gods were clearing shining down on Salt Lake City as they miraculously jumped 10 spots to No. 4.
“Picking at four will give us an opportunity to get a real good player that will have some impact in the coming years in this franchise,” Armstrong added.
“We’re getting to that point where we’re becoming a really good team that has a chance to get into the playoffs…The fact that we are picking at four and going into free agency, these are exciting times for Utah.”
Like Armstrong pointed out, Utah has started to shift away from a team in a rebuild and more towards a team with a legitimate chance to compete in the playoffs.
Picking at No. 4 adds yet another weapon to their arsenal regardless of what they decide to do with it.
Keep the selection and Utah will only further bolster their pool of prospects.
Make it available for trade and potentially receive a talented NHL player that can help you win now while also entering free agency with roughly $22M in your pocket.
According to Armstrong, nothing is off the table when looking to improve Utah’s roster.
“I think people will try to and get into that pick. They’ll want to acquire it…Obviously we’ll always talk about. We’ll never shut that door,” Armstrong said.
No matter what Utah decides to do, this was a massive stroke of luck for the club as they continue to build towards contention.
Rather than selecting at No. 14, Utah will pick inside the top five with even more momentum as they push for the playoffs in 2026.
Following the conclusion of the NHL lottery, the NHL Draft will take place on June 27 and 28 in Los Angeles.
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