The Chicago Blackhawks earned a point in their shootout loss to the Winnipeg Jets on Saturday night. That was their 57th standings point of the season, which ranks 31st in the National Hockey League.
The Nashville Predators currently sit in 30th with 66. Chicago only has two games left, so it is impossible to catch them. The San Jose Sharks, who currently rank 32nd with 51 points, can no longer catch Chicago now that they are up to 57.
That means that Chicago locked itself into the second-best draft lottery odds by being the second-to-last place team in the league. They will have a 13.5% chance of winning the first overall selection.
This upcoming draft isn't like other drafts in the sense that there isn't one guy standing out as a lock to be picked first. There is no Connor McDavid, Auston Matthews, Jack Hughes, or Connor Bedard ready to change a franchise right away.
Instead, there is a clear-cut top four who could go in any order. That is for Chicago scouts to figure out once the results of the lottery are revealed.
This makes it three years in a row that the Blackhawks will have top-three draft lottery odds. Of course, they selected Connor Bedard first overall in 2023 and Artyom Levshunov second overall in 2024. Here in 2025, they'd love to add another franchise pillar.
The lottery will take place during the Stanley Cup Playoffs. The 2025 NHL Draft will start on June 27th and go through June 28th.
Visit The Hockey News Chicago Blackhawks team site to stay updated on the latest news, game-day coverage, player features, and more.
Flyers up to 31 goals under Shaw, but lose to Senators in overtime originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia
The Flyers saw another game go to overtime Sunday afternoon and lost to the Senators, 4-3, at Canadian Tire Centre in Ottawa, Ontario.
Nicolas Deslauriers, Noah Cates and Garnet Hathaway provided the Flyers’ goals. All three gave the Flyers a lead.
But the Senators responded each time.
Ottawa netted the OT winner on the power play after Travis Sanheim was whistled for interference 19 seconds into the bonus session. Nick Seeler and Cam York both had a gutsy blocked shot before Tim Stutzle scored from the circle.
The Flyers (33-37-10) dropped to 5-1-1 under interim head coach Brad Shaw with two games left. They’ve scored 31 goals through those seven games. Prior to Shaw taking over for the fired John Tortorella, the Flyers went 1-10-1 in their last 12 games and scored just 21 goals.
Over a quarter of the Flyers’ season has featured overtime. Sunday afternoon was the team’s 22nd time in OT. The Flyers dropped to 12-10 after regulation.
Shaw’s club was coming off a 4-3 shootout win Saturday afternoon over the Islanders. The Flyers had a nightmarish time in the second game of back-to-back sets this season, going 1-10-2 while being outscored 56-32.
The Senators (44-30-6) are headed to the playoffs. The Flyers went 1-1-1 against them.
• Ivan Fedotov finished with 21 saves on 25 shots.
In the second period, just 53 seconds after Deslauriers opened the game’s scoring, Stutzle went around Egor Zamula to tie things back up.
Ottawa tied it twice in the third period. Fabian Zetterlund made it 2-2 from the slot as a pass snuck by Jamie Drysdale. On Thomas Chabot’s 3-3 goal, Fedotov lost his stick.
Senators netminder Anton Forsberg stopped 29 of the Flyers’ 32 shots.
• The Flyers ended the weekend with the sixth-best odds in the 2025 NHL draft lottery.
But the standings are tight.
The Flyers are narrowly ahead of the Kraken via the tiebreaker of fewer games played and they’re not far behind the Sabres, Penguins and Ducks, who are all in action Sunday.
The Flyers could finish the season anywhere from the fourth-best odds to the ninth-best odds.
More: The latest NHL standings
• Nikita Grebenkin wasn’t needed in the Flyers’ lineup after being called up from AHL affiliate Lehigh Valley under emergency conditions. Following warmups, he was loaned back to the Phantoms.
The 21-year-old winger has recorded five points (three goals, two assists) over nine games with Lehigh Valley after being acquired by the Flyers in the Scott Laughton trade.
• The Flyers have their final home game of the season Tuesday when they welcome the Blue Jackets (7 p.m. ET/NBCSP).