Who's in the 2025 NHL Draft Lottery? These 11 teams can win the No. 1 pick originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston
Which NHL club will hit the lottery in 2025?
The order for the 2025 NHL Draft Lottery was set on the final night of the 2024-25 regular season Thursday. And the two teams with the best odds to land the No. 1 pick are the same as last year.
The San Jose Sharks and Chicago Blackhawks finished 32nd and 31st in the league standings, respectively, for the second straight season. San Jose has a 25.5% chance of winning the lottery, while Chicago boasts 13.5% odds of leapfrogging the Sharks for the top pick.
San Jose last year won the Macklin Celebrini sweepstakes for the franchise’s first-ever No. 1 pick. And the Sharks can now become the first team since the Edmonton Oilers from 2010-12 to pick first overall in consecutive drafts.
Chicago, meanwhile, could be selecting in the top two for a third straight year. The Blackhawks jumped from third to first in the 2023 lottery to secure Connor Bedard and they retained last year’s No. 2 pick before selecting Artyom Levshunov.
So, which other teams are in the running for this year’s top pick? And when will the lottery be held? Here’s what to know:
What is the NHL draft lottery?
The draft lottery is used to award the top two picks in the draft and set the order of the first 16 selections, which includes all of the non-playoff teams. But not all teams in the draft lottery are eligible to win the No. 1 pick.
How does the NHL draft lottery work?
That’s because the most spots a team can move up in the lottery is 10, giving 11 clubs a chance to land the first pick and 12 teams a shot at the second pick.
For the lottery, 1,001 different four-number combinations are distributed among the teams, with the worst team having the most combinations, the second-worst team having the second-most combinations, and so on.
Fourteen ping pong balls numbered 1 to 14 are placed into a lottery machine and four are randomly drawn. The team that owns that four-digit combination gets the top pick, and the process is then repeated to award the second pick. Once the top two picks are awarded, the rest of the top 16 is set in inverse order of the regular-season standings.
If, for instance, the Detroit Red Wings, who enter the lottery sitting in the 12th draft slot, win the first drawing, they would move up 10 spots to No. 2 and the league-worst Sharks would get the No. 1 pick.
A rule introduced starting with the 2022 lottery bars a team from improving its draft position via the lottery more than twice over any five-year span. But, since the 2022 lottery, no team has moved up in the order more than once.
What are the 2025 NHL Draft Lottery odds?
Here are the 11 teams with a chance to win the No. 1 pick, along with their odds:
- San Jose Sharks: 25.5%
- Chicago Blackhawks: 13.5%
- Nashville Predators: 11.5%
- Philadelphia Flyers: 9.5%
- Boston Bruins: 8.5%
- Seattle Kraken: 7.5%
- Buffalo Sabres: 6.5%
- Anaheim Ducks: 6%
- Pittsburgh Penguins: 5%
- New York Islanders: 3.5%
- New York Rangers: 3%
The teams slotted from 12th to 16th are, in order, the Red Wings, Columbus Blue Jackets, Utah Hockey Club, Vancouver Canucks and Calgary Flames. Detroit has a 5.1% chance of jumping up to second, Columbus has a 4.2% chance of jumping up to third, Utah has a 3.2% chance of jumping up to fourth, Vancouver has a 1.1% chance of jumping up to fifth and Calgary has a 1.1% chance of jumping up to sixth, according to Tankathon.
Calgary’s pick is currently set to convey to the Montreal Canadiens.
You can check out a full odds breakdown from Tankathon here.
When is the 2025 NHL Draft Lottery?
The NHL hasn’t announced a date for the draft lottery yet. Last year’s event was on May 7.
When and where is the 2025 NHL Draft?
The draft will be held at L.A. Live’s Peacock Theater in Los Angeles from Friday, June 27, to Saturday, June 28.
How many rounds are in the NHL draft?
The NHL draft features seven rounds. The first round is set for June 27 followed by Rounds 2-7 on June 28.
Who will be the No. 1 pick in the 2025 NHL Draft?
OHL defenseman Matthew Schaefer is expected to be the first player taken in this year’s draft. Schaefer, 17, had seven goals and 15 assists with a plus-21 rating over 17 games this season with the Erie Otters before suffering a broken collarbone while playing for Canada at the world junior championship in December.
The last time a defenseman went No. 1 overall was in 2022 when the Sabres took Owen Power.
