2025 NHL Draft Lottery Results – Winners and Losers

On May 5th, 2025, the NHL held its annual draft lottery, which determined the order of the first 16 picks. The remaining order will be determined by results from Stanley Cup playoffs.

Pre-Draft Order:

San Jose Sharks
Chicago Blackhawks
Nashville Predators
Philadelphia Flyers
Boston Bruins
Seattle Kraken
Buffalo Sabres
Anaheim Ducks
Pittsburgh Penguins
New York Islanders
New York Rangers
Detroit Redwings
Columbus Blue Jackets
Utah Hockey Club
Vancouver Canucks
Calgary Flames

Post-Draft Order

New York Islanders
San Jose Sharks
Chicago Blackhawks
Utah Hockey Club
Nashville Predators
Philadelphia Flyers
Boston Bruins
Seattle Kraken
Buffalo Sabres
Anaheim Ducks
Pittsburgh Penguins
New York Rangers
Detroit Redwings
Columbus Blue Jackets
Vancouver Canucks
Montreal Canadians (via Calgary)

New York Islanders fans should be excited beyond belief as they jumped into the number one spot. If you’re a Penguins fan, not so much, as they slid from the projected spot of ninth overall to eleventh.

One thing to keep in mind however—the NHL draft is different from the NFL draft. In the NFL draft, there are many players that can step in and play right away, regardless of what round they’re drafted in. That’s not the same for the NHL. Most of the players entering the NHL draft still need developed in some way, which means it could take years to reach the NHL, if they do at all.

For the Penguins, it really was a worst-case scenario, but it’s not all doom and gloom either. The Penguins original spot was at number 9, but they only had a 5% chance of winning the lottery. Instead, the Penguins drop out of the top 10, falling to pick 11.

Some fans may be wondering how the NHL’s draft lottery works. Well, don’t even bother. Google “Steiner Math” (you don’t have to be a Pro Wrestling Fan to get the joke). Why? Because Steiner math makes more sense than whatever the NHL came up with to figure out where teams are drafting. Leave it to the NHL to “reinvent the wheel”, ultimately making this process as convoluted as possible. Case in point, the current Stanley Cup playoff format. But those are stories for another day.

The 2025 NHL Draft is set to take place from June 27 to 28. The first round will start on Friday, and rounds 2-7 will finish on Saturday, the 28th.

THE WINNERS:

New York Islanders: They had a 3.5% chance of winning the lottery, and they did just that, jumping nine spots. Whoever ends up being the Islanders’ General Manager has a pretty good chip to start with.

Utah Hockey Club: Utah is probably the biggest winner of all. Utah was all but guaranteed to pick 14th (nearly 95% guaranteed), but they jumped up to fourth. Sure, the Islanders won the first overall pick, but the talent level of the fourth-best prospect compared to the 14th-best prospect is pretty significant.

Pittsburgh Penguins… maybe: Having two picks in the first round is always a win. Barring any trades, there is a chance the Penguins could draft back-to-back with picks 11 and 12. It just depends on what the New York Rangers decide to do (more on that later).

THE LOSERS:

Every team not named the Islanders or Utah, especially the Predators: Almost every team dropped down at least one draft spot, while most dropped two spots, all because the Islanders and Utah Hockey Club had such huge jumps. The Canucks, and Canadians (via Calgary), stayed the same. Nashville, on the other hand, had the third-best odds to win the lottery, but instead dropped to fifth.

Pittsburgh Penguins: There is not a huge drop-off from picks nine to 11, but it was the worst-case scenario for the Penguins. That winning streak in mid-March (going 5-1) and winning three out of the last four games to finish the season did not help their lottery chances.

New York Rangers: While hiring former Penguins head coach Mike Sullivan is a good thing, the Rangers’ General Manager, Chris Drury, still has a tough decision to make regarding their 2025 first-round pick. Drury has 48 hours before the draft to inform the Penguins if his Rangers are giving up the 12th pick in 2025, or if the Rangers are going to roll the dice and give the Penguins next year’s unprotected first round pick (meaning even if the Rangers win the lottery/first pick overall in 2026, it belongs to the Penguins).

Now that we know where the Penguins are slotted to draft, combined with all of the Penguins’ draft capital over the next three seasons, do not be surprised if Dubas makes a few moves to trade up if he feels there is a can’t-miss prospect.

Follow article author Justin Sobieralski - @Just_A_Robi