Winners and Losers from 2025 NHL Draft Lottery
The 2025 NHL Draft Lottery took place on Monday night, and there was chaos at the top.
The New York Islanders and Utah Hockey Club were the two winners of the lotteries, with the Islanders moving from No. 10 up to No. 1 overall in the first drawing, and Utah going from No. 14 up to the No. 4 overall pick in the second drawing.
As a result, the San Jose Sharks dropped from No. 1 down to No. 2, while a handful of other teams made some one and two-spot drops down the board.
Let's look at some of the biggest winners and losers from Monday's drawings.
Winner: New York Islanders
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The Islanders are, quite literally, the biggest winner.
They opened the day in the No. 10 spot with only a 3.5 percent chance of winning the top pick. And then it happened, sending them to the top of the draft board and giving them a chance to pick a player that could help turn the franchise back into a contender in the not-too-distant future.
The Islanders have one of the NHL's weakest farm systems and need a potential game-changer.
Whether it is defenseman Matthew Schaefer or forwards Michael Misa or James Hagens, they will have a chance to add exactly that.
It may not be a Sidney Crosby or Connor McDavid lottery year, but they are going to come away with a much-needed top prospect.
They will have a new general manager by the time the pick is made, and what better way for a new general manager to start their tenure than with the top pick in the draft.
Loser: Pittsburgh Penguins
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With the Islanders and Utah making huge jumps up the board, that means some teams had to fall. One of the teams that took the biggest fall was the Pittsburgh Penguins, going from No. 9 at the start of the day down to No. 11 after both lottery drawings.
After the first three balls were drawn in the lottery for the top pick, the Penguins were one of the seven teams still in the running for the top pick and needed just a one or a 10 ball to be drawn. They did not get either.
That pushed them down a spot as the Islanders jumped ahead.
When Utah's numbers hit for the No. 2 pick, that sent the Penguins down to the No. 11 overall pick.
With their rebuild just starting to get underway, they were hoping to have some lottery luck on their side, resulting in a top pick that could have jump-started the process. Instead, they ended up dropping even further down the board.
The No. 11 overall pick should still get them a good prospect that will add to an already improving farm system, but a top-two pick would have helped.
The New York Rangers also dropped one spot from No. 11 to No. 12, and that pick is somewhat important for the Penguins. The Rangers have the option to protect their pick if it is in the top 13 this season (as it is) and send a 2026 unprotected first-round pick to Pittsburgh. If the Rangers decide they would rather keep their 2026 pick, they could send the No. 12 pick to Pittsburgh (that seems unlikely).
The Penguins acquired that conditional pick as part of the trade that sent defenseman Marcus Pettersson and forward Drew O'Connor to the Vancouver Canucks. The Canucks acquired that pick from the Rangers in the J.T. Miller trade.
Winner: Drama and Suspense
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The NHL changed the presentation of this year's lottery process, and instead of conducting the lottery behind closed doors and then revealing the results, they decided to just do the whole draw live and in real time.
It certainly added a new level of intrigue as fans could watch their teams' odds for the top pick change in real time.
Was the process boring? You bet! But did it add some suspense that would not otherwise exist? Heck yeah, it did.
It also should -- emphasis on should -- silence any conspiracy theorist who thinks the league rigs the lottery for a desired result.
Loser: Original Six Teams
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The Chicago Blackhawks, Boston Bruins and New York Rangers were the three Original Six teams in the running for the No. 1 overall pick this season, and all of them fell down the board.
Chicago went from No. 2 down to No. 3, Boston fell from No. 5 to No. 7, while the Rangers fell from No. 11 to No. 12.
Boston is one of the biggest losers out of that group not only because it fell two spots, but also because there is a bigger gap between the No. 5 pick to the No. 7 pick (historically speaking) than there is from No. 2 to No. 3.
For a team that needs as much young talent as it can get, that is a tough fall. Especially given how bad their 2024-25 season ended up being on the ice. They lost during the season and after it.
Winner: Not Tanking
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Whenever it becomes clear that a team is not going to make the Stanley Cup Playoffs during the season, there is always a segment of that team's fan base that starts cheering for them to lose so it can increase their draft lottery odds.
It can be a dangerous game because the lottery is specifically designed to discourage that sort of practice from front offices around the league.
I get it: a 25 percent chance is better going in than an 8 or a 5 percent chance. The odds are more in your favor.
But this year's lottery showed just how unpredictable the whole process can be and how a 25 or 13 or 11 percent chance actually means you are still more likely to lose than you are to win.
The Islanders and Utah Hockey Club finished in the 10th and 14th spots, respectively, in the league. Neither team was really in the "tanking" discussion, as both were still trying to make the playoffs late.
They both ended up having the lottery balls go their way and help them move up the board.
Had they lost more games, they do not pick in the top-five.
Sometimes it pays not to tank.
That is the beauty of the lottery. You can only control certain things. How the lottery balls fall is not one of them.
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