Trade or Keep? What Every 2025 NHL Lottery Team Should Do With Its Pick
After the NHL Draft Lottery helped get the league's non-playoff teams (or the playoff teams they traded their pick to) settled on their selections in the first round of this year's event, it helped open up a question: Should anyone trade that pick?
We've got 16 lottery teams to select in the draft order, and we ask each team the same thing. Trades happen at the draft, and picks make for great commodities, especially if they're of the single-digit variety.
Teams have various needs and sometimes drafting an 18-year-old isn't what they need most right now. After all, if a team is desperate to return to the playoffs for the first time in a long time, that pick might help them land a player who can play for the team now instead of in two or three years.
We'll review each of the lottery teams and make the call as to whether they should make the pick or trade it to another team.
1. New York Islanders
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No one expected the New York Islanders to win the Draft Lottery, but you could argue there was no team that needed luck on their side more than they did.
Their prospect pool is in desperate need of restocking and an influx of talent has been needed for years. With Lou Lamoriello out as general manager, it seems the team will be guided in a different direction at all levels. Getting the draft right and getting better talent to fill up the pipeline is a must.
The last time they had the No. 1 pick was 2009 when they took John Tavares. Whether it’s Matthew Schaefer, Michael Misa or James Hagens who goes No. 1 this year is up for debate because the Isles could use a top player on defense or at forward.
Decision: Keep it.
2. San Jose Sharks
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It would be really tempting for the Sharks to field offers for the No. 2 pick in the draft. After all, they’re cleaning up with their top first-round picks from the past two years with Macklin Celebrini and Will Smith.
We'll soon see what defenseman Sam Dickinson and forward Quentin Musty, their other first-round picks from the past two seasons, can do as well.
But consider where the Sharks are coming from in their rebuild. William Eklund emerged for real last season and is essentially the top pick who kicked things off as their first-rounder in 2021.
They showed a ton of growth last season with their young players and now they’re going to get another elite talent this year at No. 2 be it Schaefer, Misa, Hagens, or another name.
If they traded the pick, doing so to slide down a few spots and get something else from a team eager to jump up the board would be the best way to justify doing so.
Decision: Keep it.
3. Chicago Blackhawks
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Everything that went down in Chicago last season was viewed in a negative light and for justifiable reasons. We knew the Blackhawks weren't going to be a playoff team, but we didn’t think they'd be a threat to have great odds in the draft lottery again, either.
They need to better surround Connor Bedard, and Frank Nazar’s arrival signaled that there's at least one young player on hand now to do that. They’ve still got a load of young players on the way up and nearing arrival, but it's clear they have to start climbing the standings ASAP. Does that mean possibly trading the No. 3 pick, though? Absolutely not.
Depending on how the Islanders and Sharks handle their business in front of them, the Blackhawks are going to get a player capable of jumping in to help Bedard, Nazar and company get Chicago closer to returning to the playoffs.
Their rebuild isn't over and trading such a high pick would be a mistake unless a team made an even bigger one trying to acquire it.
Decision: Keep it.
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4. Utah Mammoth
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At last, Utah has a proper moniker and it came just in time for them to be the other team that won in the draft lottery.
Although they were too good of a lottery team to land the No. 2 pick behind the Islanders, jumping from 14th to fourth is a good way for a team that made big strides to get a shot at landing another good young player.
Mammoth GM Bill Armstrong showed during the 2024 Draft in Las Vegas he’s not afraid to wheel and deal, but picking fourth puts them in a fascinating position.
There, they’ll be able to grab a good young prospect to join Dylan Guenther, Logan Cooley and Clayton Keller in the near future while also bringing 2023 first-round picks Dmitry Simashev and Daniil But over from Russia sooner rather than later as well.
They don’t necessarily need to use the pick to further widen their prospect pool, but it wouldn’t hurt them to do it, either. However, if someone is desperate enough to give up the world, move up to fourth, they’ve got to strongly consider it, right? It’s a nice place to be in, that’s for sure.
Decision: Keep it...unless.
5. Nashville Predators
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It’s impressive that the Nashville Predators found a way for their league-worst shooting luck to continue into the lottery, but it did as they got bumped down to the fifth pick.
You’d think with all the signings and moves they made last summer that Nashville would be in position to trade the pick to mortgage the future and ensure Steven Stamkos and Jonathan Marchessault can get to the playoffs ASAP with Filip Forsberg, Roman Josi and Juuse Saros. That would be pound-foolish, however.
Nashville’s prospect pool needs improvement and going from a playoff team two years ago to having a top-five pick now means you avoid the temptation to make a hasty trade that might not work.
Decision: Keep it.
6. Philadelphia Flyers
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All while John Tortorella was coaching the Philadelphia Flyers through their rebuild on the fly, the thought was he could toe the line between helping their young guys adapt to the NHL and maybe coax them into the playoffs.
It almost happened last season but it didn't this year and Tortorella was fired.
Now we wait to see who replaces him behind the bench and if they’ll try to approach things the same way. What shouldn’t change, though, is the plan to continue rebuilding on the fly.
Matvei Michkov showed he’s going to be an important player for them. They’re high on 2024 first-rounder Jett Luchanko and their other 2023 first-round pick, Oliver Bonk. But if they’re going to do this rebuild correctly, it means hanging onto high picks and trying to amass more of them if they can.
Yes, the Flyers want the playoffs sooner rather than not, but they also can't waste their opportunities to make that a long-lasting goal as opposed to a quick fix.
Decision: Keep it.
7. Boston Bruins
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If it seems like we’re running into a lot of teams that were Stanley Cup contenders but ended up in the lottery, you would be right. And the Bruins are one of those teams.
They are an older team that’s not going to get younger and their prospect pool is very shallow now. An aging team with no younger players to join the ranks is a terrible mix, and the Bruins will be aware of that.
That said, if GM Don Sweeney gets caught in the same cycle the Penguins have been in the past few years with a team where their star players are getting older and they’re trying to keep hope of another Cup run alive, it’s a pick that could be in danger of being traded.
There’s no reason for the Bruins to do something so rash. The draft will be wide open beyond the top-three picks but at No. 7 they’ll still be able to land a good player for the future.
Unless they fumble things the way they did with the three straight first-round picks they had in 2015.
Decision: Keep it.
8. Seattle Kraken
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We’ve all gotten a bit thrown off by the massive success Vegas has had as an expansion team and even by their run to the second round of the playoffs in their second season in the league.
Expansion teams are supposed to have growing pains and that’s what Seattle is dealing with now.
They’ve got Matty Beniers as their crown jewel prospect and that’s good. Shane Wright showed a lot of growth this season in Seattle and that’s a good sign for the years to come. Their more recent picks still need a little time (Eduard Sale, Berkly Catton), but theirs is a prospect group that needs more talent.
The Kraken are doing things differently and that’s totally fine. Not every brand new franchise trades their picks and prospects as they see fit for NHL players. But that’s not a bit Seattle’s committed to; it's opting to do things in a more traditional way.
Decision: Keep it.
9. Buffalo Sabres
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After 14 years of missing the playoffs and building up a prospect system that’s already gotten Jiri Kulich and Zach Benson into the NHL to join JJ Peterka and Jack Quinn, the Sabres would seem like the ideal candidates to trade their pick, right?
Wrong.
Buffalo has more prospects in the AHL and college or junior hockey still, but forward-wise, many of those names have a similar build and skill profile and many of its defense prospects are years away.
The Sabres could trade this pick for NHL help, after all they traded 2022 No. 9 pick Matt Savoie to Edmonton for Ryan McLeod and that worked out well this season, but with the questions surrounding some of their prospects and whether they will be full-timers at the top level, losing a pick that could bring in another prospect to help solidify their depth would be unwise...unless it’s for a young-ish name who’s an established NHL player.
Then again, if they're going to make a trade that's got some heft to it, they've got more than a few young players on the roster right now who could be used to find the pieces they're looking for elsewhere in the lineup.
Decision: Keep it, unless...
10. Anaheim Ducks
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The Ducks showed this season they’re a roster with a healthy mix of veterans who know how to win along with a cadre of young players that is close to emerging from the rebuild fully.
They made an aggressive push out of the basement and into the wild-card race, and now they’ve hired Joel Quenneville to be their new coach.
The Ducks are no longer thinking and acting like a team in a rebuild, and they’ve still got some players in the pipeline for the years to come, while their current young prospects are thriving in the NHL.
The 10th pick could land them another solid young player to add to the pipeline or it could be used in a trade to net them a player they feel can make a difference in the race for the playoffs next season and beyond.
Decision: Trade it.
11. Pittsburgh Penguins
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Penguins GM Kyle Dubas is in a position to start filling up the prospect pool with possibly 11 picks in the 2025 draft, including potentially having back-to-back first-round picks if the Rangers decide to give it up as part of the J.T. Miller trade.
For years under Jim Rutherford, the Penguins gave away draft picks and prospects to better ensure their ability to keep winning Stanley Cups and it worked out well, but some of that was a "robbing Peter to pay Paul" situation, and the Pens have been paying for that with interest the past few drafts.
Yes, the Penguins want to get back to the playoffs ASAP with Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Erik Karlsson and Kris Letang, but the hard future they knew was coming is staring them in the face and trading picks now would only make that a lot worse.
Decision: Keep it.
12. New York Rangers
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If the New York Rangers hang onto this pick, it means they’d be giving their 2026 first to the Penguins.
It also means if they trade this pick, they’d be doing the same thing and leave them without another first-round pick until 2027.
With that kind of math, along with top players such as Chris Kreider, Artemi Panarin and Mika Zibanejad all being 30 or higher, that’s a foreboding situation.
A rebuild of some kind is in the nearer future for the Rangers and after the season they had this year, they should consider it a warning that things could get gnarly fast.
The 12th pick won’t have the same kind of value in a trade that one inside the top 10 would have, so it hurts the prospect of trading it unless they use it to trade up.
That said, if they think their situation will be worse next season and opt to give this to Pittsburgh, that would cast gloom over next season before the team is even set.
Decision: Keep it (because they kind of have to).
13. Detroit Red Wings
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What do you do if you’re GM Steve Yzerman?
It’s well beyond time to get the Red Wings back to the playoffs, and they’ve come close to doing so the past two years. Close doesn’t matter much in the NHL, though, and Detroit’s drought is up to nine seasons.
Picking at 13 means whoever they get may not be helpful at the NHL level for a couple of years. And if Detroit hasn’t made the playoffs by then, it won’t be Yzerman making the calls for the roster anymore.
This pick is the right situation to use it in a trade to acquire the player(s) needed to push the Red Wings into being an outright playoff threat as opposed to a hopeful one.
Time is running really short for Yzerman and now it’s playoffs…or else.
Decision: Trade it.
14. Columbus Blue Jackets
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Seeing the Blue Jackets surprisingly force their way into the wild-card race this season was inspiring and a sign that new management and coaching may have found a way to get things going in the right direction.
Columbus has a strong pool of prospects, including 2024 first-round pick Cayden Lindstrom, who was cleared to play after a back injury all year. Adam Fantilli had a great year in Columbus and even though it traded prospect defenseman David Jiricek to Minnesota, its other 2022 first-round blueliner, Denton Mateychuk, showed a lot of promise in his first season as a pro. There’s a lot more to like here, too (Jordan Dumais, Luca Del Bel Belluz, Jet Greaves).
It’s a real dealer’s choice pick for the Blue Jackets. If a guy high on their board falls to them, pick him and go home happy; if their draft board got nuked from orbit and someone else wants to give them something to move into that spot, go for it.
Decision: Trade it (if they want to…)
15. Vancouver Canucks
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The Canucks are never boring and we’re sure their fans are sick of that being the case. They need a new coach after Rick Tocchet departed, and they’re still coming down from the drama that developed around Elias Pettersson and J.T. Miller. But it’s not all bad.
They’ve got some young players on the way up in defensemen Elias Pettersson and Tom Willander and forward Jonathan Lekkerimäki. The top-end of their prospect pool is strong with those three, but the depth is questionable with a handful of guys who played well enough in the AHL. The Canucks are lacking high-end talent, though.
Since 2020, they’ve had eight draft picks in the top 100, and two of those were in the first round and one in the second. That makes it more difficult for the scouting staff to help improve the pipeline.
DECISION: Keep it.
16. Montreal Canadiens (via Calgary)
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The Montreal Canadiens got the best of both worlds this season. They made the playoffs for the first time in a few years and got a lottery pick thanks to the Sean Monahan trade in 2022.
Things are as positive as they’ve ever been for Montréal in the past 10 or 15 years, and its young core is growing up together and now has playoff experience under its belt.
Even better? The Canadiens have a lot of prospect depth as well. The rebuild they’ve gone through the past few seasons has paid dividends at the NHL level and their AHL team in Laval has also had a lot of success with its young players.
The Canadiens don’t have to use this pick, but since it was given to them in a trade a few years ago, it’s essentially found money and that is best used on luxuries or investments.
Fortunately for them, draft picks can be one and the same if you draft well enough or find a way to make the right trade. They’ll have two first-round picks this year and relatively close in the order, which means trading one of them isn’t out of the question at all.
DECISION: Trade it.
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