Stock Up, Stock Down for Every 2025 NHL Lottery Team After Order Revealed
If you like your springtime hockey with a side of suspense and an unexpected plot twist, this year's NHL draft lottery had everything.
The New York Islanders finished just nine points off the Eastern Conference cut line and ahead of nine teams in the overall standings, yet they came out the big winners when the order was made official this month.
That'll give them the first pick in the summertime draft for the first time since they plucked John Tavares at No. 1 in 2009. New York also picked first in 1972, 1973 and 2000, choosing Billy Harris, Denis Potvin and Rick DiPietro, respectively.
The B/R hockey staff took a brief timeout from the playoff bracket to look at the 16 lottery teams and attach a Stock Up/Stock Down tag now that everything is set for the selection extravaganza on June 27-28 in Los Angeles.
Take a look at what we came up with and drop a thought in the app comments.
Stock Up: Montreal Canadiens (No. 16)
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What's one thing the Canadiens don't have in common with the rest of the teams on the lottery list? They made the playoffs. But they're here thanks to a pick acquired from Calgary in the 2022 trade for Sean Monahan.
Regardless, all signs for Montreal are pointing up these days given the youth and skill on the team and the trajectory it's taken while skipping from 55 to 91 points over the last four seasons. Buy low.
Stock Down: Vancouver Canucks (No. 15)
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The Canucks went from a Pacific Division title to a playoff miss and coach Rick Tocchet walked out the door to take a gig in Philadelphia, even with a contract offer on the table in British Columbia.
Oh, and Brock Boeser is probably out, too, given his imminent status as an unrestricted free agent. Remember the good times, Vancouver folks.
Stock Up: Columbus Blue Jackets (No. 14)
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No team deserves more credit for simply holding up both competitively and emotionally than the 2024-25 Blue Jackets, given all that happened in the summertime prior to the season.
Columbus remained in the playoff chase until the bitter end and the resolve it showed can't help but be galvanizing going forward. As long as Norris Trophy candidate Zach Werenski is wearing the sweater, the Blue Jackets are worth watching.
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Stock Down: Detroit Red Wings (No. 13)
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Had Steve Yzerman not been a Hall of Fame player and a Stanley Cup champion with the Red Wings, his rope as the team's GM would have run out long ago.
But here we are nine seasons without a playoff berth and 13 without a series win, which has got to make the collar feel a little tight, even for him. Unless he manages to make a Mitch Marner-type splash in free agency, his seat is scalding hot.
Stock Down: New York Rangers (No. 12)
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The Rangers aren't lacking for stars like Artemi Panarin, Adam Fox and Igor Shesterkin, but it's impossible to consider their stock much beyond junk status these days after the tumble from Presidents' Trophy winners to playoff outsiders.
Peter Laviolette was shown the door after a tumultuous two-year run and replaced by another coach with Cup-winning pedigree in Mike Sullivan, who'll become the 12th to try and repeat the Garden magic Mike Keenan oversaw in 1994.
Stock Down: Pittsburgh Penguins (No. 11)
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Oh, speaking of Sullivan, the team he left to head for New York is also on the downside when it comes to stock ratings.
Three straight playoff misses and seven years since their last series win was enough to convince the team and the coach to mutually part ways, and whoever replaces Sullivan behind the bench has Sidney Crosby to work with, but not much else.
Stock Up: Anaheim Ducks (No. 10)
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Say what you like about Joel Quenneville and all the baggage that's followed him to his latest NHL gig in Anaheim. The bottom line is the guy can coach, to the tune of 20 winning seasons, 19 playoff berths and three Stanley Cups.
The Ducks already have a desirable stash of young talent and having the structure that comes with a veteran coach, along with the street cred that'll warrant the kids' attention, can't help but generate optimism for a moribund franchise.
Stock Up: Buffalo Sabres (No. 9)
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It's just got to happen one of these years. Maybe.
The Sabres haven't made the playoffs since the latter stages of Lindy Ruff's initial tenure in 2011, and they have skidded from 91 to 84 to 79 points over the last three seasons alone, but there's too much talent to keep missing out, right?
Buffalo has a goal-scoring ace in Tage Thompson, a prolific defenseman in Rasmus Dahlin, and a handful of maturing youngsters who were drafted high. Figure out the goaltending, which landed 29th in the league in goals-against average, and the drought won't last too much longer.
Stock Down: Seattle Kraken (No. 8)
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It seems a while ago that the Kraken were a 100-point team in the second round of the playoffs, no?
They've dismissed two coaches since then, including Dan Bylsma after a disastrous 2024-25 season, and they're working the phones these days seeking permission to chat with would-be replacements. It'll take a home-run hire to generate a buzz.
Stock Down: Boston Bruins (No. 7)
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It's been a while since the Bruins have experienced life on the draft lottery side of the street, and the No. 7 pick will presumably allow them to add a decent young player to a pipeline that withered from years of picking further down in the order.
David Pastrnak, Charlie McAvoy and Jeremy Swayman are certainly strong building blocks, though McAvoy is still shoulder deep in the health nightmare that cost him 32 games last season. Maybe a new coach will reignite what's already in-house.
Stock Up: Philadelphia Flyers (No. 6)
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It's hard to imagine a more appropriate coaching hire than Tocchet to the Flyers, with whom he played for parts of eight seasons from 1984 to 1992. He embodies the blue-collar mentality with which the fan base has always identified, and he arrives just one season removed from winning the Jack Adams Trophy.
It'd certainly help the competitive cause if GM Daniel Briere could work some offseason magic and land a fish like Marner or Boeser, but in the meantime the new coach is publicly optimistic enough to suggest pieces already in house can "accelerate the program."
Stock Down: Nashville Predators (No. 5)
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It's hard to recall a recent flop that made as big a noise as the Predators in 2024-25, a season they began after dominating the summertime with a slew of big signings.
None of it mattered come October, though, when five losses to begin the season and 10 in their initial 14 games created a funk that never went away. It didn't help that goaltender Juuse Saros, now 30, saw his goals-against average rise and his save percentage fall for the second consecutive season.
Stock Up: Utah Mammoth (No. 4)
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Ambitious owner, talented core and a new identity should all amount to something good for the Hockey Club now known as the Mammoth, who shot up 10 spots in the lottery and will choose fourth overall.
They've already got an uber-talented young core in Clayton Keller, Logan Cooley and Dylan Guenther that combined for 82 goals and 215 points, and a goaltender in 28-year-old Karel Vejmelka who'll be around for the long haul after signing a five-year deal in March.
Stock Down: Chicago Blackhawks (No. 3)
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It's all about the offseason for GM Kyle Davidson, who's another in a line of executives on this list who'll be dipping into the new coach pool. He'll also try again to surround teen superstar Connor Bedard with viable talent after last year's experiments with Tyler Bertuzzi and Teuvo Teravainen flopped.
Bedard is still just 19 but he's shown some frustration with the goings-on around him, and another stagnant season is the last thing the Blackhawks need both for his development and his morale. Adding either Boston College center James Hagens or Canadian junior player Porter Martone at the draft won't help instantly, but it'll help.
Stock Up: San Jose Sharks (No. 2)
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It's no fun being last overall and it's adding insult to injury to fare that badly and not get the first overall pick, but the Sharks should still get an impact player for 2025-26 whether they wind up with elite junior defender Matthew Schaefer or prolific goal scorer Michael Misa.
They hit a home run with the No. 1 spot used to grab Macklin Celebrini last summer and he's shown the ability to be the foundation on which GM Mike Grier can build.
Stock Up: New York Islanders (No. 1)
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The Islanders have been spinning their wheels for four seasons since reaching the playoff final four two straight times, costing veteran GM Lou Lamoriello his job along the way, but the lottery surprise surely adds a layer of positivity.
Schaefer is the kind of defensive prospect that Long Island fans can imagine slotting in for the next 10 years or so, while Misa is a dynamic offensive talent they've starved for since John Tavares left after the 2017-18 season. Either way, this fall at UBS Arena should be a bit more interesting than the last few have been.
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