2025 Draft Lottery Preview.

 Quick 2025 Draft lottery Preview 

In only a couple of hours the Draft lottery will go down and we will find out which team will be lucky enough to have the number one pick for this years draft in June and could take one of the top prospects, so I am just going to preview it really quickly here.

So the lowest 11 teams standings wise will all have a shot to get the 1st overall pick in this years draft and all 16 teams who missed the playoffs are going to have at least a tiny shot to move up in the draft depending on that teams position, although 12-16 don’t get a shot at the 1st overall pick they still could move up, now the three teams with the best odds to win the draft this year are the San Jose Sharks who barely hit 50 point this year and for the 2nd straight year have the best odds, then the Blackhawks who finished last in the Central have the 2nd best odds and the Predators who in my opinion is a major surprise to be this low have the 3rd best odds to take the 1st overall selection. 

So here are the odds for the 11 teams to get the 1st overall pick:

So the lowest 11 teams standings wise will all have a shot to get the 1st overall pick in this years draft and all 16 teams who missed the playoffs are going to have at least a tiny shot to move up in the draft, although 12-16 don’t get a shot at the 1st overall pick, now the three teams with the best odds to win the draft this year are the Anaheim Ducks who finished dead last in the NHL this year with 58 points, and then the Jackets have the 2nd best odds and the Hawks with the 3rd as both those teams finished with 59 points on the year. 

So here are the odds for the 11 teams to get the 1st overall pick:

San Jose 25.5%

Chicago 13.5% 

Nashville 11.5%

Philadelphia 9.5%

Boston 8.5%

Seattle 7.5% 

Buffalo 6.5%

Anaheim 6% 

Pittsburgh 5%

NYI 3.5% 

NYR 3%

And here are the odds for all 16 teams to move up in the lottery:

San Jose 18.5%

Chicago 13.5% 

Nashville 11.5%

Philadelphia 9.5%

Boston 8.5%

Seattle 7.5% 

Buffalo 6.5%

Anaheim 6% 

Pittsburgh 5%

NYI 3.5% 

NYR 3%

Detroit 2.5%

Columbus 2%

Utah 1.5%

Vancouver .5%

Montreal via CAL .5%

Now we are a few years into the new lottery rules where only the top 2 lottery spots are open and not top 3 and where you can only move up 10 spots instead of moving up as many as possible, and since we have had those rule changes for the draft, there have not been many movement in the draft lottery, as back in 2021 Seattle moved up from 3 to 2, in 2022 the Devils moved from 5 to 2, in 2023 the Hawks moved from 3 to 1 and last year there was no movement in the draft order, so we really haven’t seen any big movement or multiple teams moving yet after the lottery rules changed but maybe the 2025 draft lottery will be different and maybe wind up being interesting. 

Last time each 11 teams drafted 1st overall:

San Jose: 2024

The one and only time the Sharks were lucky enough to draft 1st overall was actually last year, as they had the best odds and got 1st overall and took Macklin Celebrini who has turned into a solid young player.

Chicago: 2023

The Hawks have been lucky enough to draft 1st overall twice in their history as they drafted Patrick Kane in 2007 and more recently Connor Bedard just 2 years ago in 2023 and both seem like generational players, however last year they picked 2nd overall.

Nashville: Never

The Nashville Predators have unfortunately never had the luxury of drafting a player with the 1st overall pick, the highest the franchise has ever selected was 2nd back in 1998 when they took David Legwand who really worked out for them, but they have never had the 1st overall pick and had pick 22 last year.

Philadelphia: Never/1975

Now the Flyers have never been able to win the 1st overall pick in their franchise history, but they did make a trade with Washington back in 1975 to draft first overall and took Mel Bridgman, so they will be looking to win the lottery for the first time and last year they picked 12.

Boston: 1997

Now the Bruins are one of the teams who has picked first the most as they had 3 instances were the picked 1st overall, as in 1966 they took Barry Gibbs 1st overall, in 1982 they didn’t have pick 1 but traded for it from New Jersey and selected Gord Kluzak, and then the more recent one was back in 1997 as they took Joe Thornton 1st overall and he became a outstanding player, but last year their selection was 25th.

Seattle: Never

Now unfortunately in their very short existence the Seattle Kraken have never been able to nab the 1st overall pick, as in their first lottery they did win the 2nd overall pick and took Beniers with it but that is as close as they got, and last year they had the 8th overall pick.

Buffalo: 2021

Now the Sabres have had a lot of success, especially recently as they have selected 1st overall on 4 separate occasions, as back into 1970 they drafted Gilbert Perreault, in 1987 they took Pierre Turgeon, in 2018 they nabbed Rasmus Dahlin 1st overall and only a few years ago in 2021 they selected Owen Power 1st overall and will be looking for more luck this year, and they had the 11th pick last year. 

Anaheim: Never 

Now the Ducks are another one of these teams who has never had the luxury of selecting a player 1st overall, although they came close on multiple occasions as in 1994, 2005 and most recently in 2023 with Leo Carlsson they had selected 2nd overall, but unfortunately never had a 1st overall selection and last year they selected 3rd overall. 

Pittsburgh: 2005

So the Penguins have been lucky enough to own and select with the 1st overall pick 3 times in their history, as they first had the 1st overall pick in 1983 but traded it to the North Stars, then they had the 1st overall pick in 1984 and selected Mario Lemieux who was one of the best players ever, then traded for pick 1 from Florida back in 2003 and drafted Fleury who was a longtime Penguin and the most recent time was back in 2005 when they selected Sidney Crosby 1st overall, and last year they had the 14th pick last year.

NYI: 2009

The Islanders in their franchise history have been bestowed the 1st overall pick on 4 separate occasions including all they way back in 72 and 73 as they selected Billy Harris and Denis Potvin, then in 2000 with pick 1 they took Rick DiPietro and the most recent one was back in 2009 when they took John Tavares with the number one overall pick, but last year had pick number 18.

NYR: 2020

Now the Rangers have had the 1st overall pick twice in their franchise history and they have won the draft lottery very recently, as back in 1965 they took Andre Veilleux 1st overall and stunningly won the 1st overall pick in 2020 and took Alexis Lafreniere, but last year they selected 30th overall.

So I hope and wish everyone’s team luck that they do good in the lottery, and I will be doing a live lottery video and giving my thoughts on it and maybe even do a mock draft after on my YouTube channel which is the End to End Hockey Channel, and I can’t wait to see which team comes out on top in the draft lottery this year.