The New York Islanders win the 2025 Draft Lottery!

The NHL held its annual Draft Lottery today, with TEAM winning the rights to the #1 pick overall in the 2025 NHL Entry Draft.

Check it out:

Now the question is... who will they draft?

Defenseman Matthew Schaefer from the Erie Otters of the OHL is the consensus #1 choice amongst pro scouts, but forwards Michael Misa (Saginaw Spirit, OHL) and James Hagens (Boston College, NCAA) are also top choices.

One thing's for sure, there's no slam dunk #1 overall pick like we've seen in recent years. Macklin Celebrini was a no-brainer in 2024, ditto for Connor Bedard in 2023... this year's draft is much closer to the 2022 NHL Entry Draft when it wasn't clear who would go with the 1st pick. Remember all the talk about the Montreal Canadiens picking Shane Wright at 1st overall, only to see the Habs go with Juraj Slafkovsky? Again, this year seems like a similar situation.

As the lottery carried on, the Utah Hockey Club won the "second draw" moving them up 10 spots from 14th overall to 4th overall. This means that San Jose retains the 2nd overall selection.

The full draft order for the top 16: