NHL Draft Lottery to fall on May 5 or 6
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The first 16 positions in the 2025 NHL Draft will be determined on either May 5 or May 6, TSN Hockey Insider Chris Johnston reports.
The draft lottery date will be finalized based the playoff schedule, Johnston clarified on Early Trading Tuesday.
The draft lottery is expected to follow the same rules that were first announced on March 23, 2021.
"Among the changes in effect since 2022 is a limit on the total number of selections (10) a team participating in the draft lottery can 'move up' in the event it wins one of the lottery draws. Thus, only the top 11 seeds will be eligible to receive the first overall selection in the 2024 NHL Draft," the league's release last year said. "The odds for the remaining teams will increase on a proportionate basis for the second lottery draw, based on which team wins the first lottery draw."
Based on the standings entering play Tuesday, the teams with the top 12 odds in the lottery hold their own draft pick. The New York Rangers would currently be 13th in the lottery odds and have top-13 protection on the 2025 first-round pick that is now property of the Pittsburgh Penguins. The Vancouver Canucks acquired the pick from the Rangers as part of their return of J.T. Miller, with Vancouver flipping it to Pittsburgh the same day in a trade for Marcus Pettersson and Drew O'Connor.
The Montreal Canadiens also own the Calgary Flames' first-round pick, which is top-10 protected as a result of the 2022 trade that sent Sean Monahan to Montreal.
TSN Director of Scouting Craig Button once again had Erie Otters defenceman Matthew Schaefer atop his 2025 draft rankings Tuesday, with Michael Misa rising to take over at No. 2. View his top 64 players for June's draft here.