Lottery: yes, it’s normal if you don’t understand anything in front of your TV set!

In the final minutes, we were treated to the NHL draft lottery. While last year’s lottery was pretty much unchanged, this year’s lottery was much more chaotic.

The Islanders, who had a 3.5% chance of winning the lottery, inherited the first pick… while Utah went from 14th to 4th in the second lottery. As for the Habs, logic was respected: they inherited the 16th pick (from the Flames), while the club also owns the 17th pick.

To everyone’s surprise, it’s the Islanders who will be talking at #1 → https://t.co/OdgM68zwbG

– DansLesCoulisses (@DLCoulisses) May 5, 2025

In short, a team without a GM and a team without a name won both lotteries tonight… but even so, it wasn’t the most chaotic aspect of the evening. That’s because the most chaotic aspect of the evening was… the lottery in general.

For the first time this year, the abacus exercise was performed live. Normally, this is done earlier in the day and only the results are broadcast in the evening… but the NHL wanted to do something different this year.

Did they do it to prove to everyone that the process isn’t rigged? Possibly. We know that the league has been criticized for this in the past, without any real basis for it.

But the whole thing seemed pretty complicated… and at times, it was hard to understand what we were witnessing. Even experienced reporters on a team’s beat found it hard to follow, at times.

I’m so confused.

– Josh Yohe (@JoshYohe_PGH) May 5, 2025

That said, we have to admit that there was a slightly more exciting aspect to seeing the abacus sequence. The league managed to build anticipation before drawing the last ball of each draw, and to make it clear which team each ball was associated with.

It wasn’t unpleasant… even if it did take a while for the cake to rise.

The Islanders, though, won’t complain. The club has hit the jackpot… and with a GM vacancy, having the first overall pick is likely to interest some candidates.

Will the club opt for Matthew Schaefer, seen as the best prospect of the crop? James Hagens, a Long Island native? Or will they make a deal to inject talent into a group that sorely needs it?

Whoever succeeds Lou Lamoriello will have to make that decision… but at least the club can say it had a good night.

At least, a better one than the Predators, for example, who went from the 3rd pick to the 5th after two lotteries. And when you look at it that way, you can tell that the Habs chose their year well to emerge from a chaotic lottery… because if it had been the same scenario last year, Ivan Demidov would probably be far from Montreal right now.

Extension

If you missed it, here are the complete lottery results. The Islanders and Utah made big gains, the Sharks and Blackhawks both dropped one spot, the Canucks and Flames (whose pick will go to the Habs) didn’t budge, and all other teams dropped two spots.

A far cry from last year’s status quo, shall we say.

The first 16 picks of the 2025 NHL Draft are set

Who do you want your favourite team to draft? pic.twitter.com/Qdh6ZRZWdU

– Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) May 5, 2025

Although the Sharks and Blackhawks dropped one spot, the fact that they didn’t win the lottery tonight may be better news than you think, given that they’ll be able to win the lottery again next year.

And with Gavin McKenna set to be the crown jewel of next year’s crop…

You could make a real argument that while the #Isles and #UtahHC are the biggest lottery winners – Chicago a big winner as well.

If Chicago moved up to the 1st pick, that’d take them out of the running for Gavin McKenna next year unless they finished dead last.

– Brennan Klak (@nhlupdate) May 5, 2025