The Boston Bruins landed the seventh overall pick in the 2025 NHL Draft in Monday night’s lottery, the lowest they could have ended up going into the night.
The Bruins entered the night with an 8.5% of winning the first overall pick, the fifth-best odds. They had just a 13.5% chance of dropping two spots to seventh, which is what ended up happening.
That’s because the two lottery draws resulted in two improbable jumps way up the draft board. The New York Islanders, who entered the night with the 10th-best odds of picking first, wound up winning the first overall pick.
In the second draw, Utah Hockey Club jumped the maximum of 10 spots from 14th to fourth. Since two teams below the Bruins jumped ahead of them, they slid two spots to seventh.
This will still be the Bruins’ highest pick since they selected Tyler Seguin second overall in 2010, although it’s obviously disappointing to not end up in the top five. The draft will be held on June 27 and 28.
“We’re still picking in the upper echelon of the draft, which we haven’t done for a significant time period,” Bruins general manager Don Sweeney said. “So we feel very comfortable in terms of where the top seven picks are.
“We’ll get a good player and an impact player, regardless of the disappointment of moving back a couple spots. That’s just the nature of the lottery.”
The top two picks are expected to be Erie Otters defenseman Matthew Schaefer and Saginaw Spirit center Michael Misa. After that, the draft board currently looks a bit murky.
Boston College center James Hagens entered the season as the favorite to go first overall, but has slipped after putting up “only” a point per game as a freshman for the Eagles – a really good rate of production, but one that fell short of previous NCAA freshmen who have been picked at or near the top of the draft like Jack Eichel, Adam Fantilli and Macklin Celebrini.
Swedish center Anton Frondell rose up draft boards with a strong second half in the HockeyAllsvenskan (Sweden’s second tier of pro hockey), but just had a disappointing showing at the U18 World Championships that could hurt his momentum.
Caleb Desnoyers is one of the few top prospects still playing, as the well-rounded center has led the Moncton Wildcats to the QMJHL final while leading the league in playoff scoring. Continuing that postseason push, and possibly winning the Memorial Cup, could solidify his spot in the top five, and maybe even the top three.
Brampton Steelheads right wing Porter Martone also has a claim to go in the top five as a skilled power forward-type player, although the Bruins and other teams could prioritize the centers.
Other centers under consideration in the top 10 – and maybe for the Bruins at seven – include Jake O’Brien of the Brantford Bulldogs, Roger McQueen of the Brandon Wheat Kings, and Brady Martin of the Soo Greyhounds. Martin, a very physical, two-way center, turned heads for all the right reasons at the U18 World Championships while helping to lead Canada to gold, and may be the biggest late riser in the first round.
Here is the final draft order for the 16 lottery positions that make up the top 16 picks:
1. Islanders
2. Sharks
3. Blackhawks
4. Utah
5. Predators
6. Flyers
7. Bruins
8. Kraken
9. Sabres
10. Ducks
11. Penguins
12. Rangers
13. Red Wings
14. Blue Jackets
15. Canucks
16. Canadiens (from Flames)
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