Bruins finish with fifth-best odds to win NHL Draft lottery
The Boston Bruins will have a small chance at the No. 1 overall pick in the 2025 NHL Draft. Or Boston could end up with the seventh overall selection if the lottery doesn't go the team's way.
After missing the playoffs for the first time since 2016 after a 33-39-10 season, the Bruins will enter the NHL Draft lottery with the fifth-best odds to land the top pick. The Philadelphia Flyers jumped the Bruins in the tank race Thursday night, securing the fourth-best odds to win the lottery with a regulation loss to the Buffalo Sabres.
The Bruins could have clinched the fourth-best odds in the lottery with a regulation loss to the New Jersey Devils in their regular-season finale Tuesday night. But that game went to overtime and the Bruins got a point out of the 5-4 defeat. Boston finished the season with 76 points, but are slotted ahead of Seattle in the lottery odds because the Kraken had more regular season wins (28) than the Bruins (26).
The Flyers also finished the season with 76 points, but are ahead of the Bruins and Kraken in the lottery race with only 21 regulation victories.
The Bruins earned points in four of their last six games as they closed out the season 3-2-1. Those late-season wins could end up costing the team a shot at a top five pick on draft night.
Bruins odds in NHL Draft Lottery
The NHL hasn't announced a date for the Draft lottery, but the Bruins will likely pick sixth in the upcoming draft. Boston has just an 8.5 percent chance at the No. 1 pick and an 8.6 percent chance at the second overall selection.
Here is the team's odds in the lottery, according to Tankathon:
1st overall: 8.5 percent
2nd overall: 8.6 percent
3rd overall: 0.3 percent
4th overall: 0 percent
5th overall: 24.5 percent
6th overall: 44.0 percent
7th overall: 14.2 percent
The Bruins are desperate to add a young and talented center to the mix, and should be able to land one inside the top six in either Canada's Michael Misa or Caleb Desnoyers, Sweden's Anton Frondell, or Boston College's James Hagen. But there's now a chance Boston could miss out on each of those prospects if they end up with the seventh overall pick.
Best odds to win NHL Draft Lottery
The San Jose Sharks have the best odds to land the top overall pick at 25.5 percent, following an abysmal 20-50-12 campaign. The Chicago Blackhawks are next at 13.5 percent, following by the Nashville Predators (11.5 percent), and Flyers (9.5 percent).
