Utah Hockey Club makes maximum move up in NHL draft lottery, will pick 4th

Against prevailing odds, the Utah Hockey Club will pick fourth in the 2025 NHL Draft after winning the second lottery drawing on Monday night.

A team can move up a maximum of 10 spots. Utah finished with the 14th-best record in the NHL in the 2024-25 season, meaning the fourth overall pick is the best it could hope for.

“To pick at four — A couple seconds ago we were 10 back,” said general manager Bill Armstrong in a press conference just minutes after the conclusion of the draft lottery.

“It still hasn’t sunk in, but what a great opportunity for us to be able to move that far up in the draft.”

It’s all decided by a series of ping pong balls drawn from a machine. Utah’s lucky numbers were 1, 3, 5 and 12.

It was the league’s first time doing a live draft lottery. In past years, it has been done privately with the positions revealed on television afterwards.

There has long been speculation that the league could rig it in favor of the teams it feels need a boost, but the new process squashes the tinfoil hats.

Utah HC’s list of prospects available to them improves drastically with this win. This year’s draft is not believed to be incredibly deep, but the top few players are projected to be game-changers.

Armstrong said he’s not opposed to trading the pick if that’s the best option available to him.

“Obviously we’ll always talk about it,” he said. “We’ll never shut that door.”

Last year, he made trades at the draft to acquire Mikhail Sergachev, John Marino and a second first-round pick. Trading the No. 4 pick this year could be key in landing another major player to help the team shift from rebuild mode to a perennial playoff team.

The winner of the first overall pick Monday was equally surprising: Like Utah, the 10th-worst New York Islanders moved up their maximum number of spots.

Prior to Monday, it had only happened once in NHL history that a team moved up 10 spots. The San Jose Sharks and the Chicago Blackhawks, who respectively finished the 2024-25 season in last and second-to-last place, will have the second and third picks, respectively, by default.