Sabres Have 6.5% Chance At Winning NHL Draft Lottery

The Buffalo Sabres have a 6.5% chance of winning the NHL Draft Lottery to be held next Monday. 

The NHL announced on Tuesday that the league’s Draft Lottery will be held next Monday, May 5th, to determine the order of selection for the NHL Draft in late June. The Buffalo Sabres have a 6.5% chance at winning the lottery, which will be held at the NHL Network’s studios in Secaucus, N.J, and will be broadcast on ESPN, Sportsnet, and TVA Sports.

The lottery only allows the top 11 seeds to be eligible to receive the first overall draft pick, and is held in two phases: the first to determine the first overall pick in the 2025 NHL Draft and the second to determine the second overall pick.

The San Jose Sharks, who won the Draft Lottery one year ago and selected Macklin Celebrini at the 2024 NHL Draft in Las Vegas last June, have the top odds (18,5%) of selecting first overall this year. The Chicago Blackhawks are second at 13.5%, the Nashville Predators third at 11.5%, the Philadelphia Flyers fourth at 9.5%, Boston fifth at 8.5%, Seattle sixth at 7.5%, and Buffalo seventh at 6.5%.

With only a longshot chance of making the postseason after the trade deadline, the primary focus of Sabres head coach Lindy Ruff and GM Kevyn Adams down the stretch was to establish a winning culture, but that came at the cost of finishing with a top-five draft pick this June. Erie Otters defenseman Matthew Schafer is projected to be the top overall selection, with Saginaw’s Michael Misa, Mississauga’s Porter Martone, James Hagens of Boston College, and Swedish center Anton Frondell expected to go in the top five.