For the first time in its 30-year history, the NHL lottery drawing was done live on-air Monday night, so we got to watch in real time as it was determined the Chicago Blackhawks would own the No. 3 overall pick in the 2025 NHL draft.
we're picking third‼️
— Chicago Blackhawks (@NHLBlackhawks) May 5, 2025
📰 ➡︎ https://t.co/FXQaKzpeI8 pic.twitter.com/owVy1uMH1S
The Blackhawks entered the night with the second best chances of winning the lottery thanks to finishing the regular season with the second-to-last record. However, it was the 23rd-ranked New York Islanders who won the first drawing and jumped up to the No. 1 overall pick. The 19th-ranked Utah Hockey Club actually ended up winning the second drawing, but the team could only move up 10 spots, so they now will be picking fourth over. The top-five order is now:
- New York Islanders (+9)
- San Jose Sharks (-1)
- Chicago Blackhawks (-1)
- Utah Hockey Club (+10)
- Nashville Predators (-2)
The last time the Blackhawks picked third overall was in 2019 when they selected Kirby Dach, who was plagued by injuries during his tenure with the organization and ultimately traded for a first (No. 13) and a third round (No. 66) pick in the 2022 NHL Draft. Those picks ended up being Frank Nazar and Gavin Hayes: the former looked excellent in the final 20 games of the season with the Blackhawks while the latter had a quiet first half of his season in Rockford then missed time due to a shoulder injury.
While the Dach pick may end up bearing fruit in the form of Nazar (and possibly even Hayes), let’s hope the Blackhawks will have similar, more immediate success to the other time they selected third. That was in 2006, when they snagged Jonathan Toews. Nothing more is needed to be said there, as we all know what he brought to the Blackhawks most recent Cup runs.
This is an especially interesting upcoming draft because while two front-runners seemed to have cleared everyone else — defenseman Matthew Schaefer and center Michael Misa — there isn’t really a consensus on how prospects are ranked after that top pair. Blackhawks GM Kyle Davidson told the media after the lottery drawing that he believed the Blackhawks “stayed in good range where I think we’re going to be really excited with what we end up with.”
#Blackhawks GM Kyle Davidson on landing No. 3 overall pick in 2025 NHL Draft: “I thought it was kind of exciting. The last couple years haven’t been necessarily like chalk, but teams close to the top of the odds have moved up or stayed the same, so it was kind of exciting from… pic.twitter.com/q3hE6N0jSi
— Charlie Roumeliotis (@CRoumeliotis) May 6, 2025
He also discussed his philosophy of how “other factors” beyond just the rating of a player impact what player is selected:
"There's other factors outside of just that rating place on your board."
— Blackhawks on CHSN (@CHSN_Blackhawks) May 6, 2025
Blackhawks GM Kyle Davidson on what will go into choosing the 3rd overall pick in the 2025 NHL Draft. pic.twitter.com/9JDDRP7jEE
Keep your eye on SCH in the coming weeks as we will be providing draft profiles of top eligible players.