Islanders win 2025 NHL Draft lottery and chance to select top CHL prospects
The New York Islanders have won the 2025 NHL Draft lottery and with it the chance to select one of the CHL’s top prospects.
The Islanders climbed from the no. 10 spot to now own the first overall pick in the 2025 NHL Draft. New York began the draft lottery with a 3.5 per cent chance of landing the no. 1 selection.
Erie’s Matthew Schaefer topped NHL Central Scouting’s Final Rankings last month and with good reason. While injuries limited Schaefer to just 17 games this year, he dazzled when he was on the ice. He racked up 22 points (seven goals) and a +21 rating with the Otters but his ability to be a difference-maker every single night makes him the best defencemen available.
“What does remain is that [Schaefer] is the best at his position,” said NHL Central Scouting vice president and director Dan Marr said. “The potential and upside that everybody sees in [Schaefer’s] game … he just scratched the surface this season. Our guys, everyone, expect him to be a dominant player at the OHL level next year, every game, and those type of guys are hard to come by.”
In addition to the NHL, TSN, Elite Prospects, The Athletic, Daily Faceoff and Sportsnet, among others, have Schaefer as the top prospect in 2025. The 17-year-old has also wowed at the international level too as he has claimed gold at the 2023 Hockey U17 World Challenge, 2024 U18 World Championships and 2024 Hlinka Gretzky Cup. He also represented Canada at the 2025 World Juniors but hasn’t played since he suffered a broken clavicle in Canada’s second game of the tournament.
The @NYIslanders win the Draft Lottery and will select first overall at the 2025 #NHLDraft! 🙌
The Draft Lottery continues on @espn, @Sportsnet, and @TVASports! pic.twitter.com/tNrHE89DFz
— NHL (@NHL) May 5, 2025
If selected first overall, Schaefer would be the first player since fellow Erie star Connor McDavid to be chosen with the no. 1 pick in both the OHL and NHL (2015).
But the Islanders will have other options too.
Saginaw’s Michael Misa – one of just nine players to be granted exceptional status in CHL history – led the league in scoring in 2024-25 with 134 points while he also found the back of the net 62 times. A year ago, Misa helped lead Saginaw to its first Memorial Cup title in team history and then a few months later claimed gold with Canada at the 2024 Hlinka Gretzky Cup. Misa was ranked second in NHL Central Scouting’s final list.
“Every time I saw Misa, I was very impressed with that complete game,” Central Scouting associate director David Gregory said. “I was so impressed with how responsible a centre he was on his side of the red line.”
Furthermore, Brantford’s Jake O’Brien (no. 4), Seattle’s Radim Mrtka (no. 5) and Brampton’s Porter Martone (no. 6) round out the top five listed CHL players in NHL Central Scouting’s Final Rankings. In all, 170 CHL players were listed.
“He placed himself in a special category,” Marr said of O’Brien. “In his first year in the OHL [2023-24], everyone started to appreciate him. He’s got some elite-level hockey sense and skill and I think that the ceiling on him is just a little higher with the expectations.”
“He could go in the top three and it’s not going to shock anybody,” Marr said of Mrtka. “He’s a pretty complete package, everything that you’re looking for in a player, and he’s been able to deliver while having changed continents and leagues. I think he’s going to continue to elevate his game. So with him, everyone’s looking at him like the best is yet to come.”
Finally, on Martone, Marr said: “Porter brings that package that teams are looking for; he has a little bit more of the size asset element to his game than some of the other skaters in the top five do. I think that’s appealing to some teams, but I also think he’s eliminated any concerns there was about the skating. He’s undervalued on his skill set. He’s the one who wears his compete on his sleeve and I think that’s what endears him to everybody.”
San Jose, Chicago, Utah and Nashville round out the Top 5.
The last time the Islanders held the no. 1 pick they selected Oshawa and London alumni John Tavares in 2009.
