For the second straight season, the Blue Jackets enter tonight’s NHL draft lottery with long odds to move up, as well as no chance at the No. 1 pick, but that doesn't mean they still wouldn't welcome having Lady Luck on their side.
The annual lottery will take place this evening and be televised on ESPN, with the Blue Jackets finding out where they will select with their pick in the first round of June’s NHL draft.
The lottery draws will determine the first and second overall selections in the draft, and for the second year in a row, Columbus is not in the running to move all the way up to the top. The Blue Jackets enter the draft with the 14th-best odds to win the lottery by virtue of their 40-30-12 record and 92 points, which fell just short of postseason play.
Columbus can move up 10 spots at most to fourth overall, but it can happen – just ask the Islanders and Mammoth, who entered last year’s lottery with a 3.5 percent chance and a 1.5 percent chance to move up, respectively, and did just that. Moving up would give the Jackets a strong chance to draft an impact player to add to a squad that has been eliminated from postseason play the night before game 82 for two years in a row.
The Numbers
Columbus’ finished with the third-best record of the 16 teams to fall short of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, with only Detroit and Washington placing ahead of the Blue Jackets.
After finishing last in the NHL by 14 points, Vancouver has the best odds (18.5 percent) of earning the No. 1 overall pick by virtue of winning the first lottery draw, followed by Chicago (13.5 percent), the New York Rangers (11.5 percent), Calgary (9.5 percent), Toronto (8.5 percent), Seattle (7.5 percent), Winnipeg (6.5 percent), Florida (6.0 percent), San Jose (5.0 percent), Nashville (3.5 percent), St. Louis (3.0 percent), New Jersey (2.5 percent) and the New York Islanders (2.0 percent).
Columbus is next with a 1.5 percent of winning the first lottery draw, followed by Detroit (0.5 percent) and Washington (0.5 percent). The Red Wings’ first-round pick was traded to St. Louis this season.
But because of a provision that teams can move up 10 spots at most in the lottery, the Blue Jackets cannot earn the No. 1 overall selection. If Columbus does win the first lottery draw, the Blue Jackets will move up to the No. 4 overall selection in the draft.
There are separate draws held for the first and second overall picks, so there are two chances for the Blue Jackets to win and move up in the draft. The way the math works out, per Tankathon, Columbus has a 3.2 percent chance to earn the No. 4 overall pick, a 94.7 percent chance of staying at No. 14 and a 2.1 percent chance of falling to 15th should Detroit or Washington win either draw.
The draft lottery winners are determined by the draw of four separate ping-pong balls, with the number combination being drawn corresponding to the winning team. Columbus has been assigned 15 of the 1,000 possible combinations of results:
- 1, 4, 11, 14
- 1, 5, 6, 11
- 1, 6, 8, 9
- 1, 7, 11, 13
- 2, 4, 5, 7
- 2, 8, 12, 14
- 2, 10, 13, 14
- 3, 5, 6, 10
- 3, 9, 10, 11
- 4, 5, 11, 14
- 5, 6, 9, 10
- 5, 7, 11, 12
- 5, 8, 10, 14
- 6, 7, 12, 14
- 8, 10, 11, 14
As far as the rest of the draft goes, the Blue Jackets hold St. Louis' pick in the second round, Colorado’s pick in the third round, Toronto’s fourth-round pick, their own selections in the fifth and seventh rounds, and Pittsburgh’s sixth-round choice.
The History
Columbus has moved up in the draft lottery just once, doing so in 2016. The team had the fourth-best odds and moved up to the No. 3 selection in the draft, which it used to select center Pierre-Luc Dubois.
Having missed the playoffs the previous five seasons before this year, the Blue Jackets had top-10 picks in the drafts from 2021-24. Last season, the Blue Jackets took defenseman Jackson Smith with the 14th overall selection and goalie Pytor Andreyanov with the 20th pick that it had acquired from Minnesota.
The Players
Here’s a quick look at some of the top players in the draft per NHL Central Scouting’s final rankings.
North American Skaters
- LW Gavin McKenna (Penn State, NCAA): After a historic campaign in 2024-25 in which he posted a 41-88-129 line in 56 games with Medicine Hat (WHL), McKenna was one of the biggest names to make the leap to college hockey a season ago. He finished with 15 goals and 51 points in 35 games with the Nittany Lions, tying for fifth in the nation in scoring.
- D Keaton Verhoeff (North Dakota, NCAA): Verhoeff also made the jump from the WHL to college hockey, posting a 6-14-20 line in 36 games with North Dakota. At 6-4, 212, he brings size to the equation and could be a franchise blueliner.
- D Carson Carels (Prince George, WHL): The 6-2 defenseman filled up the stat sheet this season with the Cougars, posting 20 goals and 73 points in 53 games.
- D Chase Reid (Soo, OHL): The Michigan native plans on playing for Michigan State, but he went north of the border for the past two seasons, posting a 18-30-48 line in 45 games this season with the Greyhounds.
- C Caleb Malhotra (Brantford, OHL): The son of former CBJ center Manny Malhotra, Caleb is headed to Boston University after scoring 29 goals among his 84 points in 67 games with the Bulldogs while adding 13 goals in 14 playoff games.
- D Daxon Rudolph (Prince Albert, WHL): Rudolph stood out in his second season with the Raiders, posting 28 goals and 78 points in 68 contests. His 23 points in the playoffs lead the WHL, and he finished third among league defensemen in goals this year.
- C Tynan Lawrence (Boston University, NCAA): After starting the season with Muskegon of the USHL, Lawrence joined the Terriers midway through this season and had two goals and seven points in 18 contests.
- C Ilya Morozov (Miami, NCAA): A Moscow native, the 6-3 Morozov headed to North America to play in the USHL and spent this past season in Southwest Ohio, posting an 8-12-20 line in 36 contests with the RedHawks.
- LW Ethan Belchetz (Windsor, OHL): The 6-5 winger is an intriguing option with size, and he had 34 goals among 57 points this year with the Spitfires.
- LW JP Hurlburt (Kamloops, WHL): The University of Michigan-bound wing was one of the most productive players in junior hockey this year, finishing with 42 goals and 97 points in 68 games with the Blazers.
International Skaters
- LW Ivar Stenberg (Frolunda, Sweden): Thought to be one of the top players in the draft, Stenberg spent his second season with the big club this past year, posting an 11-22-33 line in 43 games.
- D Alberts Smits (Jukurit, Finland): The Latvian blueliner skated at the Olympics this winter and had a 6-7-13 line in 38 games with Jukurit while also playing five games on loan with EHC Munchen in Germany.
- C Oliver Suvanto (Tappara, Finland): Still just 17, the 6-3 pivot played 48 games with the Finnish power, scoring two goals and finishing with 11 points.
- RW Elton Hermansson (MoDo, Sweden): Hermansson played 38 games with a MoDo squad that played in Sweden’s second division, finishing with 11 goals and 21 points.
- C Viggo Bjorck (Djurgarden, Sweden): The talented playmaker made his debut at the top level in Sweden this season, scoring six goals with 15 points in 42 games.
