For all of the reporters on the NHL beat, visions of summer cottages on the lake are starting to come into focus. The press box meals, slow elevators, and locker room chats are well behind them, and it’s almost time to shift things down into vacation mode. Before everyone gets there, a busy week of action kicks off tomorrow as the first round of the 2025 NHL Draft gets underway. Rounds 2-7 consume all of Saturday, and then the pre-free agency rumors have a couple of days to smolder before teams burn through millions and millions of dollars on new players.
For the Tampa Bay Lightning, both the draft and free agency could be a bit underwhelming. While they sit on seven selections on Draft Eve, five of them are in the fifth round or later. If nothing changes, their first pick will be on Saturday in the second round. It’s not even their pick, as it was the Los Angeles Kings’ selection that was acquired in the Tanner Jeannot trade last summer. In a weird bit of happenstance, the Lightning will be picking 56th, which sits one spot down from where their original pick, traded to Nashville in the Ryan McDonagh deal, resides. Here’s hoping Barry Trotz doesn’t take someone Julien BriseBois has his heart set on this summer.
After that, Lightning fans have a little break until their team makes another selection. Pick number two for them comes in the fourth round (#127), courtesy of the Edmonton Oilers as part of the deal that sent Adam Henrique from Anaheim to Edmonton. After that, they finally get to use one of their own picks in the fifth round to select the 151st player in the draft.
They have no picks in the sixth round, which gives them time to prepare for the seventh round, which, much like last season, will be a rapid fire session of selecting players. They have the first pick of the round (#193) compliments of San Jose. They follow that up with the 206th pick by way of Utah. Remember when they traded Zach Bogosian to Minnesota? Well, that netted them the 212th pick. Finally, they wrap things up with their final selection of the day with the 215th pick.
The new, remote format should help with coming together on which players to take in such a short time. This year, the teams will be drafting remotely from their own buildings. Without other teams crammed into tables next to them, they are free to openly discuss players without having to resort to trickery such as code names (which apparently has been a thing).
So, what should their plan be for the next 48 hours? Honestly, it’s time for them to take some chances, especially with the lower-round picks. Their first pick should net them someone that will likely crack the Top 25. While they have some idea of who might be available, things all tend to get a little wonky after 50 picks. However, expect them to follow their playbook, a defensively responsible player that projected to be a middle-six forward, or a defenseman that can eat up some minutes. We know – super exciting!
After that, don’t be surprised if they take some players that are off the board This is where the Lightning have been going after over-aged players and Europeans in recent drafts. Maybe a highly-skilled forward that is undersized (Joona Saarlainen in 2024 and Jack Harvey in 2023). They seem to have done pretty well with an over-age goalie in Harrison Meneghin last year, maybe they look to build their prospect depth in net.
We plan on running a live draft thread on Friday night. If you want to follow along, come join us! In the United States, the first round will be broadcast live on ESPN and ESPN+ starting at 7:00 PM. Saturday’s coverage will be on ESPN+ and the NHL Network.
