It’s draft day, folks. The 2025 NHL Entry Draft is set to get underway Friday night, and continue with its conclusion Saturday. Everything you need to know about the draft, league wide, and New Jersey specific is outlined below.
The Draft
The 2025 edition of the NHL Entry Draft will be held at L.A. Live’s Peacock Theatre in Los Angeles, California. Round 1 is slated to begin Friday, June 27 at 7:00 pm ET and the remaining rounds (two through seven) are slated to begin the next day, Saturday, June 28 at noon ET. The first round will be televised on ESPN/ESPN+ and rounds two through seven will be on NHL Network and ESPN+.
Below is the current order for the first round:
- NY Islanders
- San Jose
- Chicago
- Utah
- Nashville
- Philadelphia
- Boston
- Seattle
- Buffalo
- Anaheim
- Pittsburgh
- Pittsburgh (from VAN via NYR)
- Detroit
- Columbus
- Vancouver
- Montreal (from CGY)
- Montreal
- Calgary (from NJD)
- St. Louis
- Columbus (from MIN)
- Ottawa
- Philadelphia (from COL)
- Nashville (from TBL)
- Los Angeles
- Chicago (from TOR)
- Nashville (from VGK via SJS)
- Washington
- Winnipeg
- Carolina
- San Jose (from DAL)
- Philadelphia (from EDM)
- Calgary (from FLA)
Several teams do not currently own a first-round pick, those include the New Jersey Devils, Minnesota Wild, Colorado Avalanche, Tampa Bay Lightning, Toronto Maple Leafs, Vegas Golden Knights, and Dallas Stars.
The Prospects
In the lead up to the draft, we released our top-100 list as well as a first-round mock draft. Below, is the first 10 of those rankings as well as the first 10 picks in our mock. You can find the full top-100 rankings here and the full first-round mock draft here.
Rankings
- Matthew Schaefer, D (OHL)
- Michael Misa, C (OHL)
- James Hagans, C (NCAA)
- Porter Martone, W (OHL)
- Victor Eklund, W (Allsvenskan)
- Anton Frondell, C (Allsvenskan)
- Jake O’Brien, C (OHL)
- Caleb Desnoyers, C (QMJHL)
- Jackson Smith, D (WHL)
- Roger McQueen, C (WHL)
Mock Draft
- NY Islanders: Matthews Schaefer, D (OHL)
- San Jose: Michael Misa, C (OHL)
- Chicago: Anton Frondell, C (Allsvenskan)
- Utah: Caleb Desnoyers, C (QMJHL)
- Nashville: James Hagans, C (NCAA)
- Philadelphia: Porter Martone, RW (OHL)
- Boston: Jake O’Brien, C (OHL)
- Seattle: Radim Mrtka, D (WHL)
- Buffalo: Victor Eklund, RW (Allsvenskan)
- Anaheim: Roger McQueen, C (WHL)
Devils Preview
Despite not owning a first-round pick, the Devils will still be active, specifically on Saturday. Below are the team’s picks, what some mock drafts are saying about what direction they may go, and how the organization looks as far as current prospects within it.
The Assets
Below are the list of picks the Devils own in this year’s draft. They notably have five picks in the draft’s first four rounds and five in the first 114 picks of the draft.
- Round 2: No. 50, No. 63 (EDM)
- Round 3: No. 90 (VGK)
- Round 4: No. 99 (NSH), No. 114
- Round 6: No. 161 (SJ), No. 178
The Devils don’t own their first-round pick due to the Jacob Markstrom trade. They also traded away their third-round pick (Jake Allen), fifth-round pick (Colin Miller), and seventh-round pick (Kaapo Kahkonen). They hold four picks from other teams via previous trades they’ve made; No. 63 (John Marino), No. 90 (Alexander Holtz, Akira Schmid), No. 99 (Erik Haula), and No. 161.
What The Mocks Are Saying
Not having a first-round pick complicates the volume of mock draft selections out there for the Devils. However, some media outlets have released mocks that go past Round 1. Those are organized below:
- Bleacher Nation: Will Reynolds D, QMJHL (No. 50), Ivan Ryabkin, C (No. 63)
- Tankathon: Daniil Prokhorov RW, KHL (No. 50), Conrad Fondrk C, USDP (No. 63), Tomas Pobezal C, Slovakia (No. 90), Atte Joki C, Liiga (No. 99), Ludvig Johnson D, NL (No. 114)
- Athletic (Scott Wheeler): Jack Murtagh LW, NTDP (No. 50), Bryce Pickford D, WHL (No. 63)
- Athletic (Corey Pronman): Alexander Zharovsky RW, MHL (No. 50), Carter Amico D, NTDP (No. 63), David Bedkowski D, OHL (No. 90), German Suzdorf C, MHL (No. 99), Julius Saari D, Mestis (No. 161), Owen Martin C, WHL (No. 178)
- MyNHLDraft.com: Luca Romano C, OHL (No. 50), Michal Pradel G, USHL (No. 62)
Organization Outlook
Predicting a team’s philosophy ahead of draft time is always tough. However, one way to do so is taking a look at how the organization currently stacks up and what areas it may be lacking in. With that being said, below is a chart indicating the numbers of players, aged 23 or younger, the Devils currently have within the system and the position they play.
| Position | Quantity |
| Center | 2 |
| Winger | 6 |
| Defense | 11 (six left handed/five right handed) |
| Goaltender | 5 |
Final Thoughts
Ensure you keep tabs on all of our social media coverage over the next few weeks for everything draft and free agent related. We will have all updates on Friday and Saturday, Devils related, for the draft. And that will be quickly followed by post-draft analysis and then free agency coverage come July 1.