Seattle Kraken Get Unfortunate Draw in NHL Draft Lottery
Monday marked the lottery draw for the NHL teams who did not make the Stanley Cups playoffs, including the Seattle Kraken, who will soon begin another critical offseason searching for a new coach and trying to bolster their roster for 2026 and beyond.
For those unfamiliar, the first 16 spots in the NHL Draft are decided by this lottery system. A total of 1,001 combinations for draft order are possible when the 14 ping pong balls start rolling. Per ESPN, “each team in the lottery is assigned a set of random four-number combinations. The worse a team's record, the more combinations they are assigned, so the team with the worst record this past season, the San Jose Sharks, gets 185, representing an 18.5 percent chance of winning the first lottery draw.
Based on their 35-41-6 record being sixth-worst in the NHL, the Kraken entered the lottery with the sixth-best odds to win the No. 1 overall draft slot. Things did not break Seattle’s way, however. In fact, the winning team was a quite a shocker. The New York Islanders jumped the maximum slots allowed to win the top overall pick, from 10th-best odds to the No. 1 overall selection. They will pick first for the first time since 2009.
After the Islanders, San Jose, Chicago, Utah, and Nashville rounded out the rest of the top five.
The Kraken suffered from a few teams getting better-than-their-odds draft positions. It bumped Seattle from the sixth-best odds to selecting No. 8 overall, which isn’t an ideal development.
That is the same slot where the Kraken picked last year when they selected Berkly Catton. He currently plays for the Spokane Chiefs of the WHL.
Holding the same draft slot as a year ago, who might they select this year?
Daily Faceoff slots in Jackson Smith, a defender also from the WHL, to the Kraken. Carter Bear, a winger for the Everett Silvertips of the WHL, also could be a target. The Kraken could also stay local if they wanted to take a blueliner if Smith isn’t available. Seattle Thunderbirds’ own Radim Mrtka is highly thought of as one of the top defenders in this draft and would instantly be a recognizable face for the young franchise.
The Kraken have a few exciting young players already making an impact. With the amount of cap space and draft capital they have over the next few seasons, Seattle has a golden opportunity to build a sustainable winning franchise. It starts with drafting No. 8 in the 2025 NHL Draft.
The 2025 NHL Draft begins June 27.
