1 Trade Idea for Every NHL Lottery Team If It Wins No. 1 Draft Pick

When the NHL draft lottery goes down on Monday, we'll finally know how the top end of the order will shake out.

The San Jose Sharks have the best odds of landing the top pick and the Chicago Blackhawks are right behind them. But they're not the only ones who could pick first and then start making other plans for the offseason.

Only 11 of the 16 lottery teams have a shot at the top pick since teams can only move up a maximum of 10 spots. That means Chicago, San Jose, Nashville, Philadelphia, Boston, Seattle, Buffalo, Anaheim, Pittsburgh, New York Islanders and New York Rangers have a shot at No. 1 and the opportunity to select NHL Central Scouting top-ranked skater Matthew Schaefer.

Landing the No. 1 pick comes with other plans for teams, though, such as making trades to help better outfit rosters. It's those ideas we're kicking around now as we get ready to see who winds up being the luckiest team among the underachievers.

The Sharks have the chance to have the No. 1 pick in back-to-back years since the Edmonton Oilers in 2010-12. With a 25.5% chance to win the draft lottery, the odds are in their favor.

The Sharks have drafted well even outside of picking Macklin Celebrini a year ago. If they do get the top pick again this year, it'll give them the chance to make a deal that will throw them right into the race for the playoffs next season.

San Jose has five picks in the first three rounds of the 2025 draft and if it lands the top pick, the selection it got from the Dallas Stars in the Mikael Granlund trade is the exact kind it can part with, especially with two picks in the second round.

Whether it's a sweetener or a throw-in for a trade to land forward or defense help, that's a way to make good use of it since the Sharks are dealing with a strong surplus of picks.

For the second straight year, Chicago has the second-best odds of landing the No. 1 pick at 13.5%. It added a superstar in Connor Bedard by picking first two years ago and a potential cornerstone defenseman in Artyom Levshunov at No. 2 last year.

If the Blackhawks land the top pick for the second time in three years, it will give them the chance to loosen things up with their lineup by moving veterans.

With guys like Levshunov, Sam Rinzel and Kevin Korchinski on defense eager to get more ice time, players such as Connor Murphy and T.J. Brodie would make a lot of sense to trade.

It's not ideal to have a super-young group on defense and have hopes of making the playoffs, but the Blackhawks are getting close to running out of proper places to fit all of these guys into lineups at the NHL and AHL levels.

Veterans are great to have around, but as this past season showed in Chicago, they aren't always the answer.

If the Predators are going to be the kings of the offseason for the second straight year, winning the draft lottery with an 11.5% chance and landing the No. 1 pick would do it.

Aside from that being the first time in franchise history picking first overall, it would provide them with the ammunition to again make a big splash via trade.

The Predators roster could be more or less locked in if they want it to be for next season already, but if there's one player other teams would covet, it's Ryan O'Reilly.

Rumors swirled around the 34-year-old this season and even though he signed with Nashville last summer, he is the prototypical centerman for teams in contention.

Of course, Nashville could be in contention next season if they get the No. 1 pick and also don't have the worst shooting luck in the league again.

The Flyers' late-season crumble saw them fire John Tortorella and also land with the fourth-lowest point total in the league. It also gives them a 9.5% chance of landing the No. 1 pick and the chance to step on the gas with their rebuild on the fly.

If the Flyers come away with the top pick, the biggest thing they must do is find a goaltender. Each of the past two seasons saw them have the opportunity to push for the playoffs only to be undone by goaltending that couldn't bail them out. They absolutely cannot afford to let that happen again.

Matvei Michkov is really great, but he'd have to score like Alex Ovechkin on rocket fuel to make up for it.

Finding a No. 1 goalie won't fix everything that's ailing the Flyers, but it'll help cover up a lot of the shortcomings. If that means going after someone like John Gibson, then so be it. But whether Philadelphia gets the top pick or not, fixing the goalie position should be the top priority.

If the Bruins were to land the No. 1 pick (8.5% chance), it would give them a lightning-fast chance to rebuild on the fly and be able to still contend for the playoffs.

It would also open the door for them to potentially make a move to provide more offensive punch to the lineup.

The Bruins were fortunate last season to get a massive season out of the blue by newcomer Morgan Geekie (33 goals) to go along with David Pastrnak's standard brilliance. Outside of them, though, it was grim.

Only one other player had 20 or more goals and they traded him to the Florida Panthers (Brad Marchand). They need scoring badly and it's not coming from within the system.

The Bruins have each of Charlie Coyle, Hampus Lindholm and Nikita Zadorov signed until 2030 and Mason Lohrei is an RFA this summer.

Coyle and Lindholm were hampered by injuries all season and Zadorov kept the classic spirit of the Bruins going by hammering on opponents.

Would dealing one of those blueliners to add offensive fire power be a sacrifice worth making?

The Kraken need some help and, yeah, if they land the No. 1 pick with their 7.5% chance, it will give new GM Jason Botterill a great head start. It'll also give him the chance to make a splash with a trade, too.

Seattle has a load of veterans who could be used to help shore up its needs throughout the lineup. It needs to find players to surround Matty Beniers; and while Jaden Schwartz and Jared McCann have been very good for them up front, are they guys you'd consider to be untouchable? That's doubtful.

While Beniers is a center, Seattle could stand to have a real No. 1 pivot to run the top line and give him a bit of a break as he comes along so soon in his career.

The 22-year-old is an outstanding No. 2 center. And while he matures in the NHL, moving someone like McCann, Schwartz, Jordan Eberle or Andre Burakovsky could help his development.

The Sabres' 14th straight season without the playoffs has them poised to possibly pick eighth in the NHL draft for the fifth time in 12 years. That is, of course, unless their 6.5% chance of landing the top pick gives them their third No. 1 pick in the past seven years.

If they do get the first pick and use it on someone like OHL Saginaw forward Michael Misa, it would open the door for them to trade a number of their other talented forwards to perhaps, at long last, land a right-handed defensive defenseman to partner with Owen Power.

Which forward would that be? If they're able to land a player like Misa, take your pick of the younger wingers to make it happen because the Sabres would be dealing from a strong hand.

For Buffalo, doing this shouldn't hinge upon landing the No. 1 pick, this is the kind of trade it should be aiming to make regardless. But, landing that top pick makes it a lot easier for the Sabres.

The Ducks' emergence from their years-long rebuild was evident this season as they were in the race for the wild card out West until the final week of the year.

If GM Pat Verbeek has any regrets about how the season went, perhaps one of them would have to do with not moving goalie John Gibson to a contender at the deadline.

Fortunately for Verbeek, it's a move he can make this summer, especially if the Ducks cash in on their 6% chance at landing the No. 1 pick.

Trading Gibson to a team in need of goaltending help this offseason makes a lot of sense because of how Lukáš Dostál performed and took over the No. 1 job.

Gibson still played well and now that he has two years left on his contract ($6.4 million cap hit) and the cap going up, it's not as tough of a sell as it was previously.

Any of the teams who had goaltending questions in the playoffs and wound up out of action sooner than they would've liked thanks to poor play in goal would be in prime position to address that and Anaheim having Gibson to offer puts them in the driver's seat to cash in on their need to change.

The good news for the Penguins is they've got a 5% chance to win the No. 1 pick, something they haven't had since 2005 when they selected Sidney Crosby. The bad news is they're going to need a lot more than that if they're going to get Crosby and company back to the playoffs next season.

If there's a trade to make for the Pens that doesn't involve using their picks, it should include using defenseman Erik Karlsson.

At 34 years old and playing for a team that's in an eerily similar position to what the Sharks were in when he was there, Karlsson's chances to go for a Stanley Cup won't be many and they'll be almost nil if he stays in Pittsburgh.

He's still productive and could be valuable to a contending team although his no-move clause could be an issue.

The Penguins have other players they could move in trades that would be coveted elsewhere, but Karlsson has always been a bit of a luxury for them, especially since they still have Kris Letang. He doesn't have the value he used to, but if the Pens want a fighting chance of getting back to the playoffs, he's the one guy who could net them a player in a different position to help them do that.

If the Islanders' 3.5% chance of winning the No. 1 pick comes through, it'll be a massive test for whoever winds up being the team's next general manager. Whoever that ends up being faces a herculean task them to shake off the dust left behind by former GM Lou Lamoriello and will need to figure out how best to increase the offensive skill throughout the roster.

The Islanders players who would best be able to net a big return are guys they wouldn't be eager to part with. They're set to have nearly $30 million in cap space but that's while needing up to nine players to fill out the roster. The Isles lack depth all over the lineup and trading guys to net a solid return could leave them short otherwise.

They need scoring and could move someone like Ryan Pulock or Adam Pelech to get a good player, but then the defense suffers. Moving Mathew Barzal or Bo Horvat would be a massive deal that wouldn't be easy to make and then could leave them wondering where the goals are coming from. Good luck to whoever the next GM is because it's going to be difficult.

If the Rangers win the No. 1 pick with their 3% chance to do so, apart from saying they'll keep the pick and then handing their 2026 first to Pittsburgh via Vancouver thanks to trades and making the rest of the hockey world angry, GM Chris Drury must make a trade to improve the team's depth. It doesn't matter if it's forwards or defensemen, the Rangers have to have more quality players throughout the lineup.

If/When they hire Mike Sullivan as head coach, the last thing he wants to do is show up and start having flashbacks to how the Penguins were built the past few years by having great talent for the top line and pairing and wondering where else the goals and defense will come from.

They'll have contracts to figure out for RFAs K'Andre Miller and Will Cuylle, but with Chris Kreider and Mika Zibanejad not getting younger and Artemi Panarin both getting older and facing a scandal, time is running short fast in Manhattan.