The first round of the 2025 NHL Draft will take place tonight at Peacock Theater in Los Angeles, CA. Day 1 of the draft begins at 7 p.m. with ESPN doing the broadcast honors in the United States. Rounds 2-7 will take place tomorrow with NHL Network broadcasting the Day 2 coverage starting at noon.
Having assembled his championship roster largely through trade, general manager Bill Zito isn’t slated to make his first selection of this draft until midway through the fourth round (112th overall), so barring something monumental (and completely unexpected), the Cats will simply enjoy the night and get back to business mañana.
Here is the order of tonight’s first round:
- New York Islanders
- San Jose Sharks
- Chicago Blackhawks
- Utah Mammoth
- Nashville Predators
- Philadelphia Flyers
- Boston Bruins
- Seattle Kraken
- Buffalo Sabres
- Anaheim Ducks
- Pittsburgh Penguins
- Pittsburgh Penguins (from New York Rangers via Vancouver)
- Detroit Red Wings
- Columbus Blue Jackets
- Vancouver Canucks
- New York Islanders (from Montreal via Calgary)
- New York Islanders (from Montreal)
- Calgary Flames (from New Jersey)
- St. Louis Blues
- Columbus Blue Jackets (from Minnesota)
- Ottawa Senators
- Philadelphia Flyers (from Colorado)
- Nashville Predators (from Tampa Bay)
- Los Angeles Kings
- Chicago Blackhawks (from Toronto)
- Nashville Predators (from Vegas via San Jose)
- Washington Capitals
- Winnipeg Jets
- Carolina Hurricanes
- San Jose Sharks (from Dallas)
- Philadelphia Flyers (from Edmonton)
- Calgary Flames (from Florida)
After opening its draft with the 112th overall pick, which originally belonged to Calgary and was acquired as part of the July 22, 2022 blockbuster that brought Matthew Tkachuk in close proximity to the Elbo Room, the Panthers will make their own selection (128th overall) in the fourth round and then open the fifth round with a pick (129th overall) acquired from the San Jose Sharks in the deal that sent Anthony Duclair west and Steven Lorentz east on July 1, 2023.
Florida will close out the draft by making its own selections in the sixth round (192nd overall) and seventh round (224th overall).
So, what happened to the Panthers’ other picks?
Their first-round pick (32nd overall) will be made by the Flames due to the aforementioned Tkachuk deal that sent Jonathan Huberdeau, MacKenzie Weegar and Cole Schwindt north of the border.
Florida’s second-round pick (64th overall) will go to the Toronto Maple Leafs as the result of the trade on June 29, 2024, that sent Boston’s second-round pick in 2024 to the Panthers, who selected Linus Erikkson, in exchange for it and a seventh-round pick in 2024.
The Cats third-round pick (96th overall) belongs to the Ottawa Senators as the result of the trade that brought Vladimir Tarasenko to Sunrise on March 6, 2024 in exchange for it and a conditional fourth-round pick in 2024 that was upgraded to third-rounder by Florida’s first Stanley Cup win over Edmonton.
On Thursday, the Panthers used its fifth-round pick (160th overall) to acquire goalie Daniil Tarasov from the Columbus Blue Jackets.