Hey, You Never Know
NHL Draft Lottery will be held LIVE tonight; Isles with 3.5% chance at top pick
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Good Morning, Islanders Country.
If you grew up in the NYC Metropolitan area, the “Hey, you never know” ad campaign by the New York State Lottery was everywhere. It began in the early 1990s and became one of the most recognizable and enduring lottery slogans in the United States. It captured the essence of playing the lottery.
Slim Odds. Big Dreams.
The odds of the New York Islanders winning the NHL Draft Lottery tonight are better than your odds at winning the lottery, but it’s still a considerable longshot. The league produced this animated explanatory video to guide viewers through the live draw process. You can see all the team’s numbers HERE.
Nevertheless, it’s exciting to know we are hours away from what could be a franchise-altering moment. The 2025 NHL Draft Lottery goes down at 7 PM ET on ESPN, Sportsnet, and TVA—and for the first time ever, the ball draw will be shown live on TV. That’s right—no more behind-the-scenes drama.
This year, we’ll see the ping-pong balls fly in real time. NHL exec Steve Mayer says this is “anticipation like you've never seen in a draft lottery." The league will be the first in pro sports to air the full draw. Drama. Tension. Ping-pong balls. We're in. The Islanders have 35 four-number combinations out of 1,000 possibilities, giving them a chance to win the No. 1 or 2 picks.
The Isles are searching for a new GM and presumably, a fresh direction. A top pick could accelerate a full reset or give the organization a franchise cornerstone for years to build around. Not every No. 1 pick turns into a Hall-of-Famer or Hart Trophy Finalist, but it’s often the quickest common path toward being a really competitive team for a really long time. And hey, it’s the least the NHL could do after taking the All-Star Game away from us.
You never know.
