The 2025 NHL Draft Lottery was supposed to be different. Instead of NHL fans figuring out the results after the fact, the proceedings were set to take place live. By doing it live, murmurs of the draft possibly being rigged would go away, and NHL fans would get a look at how the results are drawn.
Instead, all NHL fans got was confusion. The New York Islanders won the lottery. How? That's tough to explain. The Utah Hockey Club won the second drawing but only moved up to No. 4 overall. The rest of the results were revealed after a commercial break, meaning only two of the 16 lottery picks were actually revealed live.
While fans aren't arguing about the proceedings being rigged, they did take to X to vent about just how confusing the NHL inexplicably made this event.
NHL fans have no idea what just happened in the Draft Lottery, and we can't blame them
This NHL draft lottery could be rigged, and no one would know because nobody understands what the hell is going on
ā Tampababe91 (@Tampababe91) May 5, 2025
canāt accuse the nhl of rigging the lottery if no one understands the process of the draw I guess
ā TKš (@CrazySadAzn) May 5, 2025
NHL fans wanted the draft lottery to be done live, strictly to ensure that no funny business is going on. The lottery could've been rigged as far as some NHL fans are concerned because the entire process was beyond confusing. Nobody understood what was going on, and it's hard to blame them.
Watching the NHL draft lottery feels like Iām watching a math test
ā Anna Dua (@AnnaNoelleDua) May 5, 2025
Can't say I disagree with this. The results were determined by a combination of four ping pong balls. There were too many numbers for what NHL fans thought would be a simple drawing.
The lottery system sucks and the NHL should abolish it and use the NFLās standings based format.
ā Tougie24 (@Tougie24) May 5, 2025
Change my mind*
* bonus points if your counter argument doesnāt include āBuT TAnkiNg!!!!ā https://t.co/6NSbb5Wn91
nhl draft lottery should work like nfl draft lottery ššššššš pic.twitter.com/9S1JLgWvHr
ā x - addie ą¾ą½² (@reichelhughes) May 5, 2025
The confusing event has some wondering what life might be like without a lottery, much like how the NFL Draft is ordered. That will certainly be easier for NHL fans to understand.
Iām not sure Iāve ever watched a dumber, more convoluted, over-dramatized production than the 10 minutes of the NHL draft lottery I just saw.
ā Ralph Vacchiano (@RalphVacchiano) May 5, 2025
But hey, the @NYIslanders won the top pick, so ā¦ pic.twitter.com/tJmseZgcw6
The NHL Draft lottery should have stayed behind closed doors. This is awful television.
ā Sam Ali (@SamAliSports) May 5, 2025
Not only was this event way too difficult to follow, but it dragged out for far too long. Again, only two picks were revealed live, which defeated the purpose in the minds of some NHL fans. It was a terrible watch, which only made matters worse.
Eventually, some of what transpired did make sense. The Islanders won the No. 1 overall pick because the combination of the four ping pong balls ended up popping out of the machine in their favor. The Utah Hockey Club only moved up to No. 4 overall despite winning the second drawing because they were only allowed to move up 10 spots at most.
Still, this whole event left fans with more questions than answers. Why were only two picks shown? Was there no way for the results to be easier for fans to digest?
The lottery being done live was objectively a good idea. If it's going to be this confusing, though, it's hard to justify the proceedings being done like this. NHL fans might rather the old way instead of this.