Bruins
The Bruins could still earn the fourth-best odds at landing the No. 1 pick in the 2025 NHL Draft.
The Bruins’ 2024-25 season came to a disappointing end on Tuesday, with Boston dropping a 5-4 overtime loss to the New Jersey Devils.
A loss in regulation would have locked Boston into the fourth-worst record in the NHL this season, giving them nearly a 20-percent chance of landing a top-two pick in the upcoming 2025 NHL Draft.
But because Boston earned a point in its season finale against the Devils, the Bruins will have to keep tabs on one more NHL game later on this week before finding out where they slot on the draft order.
As a result of the Bruins’ one-point result and the Flyers losing to the Blue Jackets, 3-0, on Tuesday, the Bruins and Flyers are nearly neck-and-neck entering the final stretch of the NHL regular season.
Even though Boston is currently holding onto the No. 4 spot on the draft leaderboard by way of points percentage (.463), the Bruins, Flyers, and Kraken are all currently tied with 76 points on the season.
While that could present issues for the Bruins in terms of dropping from the fourth-best odds at the No. 1 pick to the sixth-best odds, the furthest Boston can now drop is one spot.
Despite both the Bruins and Kraken being tied with 76 points, Seattle can’t surpass Boston in the standings moving forward — as Seattle holds the tie-breaker over them because they have more regulation wins (28 to 26).
As such, the Bruins can’t be overtaken by the Kraken moving forward — but they will still need to keep tabs on the Flyers.
While the Kraken have more regulation wins than the Bruins, the Flyers have five fewer regulation victories (21) than Boston — so if Philly ends the season with 76 points, they will hold the tie-breaker over the Bruins and Kraken and move up to No. 4.
In other words, the Bruins’ hopes of sticking to that No. 4 spot ahead of the draft lottery will rest on what the Flyers do in their season finale on Thursday night against the Sabres.
IF the Flyers don’t earn a single point on Thursday against Buffalo, the draft order will be: 4. Flyers, 5. Bruins, 6. Kraken
IF the Flyers do earn at least a point against Buffalo, they accrue 77 points — and the Bruins hold onto the No. 4 spot ahead of next month’s NHL draft lottery.
While the Bruins should be able to land a talented prospect wherever they eventually land in the draft order, sticking at No. 4 gives them the best odds to pick in the top-five once the draft gets underway on June 27.
According to Tankathon, the team with the fourth-worst record in the NHL (currently the Bruins) has these odds in the draft lottery:
1st overall: 9.5 percent
2nd overall: 9.5 percent
3rd overall: 0.3 percent
4th overall: 15.4 percent
5th overall: 44.6 percent
6th overall: 20.8 percent
If the Flyers lose in regulation on Thursday night, the Bruins’ odds would shift to these probabilities as the team with the fifth-worst record in the league.
1st overall: 8.5 percent
2nd overall: 8.6 percent
3rd overall: 0.3 percent
5th overall: 24.5 percent
6th overall: 44.0 percent
7th overall: 14.2 percent
Given Boston’s desperate need for a top-six center in this draft, the Bruins would put themselves in a much better spot to at least secure a top-five selection if they remain at No. 4 following Thursday’s slate of games.
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