The 2025 NHL entry draft is upon us.
This year, the league went with a decentralized draft, meaning the management from each NHL team is back at their respective facilities.
All the draft picks, however, will be at the Peacock Theatre in Los Angeles, California, where they’ll hear their name called and walk across the stage with NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman.
Your Stanley Cup Champion Florida Panthers are not expected to be one of the busier teams at the draft, at least in terms of selecting players.
As of Thursday night, Florida held only five selections at this year’s draft.
That number was a six on Thursday morning, but Florida flipped a fifth-round pick, 160th overall, to the Columbus Blue Jackets for goaltender Daniil Tarasov.
None of Florida’s picks are in the first three rounds, as the team has flipped many of its future assets to build the Stanley Cup Champions they’ve become over the past few seasons.
Here is where Florida will be picking on Saturday, barring any additional trades.
Round 4: 112th Overall
Round 4: 128th Overall
Round 5: 129th Overall
Round 6: 192nd Overall
Round 7: 224th Overall
For those wondering where the rest of Florida’s selections from this year’s draft have gone, here’s a quick refresher.
Round 1: 32nd Overall – to Calgary in the Matthew Tkachuk trade.
Round 2: 64th Overall – to Toronto, via Boston in trade that sent the Bruins’ 2024 second-round pick to Florida. The Panthers used the selection, No. 58 overall, on Linus Eriksson.
Round 3: 96th Overall – to Ottawa as part of the Vladimir Tarasenko trade.
Considering both players acquired in those trades went on to help Florida win Stanley Cups, it's probably safe to say they're considered as wins in Pantherland.
Round 1 of the 2025 NHL Draft is set to begin Friday at 7 p.m. ET and air nationally on ESPN.
On Saturday, NHL Network will air Rounds 2-7, which begin at 12 p.m. ET.
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