The 2025 NHL draft is now complete. While No. 1 overall pick Matthew Schaefer was no surprise, there was no shortage of shocks as the two-day event proceeded.

That included celebrity guests making picks and other unique aspects of the first “decentralized” draft, along with the usual draft-day twists and turns.

Now that all 224 selections have been made, what stands out the most? ESPN reporters Ryan S. Clark, Kristen Shilton and Greg Wyshynski serve up their takes on the best, worst and most transcendent moments from the event.

WINNERS

Making special moments even more special

Getting drafted by an NHL team is one of the biggest moments of any young player’s life to that date. But it’s those little touches that the league and its teams add that make that moment go from memorable to incredible.

When Matthew Schaefer went first overall to the New York Islanders, he already had his late mother Jennifer in his thoughts, having lost her last year to breast cancer. Schaefer had her photo and a signature stitched inside his jacket. But when he was given his first Islanders jersey, it had a purple Hockey Fights Cancer ribbon sewn on the left chest and her initials on the inside collar. Schaefer kissed the ribbon after he put the jersey on.

“This is a high-class organization,” Schaefer said. “A lot of people can say, ‘Oh, it’s just a ribbon,’ but it means a lot for me. My mom’s a big part of my life. This jersey, I’m gonna hang up for sure.”

Meanwhile, the Anaheim Ducks marketing department and the NHL cooked up something special for their 10th overall pick: Loading him into a helicopter, flying him across Southern California and then driving him to Disneyland. That the pick ended up being Roger McQueen — who then got to meet Lightning McQueen in Radiator Springs — is just fantastic. (We would have also accepted No. 13 overall pick Carter Bear hanging at the Hungry Bear Barbecue Jamboree.)

Whether it was a heartfelt moment of remembrance or a rookie in a Ducks jersey high-fiving Donald Duck, these are the moments we’ll remember from the draft. — Wyshynski

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Ducks draft pick Roger McQueen celebrates at Disneyland

Roger McQueen arrives at Disneyland to celebrate being drafted No. 10 by the Ducks.

Goaltenders are people (and first-rounders) too

It’s become a tradition unlike many others: The annual discussion about whether it’s worth the risk to draft a goaltender in the first round.

Friday became the latest chapter in that saga with the Blue Jackets drafting CSKA Jr. goalie Pyotr Andreyanov with the 20th pick, while the San Jose Sharks selected Prince George Cougars netminder Joshua Ravensbergen with the 30th pick. Discourse typically comes with every first-round pick. But what made Friday different is the fact that this was the first time in four years a goalie went in the first round — and the last time there were two of them taken in the opening round as well.

In 2021, the Detroit Red Wings drafted Sebastian Cossa with the 15th pick, and the Minnesota Wild selected Jesper Wallstedt 21st.

Then it was three straight years without a goaltender going in the first, which comes with its own significance; the last time the NHL went three draft cycles without a goaltender going in the first round was almost 40 years ago when it happened in the 1984, 1985 and 1986 drafts. The latter part of the 1980s saw more teams take first-round goalies, before the 1991 and 1992 drafts were the only ones of the 1990s that didn’t see a goalie go in the first round. It was also like that in the 2000s when there was a goalie that was taken in the first round in every class but 2007 and 2009; the following 15-year period included eight classes with no goalies in the first round.

Is 2025 the start of another new trend, or will we wait another four years for the next first-round goalie? — Clark

The Sharks add to an already promising young group

The Sharks may be going through the pain of a rebuild, but the future is astonishingly bright. Never mind that San Jose drafted Macklin Celebrini first overall last year and he’s taken to the NHL like a, well, shark to open water. But San Jose reeled in another haul of promising prospects who will take the franchise forward.

Michael Misa, taken No. 2 overall, could be a top-six center. Joshua Ravensbergen is an athletic, 6-foot-5 netminder who could be their franchise goalie down the road. Defenseman Simon Wang — the highest-drafted Chinese-born player ever at No. 33 — is 6-6, an excellent skater and boasts a massive wingspan.

And those are only some of the players entering San Jose’s system. GM Mike Grier is making smart selections for the Sharks that are, slowly but surely, setting the organization up for long-term success. And while the process may have taken some time so far, it feels like San Jose is getting to the good part quicker than expected. — Shilton

It’s good to be wanted. Hagens was the top-rated prospect by TSN before the 2024-25 season, but his great-not-elite season at Boston College combined with the rise of other prospects pushed him down the rankings, to the point where some believed Hagens would be the first-round’s biggest plummet.

But two things happened in the first round that should have Hagens feeling the love. The first is the Islanders doing whatever they could to bring the Long Island native home, according to GM Mathieu Darche, with the two first-rounders they acquired in the Noah Dobson trade. Islanders fans chanted “we want Hagens!” at their draft party in UBS Arena, and cheered every player drafted that wasn’t named James Hagens.

In the end, Hagens did sort of stay home: The Boston Bruins drafted him No. 7 overall, seeing the local college product as a part of their retool. They recruited no less than Happy Gilmore himself, Adam Sandler, to make the announcement via remote video. For every reason, it was an emotional journey for Hagens. That first game against the Islanders while wearing the Spoked-B is going to be a surreal one. — Wyshynski

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Adam Sandler announces Bruins pick at NHL draft

Adam Sandler gives a nod to his famous “Happy Gilmore” character to announce the Bruins picking Boston College’s James Hagens with the seventh pick.

The WHL’s historic Round 1

Remember what the WHL pulled off back in 2014? That’s when it set a league record for having nine first-round picks. The third pick was Edmonton Oilers center and 2020 Hart Trophy winner Leon Draisaitl. The fourth pick that year was Florida Panthers center and Conn Smythe winner Sam Bennett. Others from that class such as Haydn Fleury, Julius Honka and Travis Sanheim would also go on to reach the NHL.

The WHL tied that record 11 years later when it also had nine players get taken in the first round. It started when the Buffalo Sabres used the ninth pick to draft Seattle Thunderbirds defenseman Radim Mrtka, before the Ducks selected Roger McQueen with the 10th pick. Mrtka going ninth continued the WHL’s five-year streak of having a first-round pick that started with Dylan Guenther (2021). With Mrtka and McQueen going in the top 10, that extended another streak of having multiple top-10 picks for a fourth straight year, which started in 2022 with Kevin Korchinski and Matthew Savoie.

The WHL continues to produce first-round picks in sizable numbers. Entering this year’s draft, the WHL had the distinction of having more than five of its players go in the first round in nine of the 11 most recent drafts. Some of the more recent examples of WHL players from those classes who have reached the NHL include Seth Jarvis, Kaiden Guhle, Connor Zary, Connor Bedard, Zach Benson, Guenther and Korchinski. — Clark

The Blues have jokes

The Blues went, well, BLUES when they announced a two-year contract extension for promising young goaltender Joel Hofer, by noting in their social media post he would not “be subject to offer sheets.” That, of course, is a thinly veiled dig at the Edmonton Oilers, from whom the Blues’ signed Philip Broberg and Dylan Holloway with offer sheets a season ago.

Totally allowed — and the Blues didn’t back down from reminding the hockey world of what they pulled off with some friendly fire to spice up a five-hour second day of the draft.

St. Louis’ only success wasn’t on their socials, though. In addition to getting Hofer — a key piece of the franchise’s future — re-signed, the Blues got an excellent prospect in Justin Carbonneau at No. 19; the pick was announced by comedian — and Blues fan — Nikki Glaser. He’s confident and physical, with potential to be a 20-plus goal scorer in the NHL. He could be the perfect St. Louis prototype. — Shilton

Arizona State now in elite company

Every draft pick has an impact, though many can’t be measured for quite some time. Unless it’s what the Calgary Flames did with the 32nd and final pick of the first round. Their decision to select forward Cullen Potter made an impact from the moment he was drafted into their organization.

Potter became the first player in Arizona State men’s hockey program history to become a first-round pick. ASU’s records show that the Sun Devils have had six players who were draft picks as incoming freshman, with the most notable being Seattle Kraken goalie Joey Daccord and Buffalo Sabres winger Josh Doan. Doan entered Friday as the highest drafted player in ASU history as he was taken with the 37th pick of the 2021 draft by the Arizona Coyotes.

Potter’s selection in the first round did more than give the ASU men’s hockey program one of its biggest milestones. The university is now one of the few schools that can say it has produced a first-round pick in the MLB, NBA, NFL, NHL and WNBA drafts. The Sun Devils join a list of schools that includes Connecticut, Michigan State, Minnesota, Notre Dame, Ohio State and Wisconsin.

Of course, there’s a conversation to be had about Penn State. The Nittany Lions have had first-round picks in four of those five leagues, but are slated to have a first-round pick on their roster next season with incoming Tri-City Americans defenseman Jackson Smith getting drafted 14th by the Columbus Blue Jackets. — Clark

LOSERS

Twenty-six NHL general managers

The NHL moved to a decentralized draft this season, because 26 of its 32 general managers wanted the format change, citing everything from the travel cost savings to getting more work done in the vacuum of their home arena conference room. Whatever your feelings are about the way things played out on Friday night, their majority opinion was original sin, although the NHL tried to make the best of it.

That’s what gave us a four-and-a-half hour first round. That’s what led to there being little trade fireworks, as veteran execs like Don Waddell of Columbus said that a lack of face-to-face interaction on the draft floor had a deleterious effect. That’s what led to the NHL Draft House, in which prospects entered an onstage cave to have real-time video conversations with the general managers who drafted them.

Everyone already assumed this format was likely one-and-done for the NHL — everything NHL commissioner Gary Bettman said leading up to the draft had a “be careful what you wish for” undercurrent. The reaction to the first round probably clinched that. — Wyshynski

Fans who love trades

Full marks to Detroit and Anaheim for the John Gibson trade. It gave us at least one move within the confines of the actual draft to spice things up — yes, Noah Dobson was a blockbuster, but that was before the draft began.

There’s always an appetite to see teams start their engines ahead of free agency opening on July 1, and while there are whispers of other trades potentially in the pipeline — is that Mitch Marner humming “Viva Las Vegas” at the cottage? — none of the speculated moves actually came to fruition before the draft’s final bell tolled.

Erik Karlsson is still a Penguin. Jason Robertson is still a Star. It’s too much fun weaving those deals focused on winning now into the landscape of the league’s future being unveiled in real time. We didn’t get nearly enough of it this time around, and that’s a bummer. — Shilton

The NTDP’s first-round streak

Because no NHL draft is complete without some sort of episode in which semantics are at the heart of it all. In this particular case, it’s the narrative around whether the United States National Team Development Program’s first-round streak officially ended Friday.

Here’s where the conversation gets somewhat complex. The NTDP did have four of its alumni — James Hagens, Logan Hensler, Will Horcoff and Cullen Potter — get drafted in the first round on Friday. But all four players were playing elsewhere in their draft-eligible season.

So in terms of alums who went through the program? Yes, their streak continues. But as for the players who were part of the NTDP’s setup this season? None of them were selected in the first round, and even the NTDP’s website provides something of a precedent for how they interpret who could count as a NTDP draft pick. The NTDP’s list of alums who were first-round picks has three players from the 2024 draft who went in the opening round. It’s a list that includes Zeev Buium, Cole Eiserman and E.J. Emery. But in the NTDP’s page about its 2024 draft class, it lists Eiserman and Emery as its first-rounders, with Buium having enrolled at the University of Denver.

If that’s the case, Friday marks the first time since 2008 in which the NTDP didn’t have a player get drafted in the first round. That draft class saw the NTDP have eight players who were taken in the second round and beyond, before the 2009 draft started a new streak that began with future NHL All-Star Kyle Palmieri getting drafted by the Ducks with the 26th pick.

And yet? The NTDP had 23 players who got drafted overall this year, which sets a record. The program’s previous high was 21, set in 2016. — Clark

Dress codes

While the details from the new collective bargaining agreement haven’t been officially released, as the NHL and the players are currently ratifying it, we do know that that it will no longer allow teams to mandate a dress code for players when arriving or departing games.

Hockey fashion norms took an additional hit in the final round on Saturday afternoon, when the 223rd overall pick accepted his new Edmonton Oilers jersey while wearing shorts and a hoodie.

223rd overall and the second to last pick in the #NHLDraft, but Aidan Park stuck around for it! 👏 pic.twitter.com/NwzSoDIFOz

— NHL (@NHL) June 28, 2025

In fairness, Aidan Park lives eight miles away from the Peacock Theater, the site of this year’s draft in Los Angeles. He said he showed up because he had some friends working the event. Park was a ranked prospect by NHL Central Scouting, having played for the USHL Green Bay Gamblers last season, and committed to the University of Michigan next season. But he didn’t expect to get selected until his name was announced with the second to last pick in the entire draft, to a loud round of applause by those still in attendance.

So while everyone else was dressed to the nines in newly tailored suits with custom jacket linings, the nephew of former NHL player Richard Park kept it chill — and won the fashion draft. — Wyshynski

Finland’s California mis-adventure

Look away Finnish hockey fans. The nation that has supplied the NHL with current franchise cornerstone talents such as Aleksander Barkov, Miro Heiskanen and Mikko Rantanen did not have a single player go in the first round on Friday.

But that was just the start of what was an uncharacteristic draft. Lasse Boelius was the first Finn to get drafted, 60th overall to the Ducks. Finland would not have another player selected until the fourth round. The nation finished the draft with eight players selected, and it’s the first time Finland finished in single digits since 2014 when it had nine.

QuantHockey’s metrics reveal that Finland has the fifth-most players in the NHL. But the reality that Finland didn’t have a first-round pick has become a little bit of a trend in alternating drafts as of late. Finland had a streak of multiple first-round pick between 2004 and 2020. The 2017 draft was a big one, with six players going in the first round; led by No. 3 overall pick Heiskanen, all of them have reached the NHL.

Finland’s streak ended in 2021, and the nation has since alternated years in which it has had first-round picks. The nation had two first-rounders in 2022, followed by zero first-rounders in 2023, and two first-rounders last season. — Clark