One minute the Flyers were tied with two other teams for a shot at the No. 1 pick in the 2025 NHL Draft.

The next? Relegated to sixth place overall, which was as far as Monday night’s NHL Draft Lottery would allow them to fall.

To make matters worse, the Flyers’ Metropolitan Division rival New York Islanders, who had only a 3.5-percent chance of moving up to No. 1 and were sitting in 10th place, did exactly that.

Oh, to put a bow on the whole Flyers’ calamity, rookie forward Matvei Michkov, who led all first-year forwards in goals with 26, was not even among the finalists announced for the Calder Memorial Trophy for NHL rookie of the year.

All that said, the Flyers will still get a very talented player with the No. 6 selection at Los Angeles on June 27. It’s just that they actually fell a couple spots – from No. 4 to No. 6 – which makes the whole affair rather disappointing.

The evening began with the Flyers having a 9.5 percent chance of making their way to the top. And at one point, they were knotted at the top with odds of 18.9 percent.

No matter. The Islanders pulled off their minor miracle. Then, on a second drawing, Utah moved up to the No. 4 spot.

So it ended up being Islanders at No. 1, the San Jose Sharks at No. 2, the Chicago Blackhawks at No. 3, Utah at No. 4, the Nashville Predators at No. 5 and the Flyers at No. 6.

It must have been frustrating for Flyers general manager Daniel Briere to sit and see where his team finished up after having the odds briefly in his favor.

As the proceedings at the NHL offices in Secaucus, N.J. began, the league-worst Sharks had the best percentage of winning the lottery at 18.5 percent.But the Islanders overcame the odds.

“This is incredible,” said Islanders pro scouting director Ken Morrow on ESPN’s national telecast. “The hockey Gods smiled on us. And I can’t tell you how thrilled I am for Islander fans, for our ownership and for the entire Islander organization.”

One of the top prospects available to the Islanders is defenseman Matthew Schaefer, who plays junior hockey for Erie of the Ontario Hockey League. He’s rated No. 1 on Central Scouting’s talent board.

Among the other elite draft possiblities are center Michael Misa from Saginaw (OHL). He’s the first player in team history to land the OHL scoring title. He’s followed by Boston College center James Hagens, Brantford (OHL) center Jake O’Brien, Czech native defenseman Radim Mrtka and Brampton captain (forward) Porter Martone.

As for Michkov, most hockey fans knew it was going to be a long shot for him to place in the top three. The finalists were Montreal defenseman Lane Hutson, San Jose forward Macklin Celebrini and Calgary goaltender Dustin Wolf.

In their history, the Flyers have drafted first overall just once. That was back in 1975 when they selected Mel Bridgman.

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