Losers of five straight games, the Nashville Predators are maximizing their odds of earning the top pick in the 2025 NHL Draft.

After a 5-1 loss to the Dallas Stars on Thursday, the Predators remain in 30th place in the league standings with a 27-41-8 record. The only two teams worse than the Predators are the San Jose Sharks and Chicago Blackhawks.

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With the season’s playoff hopes long gone, the Predators now look towards their draft lottery odds. According to Money Puck, the Predators have an 11.4% chance of earning the No. 1 overall pick. The Blackhawks have a 16.7% chance and the Sharks have a 22.3% chance.

With six games to play, Nashville has a small chance of dropping below the Blackhawks in the standings − Chicago would have to win nearly all of their remaining seven games and Nashville would have to lose their final six for that to happen. There is an even smaller chance of dropping below both the Blackhawks and Sharks.

The most realistic scenario is for Nashville to finish with the third best odds, which would guarantee them their first top five pick since 2013, when they selected defenseman Seth Jones at No. 4 overall.

How does the NHL draft lottery work?

The NHL has a lottery system to determine the draft order of the bottom 16 teams. The league introduced a draft lottery in 1995 as a way to prevent teams from intentionally losing games to earn the top pick.

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In 2021, the league adjusted the rules so that teams can only move up a maximum of 10 spots in the draft. In other words, only the bottom 11 teams have a chance at the No. 1 overall pick. If during the lottery draw, a team slotted between 12-16 wins the top pick, then the pick goes to the team in slot No. 1 automatically.

After the draw for the No. 1 pick, there is a second draw for the No. 2 pick, following the same rules. Any remaining team in the pool can win the No. 2 pick, other than teams finishing in slots 13-16.

Once the top two picks are determined by lottery, the remaining draft order (No. 3 through No. 16) is determined by order of finish.

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If the Predators finish at slot No. 3, they could move up or down two slots, depending on how the draw plays out. They could earn the No. 1 or 2 pick by winning either of the two lottery draws. They could drop to No. 4 or 5 if teams finishing in slots 4-11 win the two lottery draws.

The date of the NHL’s lottery draft draw, which last year occurred in early May, has not been set. The 2025 NHL Draft is set for June 27-28.

Alex Daugherty is the Predators beat writer for The Tennessean. Contact Alex at jdaugherty@gannett.com. Follow Alex on X, the platform formerly called Twitter, @alexdaugherty1. Also check out our Predators exclusive Instagram page @tennessean_preds.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Where the Predators stand in NHL draft lottery odds with 6 games left