Who holds the most 2025 draft picks after the trade deadline? 

Draft picks are a valuable commodity come deadline season. 

Teams looking to contend for this year’s Stanley Cup are willing to part with picks in favour of a possibly deep run into the spring. Meanwhile, teams decidedly not destined for the playoffs aim to rack up selections in hope of a brighter future.

This year’s trade-deadline season kicked off with a bang on Jan. 24 when the Colorado Avalanche traded Mikko Rantanen to the Carolina Hurricanes. The move that shocked the market also saw two 2025 picks move as part of the deal. Colorado acquired a second-rounder, while the Chicago Blackhawks, who helped facilitate the deal, got a third-rounder.

Since that deal, 20 picks in the upcoming draft have exchanged hands, including one guaranteed first-round pick and two conditional ones.  

Rantanen continued leading trade conversations up until deadline day when he was traded once more, this time to the Dallas Stars for Logan Stankoven, two conditional first-round picks (2026, 2028) and two third-rounders (2026, 2027). 

Finally, after all the deals were done, and the TV sets finally cleared out for the night, total pick tallies were made. Eight teams walked away holding multiple 2025 first-round picks, while 10 finished the day with none. 

As of now, here’s how the picks in the 2025 draft will be dealt come June 27: 

Things to consider ahead of the draft: 

– Just like last year, the Montreal Canadiens own 12 picks and multiple in the first four rounds. Those include two firsts, two seconds, three thirds and two fourths. The 12 total picks ties the Habs with the Pittsburgh Penguins for most in the league.

However, Montreal’s situation this season is quite different from last year, when the Canadiens ranked second-worst in the Eastern Conference. Just one season later, they sit one point out of a wild-card spot in 11th.  

As a team bursting out of its rebuild with enthusiasm, general manager Kent Hughes has many possibilities to consider as he continues to chart the team’s future with an abundance of picks at his disposal.

Pittsburgh, on the other hand, seems to desperately need its picks. The Penguins sit firmly out of a playoff position and are looking at missing out for a third consecutive year.  

– The Vancouver Canucks, one of the most frequently discussed teams from this year’s trade deadline season, now find themselves essentially pick-neutral. They leave the frenzy of the last few months with an underperforming Elias Pettersson, a single draft pick in each round, and without J.T. Miller.  

– Ten teams are currently without first-rounders for June, including Colorado, Dallas, Edmonton, Florida, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York Rangers, Tampa Bay, Toronto and Vegas. Among those teams, the only one not occupying a playoff spot is the Rangers.  

– Florida is set to sit out the first three rounds. But how bad can you feel for a team that leaves the deadline having secured Brad Marchand, among other treasures?  

The Winnipeg Jets and the Washington Capitals are the only two division-leading teams that will have first-rounders in 2025 with one apiece.

– Fourteen teams sit below the threshold of seven picks, which would equate to one per round. Of those 14, two (Utah and St. Louis) don’t yet occupy playoff positions. The Blues are in a particularly tough spot as the team only holds three picks — it won’t make picks in the second, third, fourth and seventh rounds. 

Also at the bottom is Colorado with only two picks and Edmonton with just three. However, is it really a surprise to see that the squads with Nathan MacKinnon and Connor McDavid don’t seem as preoccupied with maintaining draft picks? 

– Nashville and Philadelphia lead the league with three 2025 first-rounders apiece, but while the Predators are in full control of theirs, the Flyers have two burdened by conditions.  

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