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Flyers to learn NHL draft lottery fate on May 5; Gary Bettman updates 2026 All-Star plans

The Flyers, who can pick no lower than sixth, hold the fourth-best odds with a 9.5% chance to land No. 1

After being held at The Sphere in Las Vegas last year, the NHL draft will be decentralized this year, with the in-person portion taking place in Los Angeles.
After being held at The Sphere in Las Vegas last year, the NHL draft will be decentralized this year, with the in-person portion taking place in Los Angeles.Read moreSteve Marcus / AP

Better late than never.

After weeks of speculation, and 12 days since the regular season ended, the NHL has finally announced a date for the draft lottery

That date will be May 5. The annual draft’s order selection process will be held Monday at the NHL Network’s studios in Secaucus, N.J. The event will be televised on ESPN, and a starting time will be announced later this week.

The Flyers and their fans will be especially interested in the draft lottery this season after finishing with the league’s fourth-worst record. Their reward is a 9.5% chance at landing the No. 1 overall pick and a guaranteed top-six pick in June’s draft.

According to Tankathon, the Flyers have a 19% chance of landing at No. 1 or No. 2 via winning one of the two lotteries, and an almost 80% chance of landing a top-five draft selection. In addition to a 9.5% chance at No. 1, the Flyers have a 9.5% chance at landing No. 2, a 0.3% chance of picking third, 15.4% odds of standing pat at fourth, 44.6% for fifth, and a 20.8% chance of dropping the maximum two spots to No. 6.

This year, the Flyers’ biggest need entering the draft is a potential No. 1 center for the future. Though the 2025 class isn’t considered the strongest, several centers are projected to go in the top 10, headlined by Michael Misa (Saginaw Spirit), James Hagens (Boston College), Anton Frondell (Sweden’s Djurgårdens), and Caleb Desnoyers (Moncton).

The Flyers have seven picks, including three first-rounders, in the first two rounds of the draft, which is June 27-28 at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles. The Flyers will not know the slot of their other two first-rounders until Colorado and Edmonton are eliminated from the playoffs.

» READ MORE: Resetting the Flyers’ future: Which prospects beyond Jett Luchanko and draft picks do the Orange and Black have on the way?

All-Star Game on Long Island on hold

There has been much debate about the logistics of hosting an NHL All-Star Game in the same year and month as an Olympics.

It turns out that won’t be the case, as NHL commissioner Gary Bettman told Newsday that UBS Arena will no longer host the 2026 All-Star Game but instead will host an Olympic send-off event in Elmont, N.Y.

“We’ll have an event at UBS before we go to the Olympics, but then we’ll do something that’s more focused on a major hockey event for the following year,” Bettman said in the interview with Newsday. “We have a little bit of time to finalize what we’re doing.”

Bettman did not confirm whether this second “major hockey event” would be the 2027 All-Star Game or some sort of international tournament, à la the 4 Nations Face-Off. The latter was an overwhelming success in February and likely played a role in altering the plans for next year’s All-Star weekend. A World Cup of Hockey featuring at least eight nations is already confirmed for the 2028 season.

The 2026 Winter Olympics in Italy’s Milan and Cortina will be the first Games that NHL players participate in since the 2014 Olympics in Sochi, Russia. Next year’s Games will take place from Feb. 6-22.