The Florida Panthers kick off their second-round series against the Toronto Maple Leafs on May 5 with Game 1. The Panthers' goal will be to start the series on the right foot against a very talented Maple Leafs squad.

If the Panthers hope to start this series with a victory, they will need all of their players to be on their A-game, but especially these three.

Sergei Bobrovsky

Bobrovsky was a notable reason why the Panthers knocked out the Lightning in the first round in only five games. The 36-year-old put together a solid series, as he had a 4-1 record, a 2.21 save percentage, a .901 save percentage, and one shutout. If he continues to play like that in Game 1 against Toronto, it will greatly help the Panthers' chances of winning.

Going up against the Maple Leafs will not be a walk in the park for Bobrovsky, as they have plenty of elite forwards like Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner, William Nylander, and John Tavares. However, he has shut them down before, and it will be interesting to see if he does again in Game 1.

Sam Reinhart

Reinhart has been excellent for the Panthers this post-season thus far. He currently has two goals and leads the team with six points in five games. This includes posting three points in his two games alone. With this, the 29-year-old forward will look to stay hot in Game 1 against the Maple Leafs from here.

When Reinhart's offense is going, the Panthers are an incredibly challenging team to beat. It will be interesting to see if he can put up another big performance in an important Game 1 against Toronto.

Aleksander Barkov

Without any surprise, Barkov has also been one of the Panthers' best players this post-season so far. In five games, he has one goal, five points, and a plus-2 rating. He has been nothing but consistent for the Panthers, but his responsibilities in Game 1 will be even higher.

As noted above, the Maple Leafs have several high-impact forwards who create plenty of offense. With Barkov being the Panthers' best defensive forward, his top goal will be to shut them down in Game 1. If he is strong defensively, it will greatly improve the Panthers' chances of winning.

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The 2025 NHL Draft Lottery will be held on Monday, May 5 at 4 pm PST. There will be two lotteries held, one for the first overall selection and one for the second.

2025 Anaheim Ducks Draft Lottery Preview

The Anaheim Ducks enter Monday with a 6% chance to win the lottery and select first overall for the first time in franchise history.

Unlike most years, the 2025 Draft does not have a true consensus top prospect. As of now, most experts’ lists have either defenseman Matthew Schaefer or forward Michael Misa as this year’s prize at the very top of the draft.

Of the 11 teams eligible to win the top pick in the draft, the Ducks are the most deserving of the lottery balls bouncing their way on Monday.

Too Bad for Too Long

The Ottawa Senators took a major step in their journey toward contention in 2024-25 by qualifying for the Stanley Cup Playoffs. In doing so, it rendered the Ducks' current seven-year playoff drought as the third-longest in the NHL.

Only the Detroit Red Wings (eight years) and the Buffalo Sabres (14 years) have longer sustained playoff droughts. 

The Red Wings are ineligible for first overall after finishing 21st in league standings, leaving just the Sabres as the only team in contention with a longer playoff drought than the Ducks.

Never Been Done

Of the 11 eligible teams in 2025, the Ducks, Nashville Predators, and Seattle Kraken are the only teams to have never made a first overall selection in the history of their franchises.

Of those three teams, the Ducks and Kraken are the only ones to have never had a first overall pick even suit up for them.

Cruel Lottery Luck

Under the new NHL Draft Lottery odds calculator, the team that finishes at the bottom of the NHL standings each year has roughly a 25% chance of winning and selecting first overall.

Despite those odds, the team that finished at the bottom of the standings has won the subsequent lottery three out of the last four years.

The Buffalo Sabres had the highest odds (25.7%) of winning the 2021 Draft Lottery and the right to select first overall. They did (Owen Power).

The Montreal Canadiens had the highest odds (25.5%) of winning the 2022 Draft Lottery and the right to select first overall. They did (Juraj Slafkovsky).

The Anaheim Ducks had the highest odds (25.5%) of winning the 2023 Draft Lottery and the right to select first overall. They didn’t (Connor Bedard).

The San Jose Sharks had the highest odds (25.5%) of winning the 2024 Draft Lottery and the right to select first overall. They did (Macklin Celebrini).

The Ducks were the only team in the last four years to finish a season at the bottom of the standings and not win the subsequent lottery, a lottery whose prize was the most highly-touted prospect in recent years, receiving the label of “generational.”

Always a Bridesmaid

In the salary cap era of the NHL (2005-present), there have been three draft-eligible prospects to have earned the label of “generational” heading into their respective drafts: Sidney Crosby (2005), Connor McDavid (2015), and Connor Bedard (2023).

In two of those three drafts, the Ducks had to select second behind one of those said-to-be generational talents.

In 2005, every team had the opportunity to win the lottery, as that draft followed the 2004-05 lockout season. Four teams had a 6.25% chance of drafting first overall (New York Rangers, Buffalo Sabres, Columbus Blue Jackets, Pittsburgh Penguins, ten teams had a 4.17% chance (Mighty Ducks of Anaheim, Atlanta Thrashers, Calgary Flames, Carolina Hurricanes, Chicago Blackhawks, Edmonton Oilers, Los Angeles Kings, Minnesota Wild, Nashville Predators, and Phoenix Coyotes), and the remaining 16 teams had a 2.08% chance.

The Pittsburgh Penguins won the 2005 lottery and selected Sidney Crosby, who would captain them to three Stanley Cups and is widely considered to be on the “Mount Rushmore” of NHL players in history. The Ducks selected Bobby Ryan second overall, who played 866 career NHL games, including 378 for the Ducks, where he scored 289 points (147-142=289).

In 2023, the Ducks had the very best odds to win the draft lottery after the worst season in franchise history and were the NHL’s worst defensive team (4.09 goals allowed per game) in 27 years.

The Chicago Blackhawks won the lottery and the rights to select Connor Bedard. Despite the Blackhawks' two seasons finishing 31st in the NHL standings with Bedard on the roster, Bedard has seen personal success so far in his young career, with 128 points (45-83=128) in 150 games while adding the 2024 Calder Trophy to his cabinet. The Ducks selected Leo Carlsson second overall in 2023, who has been electrifying in stretches during his two seasons in Anaheim, but the production hasn’t followed. He’s totaled 74 points (32-42=74) in 131 games.

In conclusion, if there were a team who deserves to win the 2025 NHL Draft Lottery and the right to choose between Matthew Schaefer or Michael Misa (or someone else), it would be the Anaheim Ducks, as they 1. Have the second-longest playoff drought among eligible teams 2. Have never won a draft lottery 3. Have been the only team of the last four years with the best odds to win not to do so 4. Have had to watch generational talents drafted right in front of them twice in 20 years.

The defense rests.

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