Morning Coffee: What will the Sharks do with the second pick in the NHL Draft?

Cooper Flagg declared for the NBA Draft on April 21st.

21 days later, the Dallas Mavericks pulled off the biggest upset of the offseason when they won the NBA Draft Lottery for the first time.

The Mavericks had just a 1.8 per cent chance to win it.

The second the ping-pong balls gifted Dallas the top pick, Mavericks fans rushed to pre-order their jerseys, losing their collective minds over the idea that their team had somehow found a viable replacement as the face of the franchise only months after the Luka Doncic trade.

Cooper Flagg was always going first overall to Dallas.

When the Mavericks made it official on Wednesday, Flagg was installed as the biggest pre-season NBA Rookie of the Year favourite on record at -190 to win it at FanDuel.

48 hours later, the New York Islanders are expected to make defenceman Matthew Schaefer the No. 1 overall pick in the 2025 NHL Entry Draft.

Like the Mavericks, the Islanders were considered a longshot to win the Draft Lottery, with just a 3.5 per cent chance to land the first overall pick.

Unlike the NBA Draft, Schaefer was never considered the overwhelming favourite to go first overall like Flagg, but he remains the consensus top choice with just hours to go before the Islanders make the pick official tonight.

When Bob McKenzie published his Final Draft Rankings on Monday, he noted that 10 out of the 10 scouts he surveyed had Schaefer as the top prospect in the draft.

Nine of the 10 scouts surveyed made Michael Misa their No. 2 ranked prospect.

FanDuel’s market for the No. 2 overall pick mirrored that sentiment with Misa considered a longshot to fall outside of the top two selections.

However, persistent rumours that the San Jose Sharks will consider selecting Anton Frondell with the second pick have led to fluctuations in FanDuel’s betting markets throughout the week.

Just hours away from tonight’s reveal, whether the Sharks select Misa or Frondell remains the biggest question mark ahead of the 2025 NHL Entry Draft.

This is Morning Coffee for Friday June 27th, 2025.

What Will Sharks Do With Second Pick In The NHL Entry Draft?

Misa’s 62 goals this season matched Patrick Kane for the third-most by a player in the Canadian Hockey League in their draft-eligible season over the past two decades.

Connor Bedard and Sidney Crosby are the only players with more.

Bedard, Crosby, and Kane all went first overall in their respective drafts.

On the morning of the 2025 NHL Entry Draft, there’s debate that Misa should fall to the third overall pick behind Schaefer and Anton Frondell.

That sentiment is reflected in the fluctuations we’ve seen in FanDuel’s markets for the second and third picks.

Misa to go third overall was +750 at FanDuel on Monday.

Misa is now the second choice to go No. 3 at +125.

Frondell remains the favourite to go third overall at -180.

However, he’s also +145 to go No. 2 overall at FanDuel.

If the top five picks in tonight’s NHL Entry Draft go according to script, the order will be Schaefer at No. 1, followed by Misa at No. 2, Frondell at No. 3, Caleb Desnoyers as the favourite to go No. 4, then Porter Martone as the favourite to go No. 5.

Desnoyers to go fourth overall was cut from +230 to -150 as the favourite in FanDuel’s market since Monday.

Meanwhile, Martone and James Hagens have flip-flopped as the favourite to be the No. 5 overall pick.

Martone, who could be found as high as +430 to go fifth overall as recently as Monday, is down to +170 as the favourite in that market this morning.

In that same span, Hagens to go No. 5 overall has climbed from +175 as the favourite to +250 as the second choice.

In case you missed it, I bet Frondell to go No. 3 overall at +105 and Martone to go top five at -125 earlier in the week.

I wasn’t confident enough to call either pick a FanDuel Best Bet, but with Frondell to go No. 3 now -115 and Martone to go top five now -150, I’m in a decent spot.

I’ll add James Hagens draft position under 6.5 at +102 this morning.

TSN Director of Scouting Craig Button has Hagens as the fifth overall pick in his final mock draft.

McKenzie has Hagens at No. 7 in his final draft ranking.

The Philadelphia Flyers could certainly use some more offensive skill and a centre to pair with Matvei Michkov.

If Hagens falls out of the top five, I could see the Flyers taking advantage and grabbing him at sixth overall.

Hopefully, all three bets cash tonight.

Have a great weekend, everyone!