Morning Coffee: NHL Draft markets take shape ahead of first round

The Florida Panthers stand alone atop the NHL pyramid.

The two-time defending Stanley Cup champions already rank among the top choices to win it all again next year.

If they somehow manage to run it back with every one of Sam Bennett, Brad Marchand, and Aaron Ekblad, there’s no doubt they’ll be the Stanley Cup favourite at FanDuel.

Meanwhile, Mitch Marner remains the biggest pending unrestricted free agent set to hit the market on July 1st.

If you follow the money, then you already know that the Vegas Golden Knights are the Mitch Marner Next Team novelty market at FanDuel this morning.

Vegas to be Marner’s next team is -160 at FanDuel this morning – the shortest number we have seen for any team since that market first opened back in May.

The Anaheim Ducks at +470 are the only other team on that list with shorter than 10-to-1 odds to land Marner.

Meanwhile, we’re just over 24 hours away from the start of the NHL Entry Draft, with plenty of question marks to be answered when the first round begins on Friday night.

The expectation is that the New York Islanders will select defenceman Matthew Schaefer with the first overall pick.

After that, things will get a little more interesting.

The San Jose Sharks and Chicago Blackhawks are set to go back-to-back with the second and third overall picks.

The Utah Mammoth own the fourth overall pick.

The Mammoth took a significant step towards solidifying their forward core with the acquisition of J.J. Peterka from the Buffalo Sabres in a trade that sent Michael Kesselring and Josh Doan the other way.

The 23-year-old Peterka signed a five-year, $38.5 million contract with Utah immediately following the trade.

With Clayton Keller, Logan Cooley, Dylan Guenther, Barrett Hayton, Nick Schmaltz, and now Peterka, the Mammoth have a solid top six forward core locked in.

What will Utah do with the No. 4 pick?

Moncton centre Caleb Desnoyers has emerged as the betting favourite to go fourth overall at FanDuel. 

This is Morning Coffee for Thursday June 26th, 2025.

NHL Entry Draft Markets Take Shape Ahead Of First Round

There’s plenty of reason for optimism in Utah right now.

Salt Lake City’s hockey team has a new name, a new logo, a new jersey, and there’s a growing sense of optimism they’re trending towards becoming a playoff contender.

Last season, Utah went 38-31-13 and finished seven points back of the St. Louis Blues for the final Wild Card.

There were 15 NHL players 23 or younger that recorded 60 points or more last season.

Three of them – Cooley, Guenther, and Peterka – will play for the Mammoth in 2025-26.

In addition to a developing young core, Utah still has a considerable amount of remaining salary cap space and the fourth overall pick in the 2025 NHL Entry Draft.

While there were rumours that draft pick could be involved in the trade for Peterka, that didn’t turn out to be the case with Kesselring and Doan headed the other way in the deal.

There’s still a chance that Utah trades the pick.

If not, the recent market moves indicate the Mammoth could target the 18-year-old Desnoyers at fourth overall.

Desnoyers to go fourth overall in the NHL Entry Draft was +230 as the second choice as recently as Monday.

Three days later, Desnoyers has emerged as the betting favourite to go No. 4 at -160.

Bob McKenzie had Desnoyers at No. 5 when his Final Draft Rankings were released on Monday.

McKenzie’s top five list consists of Schaefer at No. 1, followed by Michael Misa, Porter Martone, Anton Frondell, and Desnoyers in that order.

Meanwhile, TSN’s Director of Scouting Craig Button had Desnoyers falling to seventh overall in his mock draft.

Button had the Mammoth going with Martin at No. 4.

Martin to go fourth overall is +250 as the second choice at FanDuel this morning.

Taking a closer look at FanDuel’s NHL Entry Draft markets, there may still be value betting on Misa to be selected with the second pick and Frondell to be drafted third.

While there has been speculation that the Sharks could draft Frondell at No. 2, one scout told McKenzie that, “you could make a case that Schafer and Misa are in the same universe, above everyone else.”

Nine of 10 scouts McKenzie surveyed had Misa at No. 2.

The only one who didn’t had Misa at No. 4.

FanDuel has Misa as the favourite to go second overall at -280 this morning.

Frondell is the second choice in that market at +195.

No other player is shorter than +2400 to go No. 2 overall.

Meanwhile, the market for the third overall pick is flipped the other way, with Frondell as the favourite at -180 and Misa as the second choice at +175.

No other player is shorter than +1200 to go No. 3 overall.

Desnoyers has emerged as the favourite to go fourth overall – a pick currently held by the Mammoth.

Brady Martin to go fourth overall is +250.

Martone to go fourth overall is +470.

Martone is also the favourite to go fifth overall at +200.

James Hagens is a close second choice to go No. 5 at +230.

FanDuel has individual markets for each pick from two through five in the 2025 NHL Entry Draft.

Fifth overall is the only market where the favourite is available at 2-to-1 odds or longer this morning.

Desnoyers is -550 to be a top five pick.

Martone is -115 to be a top five pick.

Martin and Hagens are both plus-money to go top five.

While Schaefer is expected to go first overall, nobody would be shocked if Frondell goes to San Jose ahead of Misa, even if I still think it’s more likely we see Schaefer, Misa, and Frondell go 1,2,3 in that order.

Desnoyers has emerged as the betting favourite to go fourth overall to Utah at FanDuel.

That doesn’t mean the Mammoth won’t use the pick to draft Martin, Martone, Hagens, or even Frondell in the unlikely event that the Swedish centre falls to No. 4.

Utah could also end up trading out of the pick.

With just over 24 hours to go until the first round of the 2025 NHL Entry Draft, hockey fans are enjoying the annual experience of searching social media for updates on who will go where in the draft and free agency. 

FanDuel’s NHL Draft markets are a good barometer of the overall sentiment surrounding the top five picks.

If the market movement is any indication, the Mammoth are poised to add Desnoyers to an impressive core group with the fourth overall pick in the 2025 NHL Entry Draft.