The Nashville Predators have a franchise-record three first-round picks in the 2025 NHL Draft, including a selection at No. 5 overall , which they were assigned at the NHL's draft lottery.

While Nashville won't be picking at No. 1 overall — that will be the New York Islanders , who beat the odds in the lottery May 5 to climb from No. 10 — assistant general manager and director of scouting Jeff Kealty is confident the team will land a top player.

"We're in a good spot," he said to reporters at Bridgestone Arena on May 6.

Kealty was joined at the media availability by chief amateur scout Tom Nolan, who has been with the organization since 2008. Nolan described a chaotic scouting season — they had to adjust schedules in the second half of the season in order to focus on more top-10 prospects as the Predators ' season went into a tailspin.

"It would have been nice to get No. 1," Nolan said. "But we're going to get a good player at 5, we know that."

What position will the Predators take with the No. 5 overall pick?

The last time the Predators selected in the top five was in 2013, when they took defenseman Seth Jones out of the Portland Winterhawks.

This time, it sounds like they will target a center, a long-coveted position for the franchise.

"We want to draft who we think is the best player, that's always the goal, but everybody knows we could use a center," Kealty said. "There happen to be a lot of centers at the top of the draft, so that could line up well."

The top overall player available, according to NHL Central Scouting , is Erie Otters defenseman Matthew Schaefer. Following him are forwards Michael Misa (Saginaw Spirit), James Hagens (Boston College) and Jake O'Brien (Brantford Bulldogs).

When the Predators make their first pick, there will be several intriguing forward prospects, including winger Porter Martone (Brampton Bulldogs), center Caleb Desnoyers (Moncton Wildcats), center Roger McQueen (Brandon Wheat Kings), and two international forward prospects — winger Victor Eklund and center Anton Frondell, both from Djurgardens IF in Sweden.

Kealty said they'll take a "best player available" approach, acknowledging that they'll lean toward a center when they select.

"Our job is to order them as best we can," he said. "You can never go wrong with taking the best player."

Will the Predators try to move up in the draft?

During his comments on May 5, general manager Barry Trotz suggested using one of the team's 10 picks to leverage an upward move in the draft.

With two late first-round picks — one courtesy of the San Jose Sharks from the Yaroslav Askarov trade, the other from the Tampa Bay Lightning in the Tanner Jeannot trade — the Predators could package one or both to move up and add a more impactful player.

"It really depends on how the draft falls," Kealty said. "Our job right now is to put together the best order that we see fit. It's a step process. We build the list, build the order, then come up with a strategy. How we want to attack that list every year is different."

Last year, the Predators tried to move up in the draft before taking forward Egor Surin at No. 22. But this year, because they already have a top-five pick, they can be more selective with their draft capital.

If they don't end up trading their late first-round picks, they already have sights on a couple of options — including at least one goaltender.

"I would like to think we're going to draft a goaltender or two here this year, just have to figure out where and when," Kealty said.

Joshua Ravensbergen (Prince George, Western Hockey League) is the top-ranked goaltender and projects as a late first-round selection. The top international goaltender prospect is Pyotr Andreyanov of Krasnaya Armiya Moskva in Russia.

Alex Daugherty is the Predators beat writer for The Tennessean. Contact Alex at . Follow Alex on X, the platform formerly called Twitter, @alexdaugherty1 . Also check out our Predators exclusive Instagram page @tennessean_preds .