For the second straight year, the team that held the highest odds of winning the draft lottery has done so. The Buffalo Sabres won the lottery last year and selected Own Power first overall. The Montreal Canadiens had the best odds of winning during yesterday’s draft lottery and the did just that.
The New Jersey Devils moved up a spot to number two and the Arizona Coyotes will pick three, the Seattle Kraken four and the Philadelphia Flyers five.
The Columbus Blue Jackets will pick sixth courtesy of the trade with the Chicago Black Hawks in the Seth Jones trade giving Columbus two picks in the top twelve. The Buffalo Sabres will have two picks in the top sixteen after receiving the Vegas Golden Knights pick in the Jack Eichel deal.
Usually at this point of the draft lottery, we know where the sixteen teams to miss the playoffs will select. But because the Colorado Avalanche swept the Nashville Predators in the Playoffs and the Preds were the lowest seeded team among the sixteen playoff teams, we know that they will be guaranteed the seventeenth spot.
Most of the remaining spots will not be determined until much later in the playoffs with a few exceptions. We know the Calgary Flames, Carolina Hurricanes, Colorado Avalanche and Florida Panthers will be selecting 25th, 26th, 27th and 28th respectively as regular season division champions unless they advance to the Conference Finals. The Panthers traded their pick to the Sabres in the 2021 deal for Sam Reinhart, the Avs traded their pick to the Yotes in the Darcy Kuemper deal, the Canes pick went to the Canadiens as compensation for the Jesperi Kotkaniemi offer sheet and then traded to the Yotes in the Christian Dvorak deal and the Flames sent their pick to the Canadiens in the Tyler Toffoli trade.
Here’s a look at the last time the teams held their current draft pick and who they selected:
As for your Boston Bruins, they traded their first-round pick in the Hampus Lindholm deal. Where their remaining picks fall will be determined later on in the playoffs.
Dom - Hockey 