“We’re just happy to be lucky”, he said.
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The Vancouver Canucks made the largest drop, slipping from third to fifth. “It feels good to win the lottery, but I wouldn’t go as far as saying it’s validation”.
The Toronto Maple Leafs had a league-best 20 percent chance at winning the draft lottery, and indeed, the odds were in their favor, much to the chagrin of Sabres fans. The Bruins are slated to get the 14th overall pick this year, but there is a chance the Black and Gold may find themselves a lot higher up in the draft pool.
The Flames and Canucks have never done so. Should their luck correlate the increased odds, they should get the first overall pick. Heading into the Draft Lottery, the Coyotes chances of winning the the first overall pick were at 6.5 percent. Vancouver has only an 11.5 per cent chance of landing the top spot, Calgary a touch below that at 8.5 per cent. “By the time poker took over near the end of my career, I was reading books and doing my own thing”.
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Benning concurred, noting the possibility of the Canucks falling as low as the sixth overall pick and the preparation that comes with potentially picking lower.
Both Finnish wingers are big, speedy and skilled and appear to be can’t miss National Hockey League prospects who could step into the National Hockey League next season, but if the Leafs follow the same patient development pattern as they did with Nylander (playing most of the year in the AHL), it is possible that Laine and Puljujarvi could play with the Toronto Marlies as 18-year-olds.
This year, the top pick is expected to be Auston Matthews.
“I agree in terms of maybe that Laine is a bit more Ovechkin in terms of shooting and acting extrovert as a bit of a showman sometimes on the ice and in interviews”, says Roost. But I liked the triple-layer lottery system, which is in place for the first time this year. “No, it wouldn’t”, Treliving said with a touch of sarcasm. He’s a talent. (But) he’s not the only talented player in this draft, there’s others. “So we’ll see how it all plays out”. “But obviously getting No. 1 certainly helps”. A trade is always an option and you can bet there will be speculation and rumors up until the draft, but trading for the first pick would not come cheap.
Montreal’s philosophy is to select the best player available, but there probably should be at least a nod to the team’s needs for size and scoring on the front end and that brings up Logan Brown, the son of former NHLer Jeff Brown. When Vancouver was announced with the #5 pick, it was known that Columbus could do no worse than hold the #4 position, and when the dreaded Edmonton Oilers logo appeared at #4, the entire hockey world breathed a sigh of relief. As a result of this change, the team with the fewest points during the regular season was no longer guaranteed, at worst, the second pick. The lottery used to be for just the first overall pick. Of the 11 most recent winners of the Art Ross Trophy as the league’s top point-getter, nine were picked either first, second or third in the draft.
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All clubs that did not qualify for this season’s Stanley Cup Playoffs, or clubs that acquired the first-round picks of those nonplayoff clubs, will participate.
