LeBrun: For Leafs fans, it makes up a bit for last year’s lottery when, at one point during the actual drawing that night, it was revealed Toronto had the best odds left of any team to win the top pick but it still ended up going to the Edmonton Oilers – such is the randomness of course of which ball gets picked despite said odds.
Advertisement
The Edmonton Oilers, who have won three of the past six lotteries and have chosen No. 1 in four of past six drafts, finished with the second-worst point total and have a 13.5-percent chance of winning; they were assigned 135 four-number combinations.
1 overall pick, beating out the Winnipeg Jets, who did beat some nice odds to move into the top three.
Columbus Blue Jackets: 9.5%.
Teams in need of some offensive punch targeting the likes of prospects Matthew Tkachuk, Pierre-Luc Dobois and Alex Nylander could try to move up and pursue the fourth-overall pick from Edmonton.
After winning the NHL Draft Lottery last night the Toronto Maple Leafs focus will now shift to the off-season.
If you’re wondering why the Canucks aren’t picking fourth – it’s because the Oilers dropped down from the second-overall-position to the number four pick, domino effect. In basketball, all fifteen non-playoff teams are placed in order via lottery selection. The Blue Jackets garnered the #3 overall selection in the June Entry Draft, meaning that a truly elite talent will be joining the roster in the near future.
“We earned this the hard way”. Toronto claimed the first pick, Winnipeg the second, Columbus the third. “We have a good idea who that player is, but I think that’s something that we’ll discuss more as a group and sort of confirm some of the things we already think”.
General manager Brian Burke and the Flames were originally in position to pick fifth overall, yet with the Jets jumping them Calgary will now select sixth.
Team president Brendan Shanahan wouldn’t provide any hints as to which player the Leafs might select, but Matthews, listed at 6-foot-2 and 194 pounds, is rated by NHL Central Scouting as the draft’s top prospect. The American Center who spent this year playing professional hockey in Switzerland is a force offensively and should follow in the shoes of Connor McDavid and become an impact player in year one.
With the Zurich Lions in the Swiss National League A, Matthews checked in with 24 goals and 46 points in 36 games.
Matthews hasn’t played since March, but will have an opportunity to showcase his talents by representing the United States at the world hockey championships in Russian Federation next month.
It’ll be the first lottery held under the league’s new system, which gives all 14 non-playoff teams a chance to win the top pick.
This year, though, Canada’s six other teams will all be getting a chance at the top pick, too, after missing the playoffs to put them in the draft lottery.
Advertisement
Those three names are worth remembering because, for the first time in history, the top three picks, not just the No. 1, are up for grabs. The addictive site allows visitors to run the lottery as many times as they want, to see how often each team wins.
