The NHL draft lottery happened a couple of hours ago and boy… was it a doozy. Some really crazy and interesting moments happened. Last night’s lottery was so out of the ordinary that that Pierre Lebrun tweeted “Holy Mama”.
Let’s break down the biggest winners and losers of last night:
Winners: LA Kings
The Kings of LA had some “kings luck” and was blessed to move up from 4th selection to now the 2nd selection. They went from taking someone like Jamie Drysdale who is good but are likely going to take an elite talent in Quinton Byfield. Yea, they are definitely sitting pretty where they are, especially given their great prospect pool.
Winners: Play in losers
Yes, as crazy as it sounds the teams that lose their series are actually not in a bad spot. Teams like Montreal and Chicago are being rewarded for having non-playoff seasons with a chance at a cup or the number one draft pick. Losing your series actually isn’t that bad because you have a 12.5 percent chance of getting the pick thanks to pick “E”.
Losers: Ottawa Senators
Okay, to think they were getting the first and second picks was a pipe dream but they had the 2nd and 4th best odds at the first pick and a cumulative 25% chance at 1. But to fall to 3 and 5 is a little bit of a letdown. It’s not horrific as they have 2 top 5 picks and can get some great talent. It just stings to not get the best.
Losers: Buffalo Sabres
These past two weeks for the Sabres have not been ideal nor welcoming. 22 organization employees were fired in a house cleaning. One of their best players ever is not happy with the team. To add injury to insult, the team is dropping from 7 to 8 in the lottery. Not the worst but definitely a loss to a struggling franchise.
Biggest Losers: Detroit Red Wings
Oh jeez, where are Steve Yzermans resignation papers. They tanked very hard and got well got screwed. They got their worst possible outcome at 4. They had a minus -122 goal differential. That’s very, very bad and they don’t get what they worked so hard for. They got 4 when they had an 18% chance at 1. This set the franchise back a little.
Photo: NHL.com
