It has been six weeks since Phase 1 of the NHL Draft Lottery, one that resulted in good news for the Kings and abject chaos for the rest of the league.
In case you have forgotten, the first pick in the NHL Draft was won by a placeholder team, one that would be decided upon the conclusion of the best-of-five qualifying round. Instead of each team having weighted odds based on their finish to the regular season — you know, the way the actual lottery works — each eliminated team will have an equal chance (12.5%) of earning the No. 1 pick and the rights to select Alexis Lafrenière.
The eight teams that lost in the best-of-five round, and the eight teams currently eligible for the first overall pick are (in decreasing order of win percentage): Pittsburgh, Edmonton, Toronto, Florida, Nasvhille, New York, Winnipeg, and Minnesota.
Four of those teams (Penguins, Oilers, Maple Leafs, and Predators) were upset in the opening round, but have a chance at a silver lining with the lottery.
Lottery Phase 2 Information
When: Monday, Aug. 10 at 3 p.m. PDT
How to watch: NHL Network, NBSCN, Sportsnet, TVAS
The winner of the first overall pick will be announced today with commissioner Gary Bettman pulling the lottery ball of the winning team from the machine live on air. It promises to be must-see television, though it’s still a little disappointing that Sean McIndoe’s suggestion of revealing all the eliminated teams first was not utilized. Ahh, the drama.
From a Kings perspective, keeping Lafrenière in the Eastern Conference is probably best case scenario, though Pittsburgh is already too good to add another player of his caliber. The ideal landing spot would probably be Toronto or New York — get him into a big market, but one that has a tendency of screwing things up. Florida would be an interesting choice as well as a way to maybe bring some relevance to that franchise.
Who would you like to see win the No. 1 pick? And who would be the worst option? Let us know in the comments.