Draft Lottery Tonight
2010 NHL Draft Lottery logoOver half the league is preparing for the playoffs which finally start tomorrow. Best time of year for hockey fans! Meanwhile, the LG NHL Draft Lottery takes place tonight at 8 eastern.
It will be televised live on Versus in the U.S. and even has its own logo and sponsorship. A bit odd, but I guess it's a spectacle now that it's on TV. I want my Draft Lottery 2010 t-shirt now.
So who's up for that No. 1 pick? The best my Lightning can do is No. 2 after finishing 25th overall. Edmonton (25%), Boston (18.8%), Florida (14.2%), Columbus (10.7%) and the Islanders (8.1%) have a chance. Anyone else wins the lottery and the top pick goes to the Oilers automatically.
So why is Boston so high? Despite finishing with the 6th spot in the playoffs, they did trade Phil Kessel to the Maple Leafs this season in exchange for their 1st round picks this year and in 2011. Too bad for Toronto.
If you're unable to watch the drawing, check back later tonight as I do plan on posting the selection order. Any excuse to post a list of NHL logos, I guess.
Chris
Okay, so I did something I don't usually do and knowing most of you, it's not going to be popular, but I'm used to it by now. I've injected my pathetic, ill-informed opinion into the blog, cobbled together from the CSS ranking and other random things I've read. Feel free to ignore it or tell me why I'm wrong.
Otherwise, below is a list of the teams getting the top 14 picks at the L.A. draft in June. Also included in the table is an at-a-glance look at where each team was placed in last year's draft and who they took in Round 1. TMI? Maybe.
| Draft Rank | Team | My Lame Prediction 2009 1st round picks | |
|---|---|---|---|
 | 1 | Edmonton Oilers | Taylor Hall(10) Magnus Paajarvi-Svensson |
 | 2 | Boston Bruins | Tyler Seguin(25) Jordan Caron |
 | 3 | Florida Panthers | Cam Fowler(14) Dmitri Kulikov |
 | 4 | Columbus Blue Jackets | Brett Connolly(21) John Moore |
 | 5 | New York Islanders | Erik Gudbranson(1) John Tavares (12) Calvin de Haan |
 | 6 | Tampa Bay Lightning | Mark Pysyk(2) Victor Hedman (29) Carter Ashton |
 | 7 | Carolina Hurricanes | Emerson Etem(27) Philippe Paradis |
 | 8 | Atlanta Thrashers | Brandon Gormley(4) Evander Kane |
 | 9 | Minnesota Wild | Ryan Johansen(16) Nick Leddy |
 | 10 | New York Rangers | Derek Forbort(19) Chris Kreider |
 | 11 | Dallas Stars | Austin Watson(8) Scott Glennie |
 | 12 | Anaheim Ducks | Alexander Burmistrov(15) Peter Holland (26) Kyle Palmieri |
 | 13 | Phoenix Coyotes | Nino Niederreiter(6) Oliver Ekman-Larsson |
 | 14 | St. Louis Blues | Stanislav Galiev(17) David Rundblad |
Reader Comments (15)
Nice blurb Chris - you Logopportunist.
Why not a shout-out on the recent Mike Modano gesture when he wore a North Stars jersey much to the delight of fans in Minnesota?
A few other times players have gone retro: Sakic when the Avs played a preseason game in Quebec, Selanne when he played a preseason in Winterpeg.
Technically the Oilers have a 48.2% chance at getting the top pick (their , plus the that a team outside the top 6 could 'win' the lotto).
My friend is Tyler Seguin's billet... Tyler thinks he's going first so hopefully he beats out Hall
what exactly is the point of the draft lottery? It seems only fair that the worst team in the nhl would get the first pick.
The point I believe is so that teams that are in, say, 25th or 26th spot will not be motivated to lose games to drop down to a lower spot to be higher in the draft.
no point in saying to bad for toronto
phil kessel is proven scorer at the nhl level and is only 22 years old
where a draft is no guarantee
any one know where alex daigle is anymore?
...even though it usually pans out that way...
Totally agree with strike anywhere. I know seguin is likely to be a star in the NHL (Hall's going to Oil), Kessel has already proven he can play at the NHL level and is less of a gamble
...when he's healthy. All I remember is Kessel getting his bell rung by Ohlund in his first game back earlier in the year. But yeah, absolutely Kessel was worth losing what would otherwise be a gamble. No question about it.
The thing about the Kessel trade for the Bruins is that Boston's scouting staff clearly knew that this year's draft is deep. They must have also known that Toronto needs more than one fairly good player to succeed, and it was clear that they didn't. Win for Boston.
Hey, just a heads up to all you Jersey guys, Howie Rose, Isles announcer mentioned during the last game that the Isles will unveil their matching whites at the draft when Brett Connelly puts it on.
Intresting Chris you are a Lightning fan and you chose Psyk. I live in Edmonton and have watched quite a few games of his with the OilKings, Psyk is a solid Dman with a good head on his shoulders, not a ton of offensive upside but he is exactly what the Bolts need. I still think he is a bit raw still and may take a long time to develop, but he definatly has a huge upside. I would be happy if the Lightning took him because I want Psyk to have a good carrer and I like the Lightning for taking out the hated Flames in 2004.
Where the Kessel trade will be won or lost is on next seasons pick. Either Hall or Seguin have the potentail to be as good or better than Kessel. If that happens, AND the Bruins get another good pick next year thanks to a dismal season by Toronto... the Deal becomes very one-sided in Boston's favour!
No way Nino Neiderrieter falls to 13th.
There is NO guarantee that Hall is an Oiler. I think Seguin is who they take.