NHL Draft Lottery 2018: All you need to know + open thread
When/how/why to watch, so you can be prepared for maximum anger!
Since the season ended, fans of the Ottawa Senators have had one postseason date in the backs of their minds: the draft lottery. Well now we know that the lottery runs tonight! Here’s everything you need to know:
Where: CBC, NBC, TVAS
When: 7:30 pm EST - picks 4-15 will be unveiled; second intermission of Knights/Sharks (around 9:45 p.m.) - picks 1-3 will be unveiled
That’s right, the picks will be released in two waves. During the evening pre-game, we’ll find out everyone who didn’t win the lottery. Then during the second intermission, we’ll find out the order of the teams who did win the lottery.
What we know is that the Sens can’t finish any lower than fifth. If they finish fourth, that means the Sabres won one of the top-three picks. With Rasmus Dahlin the consensus number-one, and with Andrei Svechnikov and Filip Zadina the likely nos. 2 and 3, finish in the top-three could make a big difference. So we’ll know by 7:45 or so if we need to get angry about the NHL rigging the process against small market franchises, but if the Sens aren’t announced yet, we’ll have to wait and see if the Sens will have a chance to replace Karlsson with Dahlin add Dahlin to a blue line with Erik Karlsson.
Here’s the full list of odds:
Draft Lottery Odds
| Rank | Post-Lottery Results | Original Team | Odds (%) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | TBD | Buffalo Sabres | 18.5 |
| 2 | TBD | Ottawa Senators | 13.5 |
| 3 | TBD | Arizona Coyotes | 11.5 |
| 4 | Ottawa Senators | Montreal Canadiens | 9.5 |
| 5 | Arizona Coyotes | Detroit Red Wings | 8.5 |
| 6 | Detroit Red Wings | Vancouver Canucks | 7.5 |
| 7 | Vancouver Canucks | Chicago Blackhawks | 6.5 |
| 8 | Chicago Blackhawks | New York Rangers | 6.0 |
| 9 | New York Rangers | Edmonton Oilers | 5.0 |
| 10 | Edmonton Oilers | New York Islanders | 3.5 |
| 11 | New York Islanders | Carolina Hurricanes | 3.0 |
| 12 | Calgary Flames (pick to NYI) | Calgary Flames | 2.5 |
| 13 | Dallas Stars | Dallas Stars | 2.0 |
| 14 | St. Louis Blues | St. Louis Blues | 1.5 |
| 15 | Florida Panthers | Florida Panthers | 1.0 |
If you’re interested in seeing how a 13.5% chance of winning feels, you can try out the Draft Lottery Simulator.
So make sure to join us here for the draft lottery open thread! And stick around this page for updates on what happens for the Sens’ pick.
