Senators fans find hope in draft lottery
From an inability to score to allowing bad goals to collapsing in pressure moments, the Ottawa Senators’ negatives are there for everyone to see.
The situation is as treacherous as a deep freeze following a cycle of rain and freezing rain. Where do you find your footing?
With 36 games remaining in the already lost NHL season, the only suspense is about who will be leaving the mess before the Feb. 26 trade deadline.
It’s turn the page time, time to wonder about what can possibly be gained from the carnage.
As the question becomes how low can the Senators go, the NHL draft lottery looms on the calendar. What has become the Rasmus Dahlin sweepstakes will come at some point in late April.
Perhaps it’s time for a refresher on the process.
All 15 non-playoff teams have a chance to select first overall. The odds are best for the team with the worst record with the odds of securing the top pick steadily declining from two through 15.
At this point, the league-worst Arizona Coyotes (six points behind the Senators) have an 18 per cent chance of winning the right to draft Dahlin, followed by the Buffalo Sabres (four points behind the Senators) at 12.5 per cent.
The Senators, with the league’s third-fewest points, have a 10.5 per cent shot at top pick. (The Senators traded their first-round pick to Colorado in the Matt Duchene trade, but maintained the option to transfer the pick to 2019, which is surely the choice general manager Pierre Dorion will make).
Interestingly, the team with the worst record and the best odds has not secured the top pick in five of the past six years. In 2015, the Edmonton Oilers landed first choice and star centre Connor McDavid even though they had finished ahead of the Buffalo Sabres and Coyotes in the 201415 standings. Last April, the New Jersey Devils won the lottery despite having the fourth-worst record, then selected Nico Hischier first overall.
There will be two additional lotteries to determine who picks second and third. Philadelphia, which finished with the 12thworst record in 2016-17, vaulted up to second before choosing Nolan Patrick. In the drawing for third spot, Dallas jumped from having the eighth-best odds and took Miro Heiskanen. Because of all that, Colorado ended up with the fourth pick despite having had the worst record.
If you want to have some fun while waiting for the Senators to take on the seemingly unstoppable Boston Bruins on Thursday night, check out the NHL Draft Lottery Simulator. For what it’s worth, the sixth time we ran it, the Senators came up aces.
The last time the Senators had a top-five selection, they chose Jason Spezza second overall in 2001 after acquiring that pick in the trade that sent Alexei Yashin to the New York Islanders. The last time the Senators had the top pick, in 1996, they chose Chris Phillips.