Dahlin day in NHL has arrived
Lottery to decide who gets top pick
The Rasmus Dahlin sweepstakes are set to go.
The fate of the flashy Swedish defenceman — the consensus choice to be selected first overall in the NHL draft in June — will be decided at the NHL draft lottery on Saturday night in Toronto.
The Ottawa Senators, Montreal Canadiens, Vancouver Canucks and Edmonton Oilers are among the 15 non-playoff teams with a shot at the top pick.
But while some fans urged their teams to Reek For Rasmus to boost their chances, finishing last overall no longer guarantees a top pick.
Once again, there will be draws for the top three picks. Last year, New Jersey won the right to select Nico Hischier first overall despite having only the fifth-best chance, while Philadelphia jumped from 13th to get the second pick (Nolan Patrick) and eighth-seeded Dallas landed the third pick (Miro Heiskanen).
Colorado finished last overall, but were bumped to fourth.
This year, the last-place Buffalo Sabres have the best odds of landing the first pick at 18.5 per cent followed by Ottawa at 13.5 per cent, the Arizona Coyotes at 11.5 per cent and Montreal at 9.5 per cent.
The Canucks have the sixth-best chance at 7.5 per cent with the Oilers, who have won four of the last eight lotteries, ninth at five per cent.
Teams that don’t get the first pick may still have a shot at some excellent prospects at second or third overall, including Barrie Colts winger Andrei Svechnikov, who had 40 goals in 44 Ontario Hockey League games, Halifax Mooseheads slick forward Filip Zadina or more physical Boston University winger Brady Tkachuk.
But the 6-2 Dahlin, whose dazzling moves for Frolunda in Sweden’s top league have circulated on social media all season, is said by scouts to have enough talent to transform an NHL franchise.
For the Sabres, winning the lottery could put the crowning piece on a rebuild that has seen them land Rasmus Ristolainen, Sam Reinhart, Jack Eichel, Alex Nylander and Casey Mittelstadt with firstround picks in their last five drafts.
Landing Dahlin would be a relief for Ottawa, which is agonizing over whether it can re-sign star defenceman Erik Karlsson.
Montreal has a gaping hole on defence since the departure of Andrei Markov. Dahlin could slip into the left defence spot next to Shea Weber and fix that.
The Canucks are already awaiting Elias Pettersson, who set the junior-aged scoring record in the Swedish league this season. Adding another Swedish star to go with 21-year-old phenom Brock Boeser would make things interesting.
There will be groans everywhere except northern Alberta if the Oilers win yet another lottery.
The Calgary Flames would have had a 2.5 per cent chance, but they sent their first pick to the New York Islanders in the Travis Hamonic deal. The Isles also have their own pick, which carries 3.5 per cent lottery odds.
Other teams with a shot are Detroit (8.5 per cent), Chicago (6.5), the Rangers (6.0), Carolina (3.0), Dallas (2.0) Philadelphia (from St. Louis, 1.5) and Florida (1.0).