Four Canadian teams eye big lottery prize

league have circulated on social media all season, is said by scouts to have enough talent to transform an NHL franchise.

Buffalo is due, having finished last overall but losing the lottery in 2014, when Aaron Ekblad went first to Florida, and 2015, when Edmonton got Connor McDavid, back when the lottery was only for the first pick.

Then again, only seven last-place teams have won since the first lottery in 1995, although some still got the top pick because, until 2012, the winner could move up a maximum of four spots in the draft order.

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 the arrival of Elias Pettersson, who set the junior-aged scoring record in the Swedish league this season. Adding another Swedish star to go with 21-yearold phenom Brock Boeser would make things interesting indeed.

There will be groans everywhere except northern Alberta if the Oilers win yet another lottery. But if it happens, the 30 other teams can contemplate how to stop a Dahlin-McDavid combination.

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.