No luck for Sharks in lottery, settle for No. 11 pick
The San Jose Sharks didn't have any luck with the NHL Draft Lottery on Tuesday.
The Sharks, who had a 3.0 percent chance of winning the first lottery draw and earning the right to select first overall at the NHL Draft in July, did not improve their draft position for the first round and will select 11th overall.
The Sharks finished the regular season with the 11th-worst record in the NHL at 32-37-13. This will represent the 13th time that the Sharks have drafted inside the top 11. The last time the Sharks drafted at No. 11 was in 1994 when they selected forward Jeff Friesen.
The Montreal Canadiens won the lottery and will draft first overall. The Canadiens, owners of the NHL's worst record this season at 22-49-11, had the best odds of winning the lottery at 18.5 percent.
The New Jersey Devils moved up in the draft order, as they won the second lottery draw and grabbed the No. 2 overall selection. New
Jersey finished with the NHL's fifth-worst record this season at 27-46-9 and had an 8.8 percent chance of winning the second lottery draw.
The Arizona Coyotes will draft third overall, falling one spot after they had the second-worst record in the league at 25-50-7.
There was a 79.9 percent chance that the Sharks were going to remain at the No. 11 spot, a 13.4 percent
they would drop to 12th overall, and a 0.5 percent chance they would fall to 13th. There was also a 3.3 percent chance the Sharks would win the second lottery draw and draft No. 2 overall.
The draft lottery was held at the NHL Network studios in Secaucus, New Jersey.
The Sharks had the seventh overall selection last year and drafted Swedish center William Eklund, who could be in the NHL as soon as next season.
The 11th player taken in last year's draft, Cole Sillinger, had 31 points in 79
games for the Columbus Blue Jackets this season. The Sillinger pick is technically considered the 12th overall selection after Arizona had to forfeit its 2021 first-round selection for violating the NHL's Combine Testing Policy during the 2019-20 season.
Shane Wright, a center with Kingston of the OHL, is considered the top player available in this year's draft. The 6-foot-1, 185-pound Wright had 94 points in 63 regular-season games with the Kingston Frontenacs. He turned 18 in January.
Some players that could
be available to the Sharks at No. 11 include forwards Jonathan Lekkerimäki, Frank Nazar, Cutter Gauthier, Brad Lambert or Danila Yurov, or defensemen Kevin Korchinski or Owen Pickering.
The Sharks have chosen a forward with seven of their last eight first-round selections, a list that includes Tomas Hertl in 2012, Timo Meier in 2015 and Ozzy Wiesblatt in 2020. The exception was in 2018 when the Sharks took defenseman Ryan Merkley 21st overall. The Sharks didn't own first-round picks in 2016 and 2019.