Well you asked for chaos, and chaos you got from the NHL brain trust in charge of putting the Draft Lottery that we witnessed on Friday June 26 together. Yes, it brought viewership to the NHL platform for sure but the way it ended up with a potential playoff caliber team winning the top pick is all the proof most needed to call for a revised system going forward. Not since the 2005 Sidney Crosby draft has there been so much backlash with an outcome.
Teams like Detroit and Ottawa both felt the sting of being hurdled in the chase for top selection, which is to say will delay the plans these bottom dwelling franchises had to get out of the NHL basement.
With that done, there is still the unanswered question of who gets the top selection and a franchise winger in Rimouski’s Alexis Lafreniere? Well we figured we would use our new and updated Draft simulator to provide one possible answer to this question. And it just so happened it is one of the best outcomes available that popped up when we hit the “lottery” button.
So there you have it. To summarize Montreal gets their home grown star, LA gets their future top-line centre, Ottawa grabs a developing franchise playmaking centre and a two-way stud giving the Sens a formidable 1-2 punch down the middle, Detroit adds the drafts top defender and hopes he can help one of the porous defenses going forward, Anaheim adds one of the smartest wingers in the draft, New Jersey adds a defender that can feed the puck to some of their top end forwards and a top offensive forward who will likely play wing on the top line, Buffalo grabs their goal scoring winger, and Chicago picks up their potential franchise stopper of the future.
Please enjoy our simulator and post your own results on social media.