Stock Up, Stock Down for NHL Lottery Teams After Draft Order Is Set
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It’s time to transform a franchise.
The 2024 edition of the NHL’s draft lottery came and went on Tuesday evening at a TV studio in northern New Jersey and the presumed No. 1 pick at the late June selection meeting in Las Vegas—reigning Hobey Baker Award winner Macklin Celebrini—is set to begin contacting realtors for a new home in northern California.
The San Jose Sharks suffered through their least successful season since 1995-96, winning just 19 times in 82 games to “capture” the No. 32 overall position five points clear of the next worst team, the Chicago Blackhawks. Chicago was a big lottery winner in 2023, jumping from third position to first to grab Connor Bedard.
San Jose’s was the logo flipped by deputy commissioner Bill Daly to make the top slot official just before 7 p.m. and the Sharks will be followed by the Blackhawks and Anaheim Ducks. In fact, all 16 slots will go according to reverse standings order, though the Sharks will also pick at No. 14 after acquiring that position from Pittsburgh in a trade for Erik Karlsson.
“I was thrilled. It’s a big moment for the organization and the fans here,” Sharks general manager Mike Grier said. “It was a tough year for us and to have this opportunity we couldn’t be more excited.”
The B/R hockey team went right to work in the aftermath to make Stock Up or Stock Down calls on selected lottery teams, based on Tuesday’s results and other pertinent factors.
Take a look at what we came up with and drop a thought of your own in the comments.
San Jose Sharks: Stock Up
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Pre-Lottery Position: 1 (25.5 percent chance to get first pick)
Post-Lottery Position: 1
The Sharks had nowhere to go but down in Tuesday’s lottery but their (slightly better than) one-in-four chance came through to give them a chance to select Celebrini, who’ll presumably become the first reigning Hobey Baker winner selected first overall.
It’s the first time in the No. 1 slot for the Sharks, who used a No. 2 pick to draft longtime stalwart Patrick Marleau in 1997 and were rewarded with 522 goals across 20-plus seasons.
“San Jose is an amazing organization,” said Celebrini, whose father has been employed by the NBA’s Golden State Warriors. “I lived there growing up. If I’m fortunate enough to get drafted there I’d be very lucky.”
Chicago Blackhawks: Stock Up
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Pre-Lottery Position: 2 (13.5 percent chance to get first pick)
Post-Lottery Position: 2
No team has had the No. 1 pick in consecutive years since the Florida Panthers in 2002 and 2003 so it’s no great shock that it didn’t happen again for the Blackhawks, though it would have been instantly cool to see Celebrini teamed with Bedard.
It’s still a win for GM Kyle Davidson anyway, though, because he’ll have a chance to choose from a number of potentially significant prospects, including a handful of defensemen to perhaps help shore up what were the league’s fourth-worst goals-against (3.52) and shots-against (32,7) averages.
Anaheim Ducks: Stock Up
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Pre-Lottery Position: 3 (11.5 percent chance to get first pick)
Post-Lottery Position: 3
It’s a similar tale in Anaheim for Ducks GM Pat Verbeek, who’s already got a boatload of young talent in the system and will land another stud at No. 3.
The Ducks neither scored (third-worst in goals per game) nor defended (also third-worst in goals allowed) in 2023-24 so they could conceivably add another skilled forward or dive into the aforementioned pool of defensemen.
Among those mentioned on Tuesday’s broadcast by draft analyst Sam Cosentino were KHL player Anton Silayev, collegian Artyom Levshunov, and Canadian junior Zayne Parekh.
Utah (formerly Arizona Coyotes): Stock Up
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Pre-Lottery Position: 6 (7.5 percent chance to get first pick)
Post-Lottery Position: 6
Gentlemen, start your conspiracies.
The franchise formerly known as the Arizona Coyotes will begin its new era in Utah this fall and a photo of the supposed draft order that made the rounds Tuesday afternoon suggested it’d do so after moving up from sixth to second in the draft order.
But when Daly flipped the card for No. 6, it was the Utah hockey team’s name being called.
The tinfoil hat crowd is conveniently suggesting the leaked photo prompted the league to revert back to a reverse standings setup, but even the sixth-best player in the draft will spike the excitement in the league’s newest city as it rallies around what was already a team with some promising young players.
Buy. Buy. Buy.
Philadelphia Flyers: Stock Down
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Pre-Lottery Position: 12 (5.1 percent chance to get second pick)
Post-Lottery Position: 12
Like each of the 11 teams before them, the Flyers presumably came and left Tuesday with exactly the same draft board. No move up. No move down.
But if you’re a trader looking for a deal it’s hard not to be meh on Philadelphia, where coach John Tortorella had an otherwise pedestrian team in legitimate playoff contention until a late-season swoon ultimately saw them eliminated on the last day.
The roster is respectable but hardly transcendent, no immediate help is likely from the 12 spot, and the long-term goaltending is in question with the future of Carter Hart in limbo for at least the time being after allegations in connection with a Hockey Canada scandal.
Pittsburgh Penguins: Stock Down
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Pre-Lottery Position: 14 (1.5 percent chance to get fourth pick)
Post-Lottery Position: None
The lottery proceedings knocked the Penguins out of the first round after they were officially slotted 14th. Had Pittsburgh slid into the top 10 it would have retained the position and sent a pick to San Jose next season but now GM Kyle Dubas finds himself with an aging roster and without a first-round pick after just missing the playoffs for the second straight season.
