Share this Story: TRAIKOS: NHL Draft Lottery results not all bad news for Senators, but all eyes are on Jack Hughes TRAIKOS: NHL Draft Lottery results not all bad news for Senators, but all eyes are on Jack Hughes Article content TORONTO — Breathe a sigh of relief, Ottawa Senators fans. For once, the team received a bit of good news from the hockey gods. Well, sort of. We apologize, but this video has failed to load. tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or TRAIKOS: NHL Draft Lottery results not all bad news for Senators, but all eyes are on Jack Hughes Back to video Having traded away this year’s first-round draft pick to Colorado in a November 2017 trade for Matt Duchene, the fear all season long was that the team would finish last and end up gifting the Avalanche the No. 1 overall pick. Half of that prediction came true. But luckily for Ottawa, which had the worst record in the NHL, it wasn’t the second-half. The New Jersey Devils won the NHL’s Draft Lottery on Tuesday night, moving up from third to first-overall, while the New York Rangers (sixth-best odds) won the second overall pick and the Chicago Blackhawks (12th-best odds) won the third overall pick. That meant that the last-place Senators, which had an 18.5% of winning the lottery — and even better odds of picking in the top-3 — ended up giving the Avalanche the fourth-overall pick. Advertisement Story continues below This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Article content It’s still a loss for a rebuilding team. But for the Senators, who a year ago decided on keeping the fourth-overall pick in 2018, which they used on talented rookie Brady Tkachuk, and then rolled the dice that this year’s selection wouldn’t be any better, it ended up being a worthwhile gamble. The Avalanche might still end up with a talented player. But at least it’s not Jack Hughes. Edmonton, which will pick eighth overall, and Vancouver, 10th, each dropped down a spot. The Canadiens stayed at 15th overall. And while Chicago was the biggest winner in terms of moving up, the team that really lucked out was New Jersey. For the second time in three years, the Devils will pick first. You can partially thank Devils forward Taylor Hall for that. In five of the past nine years, the NHL team he has played for has ended up winning the top pick. Advertisement Story continues below This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Article content “He’s our lottery guru,” joked Devils GM Ray Shero. In 2017, the Devils moved up four spots and shocked the scouting world by selecting centre Nico Hischier first overall. This time around, don’t expect another surprise. Though Shero wouldn’t share his plans for the NHL Entry Draft on June 21 in Vancouver, he did mention that American-born centre Hughes is “projected to go first overall.” “I’ve seen Jack play for a long time,” said Shero, who wouldn’t fully commit his plans for the Vancouver draft. “It’s hard right after this to talk about it, because there are so many great young players in this draft … certainly for us, we recognize that Jack’s a great young player and it’s just an exciting night for our franchise.” Advertisement Story continues below This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Article content Also in the mix is Finnish winger Kaapo Kakko, with Russian winger Vasili Podkolzin, and Canadian centres Kirby Dach and Dylan Cozens rounding out the top-5. Is the 5-foot-10 and 166-pound Hughes NHL-ready? “That’s my goal,” said Hughes, who’s older brother, Quinn, was selected seventh overall in last year’s draft and made his NHL debut two weeks ago with the Vancouver Canucks. “I’m focused on playing in the NHL next year. I feel like I could do it. With the way the game is now, how it’s speed and skill, I feel like my game translates perfectly to that.” An undersized centre, Hughes’ strength is his skating ability. He has spent the past two summers working out with the same skating skills coaches as Hall and Connor McDavid, but said his game is more Patrick Kane meets Mathew Barzal with a dash of Mitch Marner. Advertisement Story continues below This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Article content “For me, my biggest things are my inner drive, my competitiveness,” said Hughes, who was born in Orlando, but grew up in Mississauga, Ont., while his dad was working as a development coach with the Toronto Maple Leafs. “I want to score, I want to score every shift and make a play happen. But I mean, obviously I’m a smaller, skilled, speed player. I translate really well. I like to say I play like Patrick Kane a little bit, but I feel I’m more of a Mat Barzal in how I carve through the neutral zone, lug the puck, and find my teammates. I feel that’s more my game.” If selected first overall, Hughes would become only the second No. 1 pick to get drafted straight out of the U.S. National Team Development Program, which previously graduated Auston Matthews and Kane to the NHL. In 41 games this season, the 17-year-old scored 23 goals and 86 points, while also becoming the all-time leading scorer at the program with 197 points over two seasons. Advertisement Story continues below This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Article content When asked if he always wanted to become a star player, Hughes laughed. “I mean, I didn’t really dream of being a grinder,” he said. “You always want to be the best player. That’s the competitive nature taking over. I’ve always wanted to be a star player, win individual awards. But the end goal is Stanley Cups. You want to have as much impact as you can.” Of course, winning the lottery isn’t a sign that you a team will soon win the Cup.<doc-sep>The Canadian Press When Dalton Kellett first signed with A.J. Foyt Racing in early 2020, he spoke about wanting to learn from the team's wealth of experience on the IndyCar circuit. Kellett, from Stouffville, Ont., was able to draw on the Foyt team's collective knowledge on May 22 as he took the 30th and final spot in qualifying ahead of this Sunday's Indianapolis 500. Kellett thought he was outside of the top 30 qualifying laps when he was told by his team to move into the priority lane and take one more lap, which ultimately guaranteed him a spot on the starting grid at the premier race in the IndyCar season. "It's super competitive in IndyCar and sometimes other teams have been able to make it work for them and this time we were able to use our experience," said Kellett. "The team definitely tapped into the experienced managers and strategists that we have here." How Kellett made the cut is complicated. Kellett was holding on to the final spot on the qualifying grid, but sitting alone in his car he was under the mistaken impression that former Indy 500 champion Will Power had bumped him from No. 30 based on average qualifying lap time. However, Power’s most recent entry didn’t count because it was not one of the top 30 best times of Day 1 of qualifying. Sage Karam, RC Enerson, Kellett's teammate Charlie Kimball and Simona de Silvestro were also outside the top 30, hoping to bump Kellett. So when the Canadian moved into the priority lane and put himself out on the track for one last qualifying lap, all he had to do was not crash and hope De Silvestro’s final run didn’t best his. De Silvestro couldn't catch Kellett, putting two Canadians in the field. James Hinchliffe of Oakville, Ont., will start Sunday's race at the No. 16 spot. "As far as strategy calls, that was one of those cool moments," said Kellett. "Looking back at it it was the big drama for that day. "That's why qualifying is so exciting here for us and the fans." The 105th running of the Indianapolis 500 will be Kellett's second appearance in the race. Although he competed as a rookie in last year's event, 2020 wasn't a typical Indy 500. Because of COVID-19 restrictions the 2020 edition of the race was moved from its usual Memorial Day weekend spot on the IndyCar schedule to August. When it was held, most of the traditional pomp and circumstance was cancelled or altered and there were no fans in the stands. Kellett, who lives in Indianapolis, said that of all those customary practices he's most looking forward to sitting in on the driver's pre-race meeting, which is usually open to the public but was not in 2020. "No other race that we go to has that kind of thing where the fans come to the driver's meeting," said Kellett, who added he looks forward to the traditional pre-race parade returning in the future. This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 28, 2021. John Chidley-Hill, The Canadian Press<doc-sep>What didn’t go wrong for the Senators this season? (Yahoo Sports Canada//Ciaran Breen) For even the most decorated and accomplished horror writers, it would be almost impossible to script a worse year for a professional hockey team than the one the Ottawa Senators just endured. And the carnage hasn’t quite reached its conclusion just yet. After finishing last overall the Sens will have the best shot at the No. 1 pick when the NHL draft lottery balls are pulled on Tuesday. Normally, this would obviously be a very good omen for a club fully entrenched in a publicly proclaimed scorched-Earth rebuild, but absolutely nothing has been anywhere close to normal for the team and its fans this season, so why would this? Rather than reaping the rewards of their horrendous campaign and having the chance to take either of the highly-touted talents available — Jack Hughes and Kaapo Kakko — at the top-end of the draft, Ottawa will likely be stuck watching the Avalanche use the first-rounder they collected from the Sens in the Matt Duchene trade to pick what should’ve been their future franchise cornerstone. As far as season recaps go, this one is pretty dark — but there is a sliver of light, too, in the form of Brady Tkachuk, Thomas Chabot and Erik Brannstrom, who all look bound to be studs for a long time to come. So let’s get the gruesomeness out of the way first, shall we? Keep in mind the issues plaguing the Senators today go back to last season. It’s been a long 18-plus months in Ottawa, low-lighted by the departure of a franchise legend, a viral Uber video and an owner and GM becoming the symbols of the Senators’ demise. Simpler times. (Getty) The grimmest timeline there ever was November 2017 — Ottawa trades a bunch of assets, including a couple of top prospects and a first-round pick, and also had to deal Kyle Turris in order to get Matt Duchene. December 2017 — Citing attendance issues, owner Eugene Melnyk starts to really emerge as the villain and threatens to move the team if ticket sales and the like don’t improve. He even calls out fans for not supporting the club at an outdoor game celebrating the league’s 100th anniversary. December 2017 — After captain Erik Karlsson publicly said he would not take a “hometown discount” to remain with the Senators, Dorion asks the star blueliner for his 10-team no-trade list, marking the first true sign of the end of Karlsson’s time in Ottawa. March 2018 — The Karlsson situation did NOT go over well with the fan base, which turns on the owner with a “Melnyk Out” social media campaign that is going strong to this day. Billboards with the slogan started appearing on Ottawa streets by the middle of the month. April 2018 — The arena issue continues to linger as hope for a new location in downtown Ottawa dwindles by the day June 2018 — Former teammate Mike Hoffman’s girlfriend, Monika Caryk, is accused of creating burner accounts to harass Karlsson and his wife, Melinda, after the death of the Karlsson’s newborn child. The two parties eventually went to court over the situation. June 2018 — As a result of these allegations, the Senators try to clean up the mess by trading Hoffman to the Sharks for essentially nothing before San Jose turns around and deals the winger to a divisional team in Florida, yielding a better return than what Ottawa got from the Sharks. Asset management, baby. (Take a deep breathe.) Story continues August 2018 — Assistant general manager Randy Lee, who had previously denied any wrongdoing, eventually steps down due to the sexual harassment allegations levied against him. September 2018 — Dealing from a position of self-induced weakness, the Senators put an end the Erik Karlsson saga by flipping arguably the best player in franchise history to the Sharks for, well, not a great return. September 2018 — The team releases that weird Mark Borowiecki-Eugene Melnyk “hype” video which did anything but get anyone hyped for the team’s future. November 2018 — The Ottawa Citizen publishes a wild article linking fake Twitter “bot” accounts, which were defending Melnyk while attacking the city’s media outlets for their treatment of the team, to the owner and organization. November 2018 — The now infamous “Uber video,” which (illegally) captures six prominent Sens players and prospects talking trash about their team’s coaching staff and other facets of the organization, is leaked and goes viral. February 2019 — The club is unable to come to terms with any of its star UFA’s and are forced to trade away Duchene and Mark Stone. The team was able to yield high-end prospect Erik Brannstrom from Vegas in return for Stone. March 2019 — GM Pierre Dorion gets torched once again for telling players he doesn’t want “any more excuses” for their slumping play, despite the fact that he literally traded all the team’s good players away. March 2019 — Plans to revive LeBreton Flats in Ottawa with a new downtown arena for the Senators officially fall apart after Melnyk and Trinity Development’s John Ruddy launch lawsuits against each other totalling billions of dollars. April 2019 — Senators finish last in the NHL, earning the best odds at landing the No. 1 overall pick. Whatever selection the Sens get will go to Colorado. Okay, I think that’s all of it. If I did miss anything, feel free not to tell me because this was already hard enough on my soul. There’s hope amongst the hell Somewhat mitigating the losses of Karlsson, Stone and a first-round pick set to return a possible generational player are the kids in the pipeline. Starting with the emergence of Thomas Chabot, who at 21 began rounding into an elite NHL defenseman in just his second season. The potential future captain of the Sens filled the void left by Karlsson as much as one could expect, posting 14 goals and 55 points while logging a heavy 24-plus minutes per gam, tops among all Ottawa skaters.<doc-sep>TORONTO, ON - APRIL 29: NHL official loads the lottery ball machine during the NHL Draft Lottery at the CBC Studios in Toronto, Ontario, Canada on April 29, 2017. (Photo by Kevin Sousa/NHLI via Getty Images) The Colorado Avalanche have the best odds for securing a top-three pick in the 2019 NHL Draft thanks to owning Ottawa’s first-round selection. The Colorado Avalanche will have two first-round picks in the 2019 NHL Draft. Their own pick is only semi-interesting. They finished #17 in the NHL, so they should have the #15 pick (I’m basing that on My NHL Draft). Because they made the playoffs, that pick is not eligible for the draft lottery. The NHL’s draft lottery consists of a weighted system that determines the selection of picks #1 through #15. The top three picks are up for lottery, and a team’s chance at those three picks depends on their final standings. Final standings determine the remaining picks, #s 4 through 15. Making the playoffs renders a team ineligible for the draft lottery, which is where the Avs are. So, even though they finished in the bottom-15 of teams, they reached a playoff berth in the Western Conference. The Montreal Canadiens, with a better record, did not earn a berth in the Eastern Conference. Montreal will have a chance at the draft lottery. The Avalanche will have a shot at the draft lottery, too, though. They own the Ottawa Senators’ pick as part of the Matt Duchene trade. The Senators finished last in the NHL, so the odds of their pick being the first-overall is 18.5%. There’s a 16.5% chance the pick will be a second-overall selection and a 14.4 percent chance it’ll be the third-overall. So, in other words, the Colorado Avalanche have just under 50% odds (49.4%) of winning a top-three pick. As we well remember from the 2017 NHL Draft, though, that’s no guarantee. Colorado finished with the worst record in the salary cap era and fell to the fourth-overall position: New Jersey (finished #27 with 70 points) Philadelphia (finished #19 with 88 points) Dallas (finished #24 with 79 points) Colorado (finished #30 with 48 points) Even though the Avalanche got a fantastic prospect in Cale Makar with that fourth-overall pick, I’ll never completely get over losing the draft lottery. Colorado wanted Miro Heiskenan and deserved Nico Hischier or Nolan Patrick. Anyway, that year was different, though. The Avalanche had endured that painfully bad season only to be further smacked with losing the draft lottery. This year, they have a chance in the playoffs and at a top-three draft pick. Even if the ridiculous happens again, fourth-overall for a team that made the playoffs is still gravy — much more palatable than enduring first the 48-point season then the draft lottery loss. Moving back to the 2019 NHL Draft. The top two draft prospects are center Jack Hughes and right wing Kaapo Kakko. While Hughes is the fan favorite to go first-overall, there is some discussion of whether Kakko should go first. If Colorado wins the first-overall, we’ll explore that issue. You also want to ask yourself a Hindsight is 20-20 question. Should the Ottawa Senators have given the Avalanche last year’s first-round pick? Last season Ottawa dropped two spots to get the fourth-overall. They could have given Colorado that pick as part of the trade deal, but they chose to keep it and draft Brady Tkachuck. Now, they have no choice but to give their first-rounder to Colorado. If they “win” the draft lottery, it’s the Avs picking first- or second-overall. Finally, if Ottawa’s pick falls to #3 or lower, who should Colorado select? After Hughes and Kakko, there is no clear consensus on who the third-best prospect will be. Sportsnet has right wing Vasily Podkolzin at #3 and center Dylan Cozens at #4. My NHL Draft also has Podkolzin at #3 but defenseman Bowen Byram at #4. Again, though, that’s a topic we’ll explore once we know at what position Colorado will be choosing with Ottawa’s pick. The 2019 NHL Draft Lottery takes place on Tuesday, April 9 starting at 6 pm MT. The lottery takes place in Toronto, but it will be televised an hour-long show on NBCSN, Sportsnet and TVA Sports.<doc-sep>
TORONTO, ON - APRIL 28: The winning combination of lottery balls that gave the Buffalo Sabres the first pick overall during the NHL Draft Lottery at the CBC Studios on April 28, 2018 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. (Photo by Kevin Sousa/NHLI via Getty Images) The Colorado Avalanche, via the Ottawa Senators, dropped from first-overall to fourth-overall in the 2019 NHL Draft Lottery. The Colorado Avalanche dropped three spots from first to third because of the 2019 NHL Draft Lottery. That may not seem like they “won” the lottery — since they did, in fact, lose it. If you know me, you can well imagine that my response to the Avalanche dropping for the second time in three years from first to fourth incited hot-headed rage. I’m still salty about the 2017 draft lottery because the Avalanche were coming off that dreadful 48-point season, so the drop felt like a kick in the teeth. This year is much different. The first-overall wasn’t a result of our record. Rather, the first-rounder was the icing on the cake of what Ottawa and Nashville sent over in exchange for Matt Duchene: Samuel Girard (150 games for the Avs) Shane Bowers (just signed his ELC) Vladislav Kamenev (Well…) Nashville’s 2018 second-round pick* Ottawa’s 2018/2019 first-round pick** Ottawa’s 2019 third-round pick Andrew Hammond (won a playoff game for us) *Colorado traded that second-round pick for a third-rounder (#64) and a fifth-rounder (#146). They used the #64 pick on goalie Justus Annunen and the #146 pick on defenseman Danila Zhuravlyov. **Ottawa had the choice to give the pick to the Avs in 2018 or put it off until 2019. They chose the latter. Sam Girard is the future of our blueline along with Cale Makar when he signs. Shane Bowers might be a serviceable bottom-six forward — we’ll have to see what he does with the Eagles. GM Joe Sakic turned Nashville’s low second-rounder (#58) into two picks just by dropping six positions — which means little in late-second, early-third drafting. And the Hammburgler winning that playoff game was super fun for us, eh, Avs Nation? All of that was pretty adequate return for Duchene. Everything else is just gravy. Heck, we may yet get some use out of Vlad Kamenev if he stays healthy. Also consider the circumstances of this year’s draft lottery vs. the one in 2017. We’re not coming off the worst record in the cap era. We’re heading to Calgary for the first round of the playoffs. We have the hottest line in the NHL. Roses are blooming in Colorado. Now, I’m not going to lie and say I’m not at least a little salty about the results of the draft lottery. I think it’s utterly ridiculous that a team can be contending for the playoffs up until April (Chicago Blackhawks) and yet jump to the top-three with their own pick. You also have to start questioning how fair the proceedings are. Word came out that the image of the top-three picks had been leaked 20 minutes before the draft order was announced: LEAKED IMAGE: NJD, NYR AND CHI TOP 3 pic.twitter.com/49qpm9eSHN — Jeppo🐐 (@cloutkaniemi) April 10, 2019 It’s even said that the draft lottery is rigged, especially since two big-market teams — the Hawks and the New York Rangers — hopped up to the top-three. However, concerning the leak, only the announcement is live. The balls are chosen a little earlier in front of the GMs. And, since the balls are pulled in front of the GMs, it’s hard to think the lottery can be rigged. Rather, it just seems to be weighted badly. After all, the worst team in the NHL has a 50.6% chance of dropping out of the top-three. That’s slightly better odds than winning in Vegas. (I don’t mean the Knights.) As Altitude announcer Marc Moser points out, the lottery system was put into place to discourage teams from tanking, which is something the Toronto Maple Leafs used to do to the point of abuse. However, the pendulum has swung too far the other way. The worst team in the NHL shouldn’t have a greater than 50% chance of dropping out of the top-three. I’d say it’s fair for the worst NHL team to have only a 50% chance at the first-overall. If they drop, it should only be to second-overall because only the first would be part of the lottery.