RADIO
The Hockey Gods have spoken! On Saturday, the NHL held their annual draft lottery to determine who will win the first overall pick in the 2015 NHL Entry Draft.
Entering Saturday night, the lottery probabilities broke down like this:
Buffalo Sabres- 20.0%
Arizona Coyotes- 13.5%
Edmonton Oilers- 11.5%
Toronto Maple Leafs- 9.5%
Carolina Hurricanes- 8.5%
New Jersey Devils- 7.5%
Philadelphia Flyers- 6.5%
Columbus Blue Jackets- 6.0%
San Jose Sharks- 5.0%
Colorado Avalanche- 3.5%
Florida Panthers- 3.0%
Dallas Stars- 2.5%
Los Angeles Kings- 2.0%
Boston Bruins- 1.0%
And the winner is… The Edmonton Oilers. Now, Edmonton gets the first overall pick for the fourth time in six years. Buffalo will then pick second and the Coyotes will select third.
As mentioned before, this isn’t the first time the Hockey Gods have looked favorably on Edmonton. Tim Wharnsby of CBS Sports, in a tweet, mentioned that in the last five drafts the Oilers have acquired Taylor Hall, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Nail Yakupov, Darnell Nurse and Leon Draisaitl, which is a very formidable group of young talent.
Most importantly, the Oilers get the top pick in a draft where two generational talents are available. Despite needing top-end defenseman, Edmonton undoubtedly will select Connor McDavid with the first overall pick. McDavid, who has dominated the OHL this season, has been compared to Sidney Crosby, with many hockey experts claiming that McDavid is actually better than Crosby.
Buffalo, who was guaranteed to select either first or second, picks in the latter spot and will be in position to select the other generational talent Jack Eichel.
While Saturday was a fantastic night for Edmonton, and to some extent Buffalo, the Arizona Coyotes miss out on the two generational prospects, picking third.
