DEVILS WIN LOTTERY AND FIRST SELECTION IN 2017 NHL DRAFT – FLYERS, STARS LAND 2ND, 3RD OVERALL

Vegas Golden Knights Own 6th Overall Pick for Club’s First-Ever NHL Draft

[pb_vidembed title=”” caption=”” url=”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7cDounUtyxE” type=”yt” w=”480″ h=”385″]

The New Jersey Devils, Philadelphia Flyers and Dallas Stars own the first, second and third overall drafting positions, respectively, for the First Round of the 2017 NHL Draft as a result of the 2017 NHL Draft Lottery Drawing tonight in Toronto.

Participants in the Draft Lottery included the expansion Vegas Golden Knights, who begin play in the 2017-18 season, and all Clubs that did not qualify for this season’s Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Under the terms of expansion the Golden Knights were afforded the same lottery odds as the Club finishing the regular season with the third-worst record (28th place, the Arizona Coyotes) and slotted ahead of that Club in the event neither was selected for any of the top three overall drafting positions.

Accordingly, with the elevation of the Devils, Flyers and Stars as a result of the Draft Lottery, the Golden Knights and Coyotes own the sixth and seventh drafting positions, respectively, in the first round.

The order of selection for the first 15 drafting positions in the First Round, only, of the 2017 NHL Draft is as follows:

1. New Jersey Devils
2. Philadelphia Flyers
3. Dallas Stars
4. Colorado Avalanche
5. Vancouver Canucks
6. Vegas Golden Knights
7. Arizona Coyotes
8. Buffalo Sabres
9. Detroit Red Wings
10. Florida Panthers
11. Los Angeles Kings
12. Carolina Hurricanes
13. Winnipeg Jets
14. Tampa Bay Lightning
15. New York Islanders

The remaining positions are determined by the results of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Three draws were held: the first drawing determined the club selecting first overall, the second drawing determined the club selecting second overall and the third drawing determined the club selecting third overall. Once a club was assigned a pick, it was ineligible for further participation in subsequent drawings, but there were no re-draws required.

To accommodate the addition of a 15th team in the Draft Lottery, the odds for all other participating teams were reduced proportionally from the odds utilized in last year’s Draft Lottery.

Devils Win No. 1 Drafting Position

In the first drawing, the Devils had the fifth-greatest percentage likelihood of being selected based on inverse order of regular-season finish (8.5%). It marks the third time in Draft Lottery history a team has moved from 5 to 1, following the New York Islanders in 2000 (selected goaltender Rick DiPietro) and Chicago Blackhawks in 2007 (selected forward Patrick Kane).

The Devils franchise has selected first overall once, when the Colorado Rockies picked defenseman Rob Ramage with the top pick in 1979.

New Jersey has won the NHL Draft Lottery once before, moving from 8 to 4 in 2011 (drafted defenseman Adam Larsson).

[pb_vidembed title=”” caption=”” url=”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F03iskl49sw” type=”yt” w=”480″ h=”385″]

Flyers Win No. 2 Drafting Position

In the second drawing, the Flyers had the 12th-greatest percentage likelihood among the 14 remaining clubs eligible for selection (2.4%) and climbed from No. 13 to No. 2. The Flyers, selected in the NHL Draft Lottery for the first time in franchise history, also became the first team from as low as the No. 13 spot to win a Draft Lottery drawing. The club has picked No. 2 overall once before, selecting forward James van Riemsdyk in 2007.

Stars Win No. 3 Drafting Position

In the third drawing, the Stars had the seventh-greatest percentage likelihood among the 13 remaining clubs eligible for selection (6.5%). After dropping from No. 8 to No. 9 as a result of the second drawing, Dallas climbed to No. 3, improving its drafting position as a result of the Draft Lottery for the first time in franchise history. The Stars franchise has selected third overall once before, when the Minnesota North Stars picked forward Glen Sharpley in 1976.

The drawing was conducted at Rogers Sportsnet’s studio in downtown Toronto and the winning teams were revealed live on Sportsnet, CBC and TVA Sports in Canada and NBC in the U.S. prior to their broadcast of Game 2 of the Capitals-Penguins Second Round series.

For each of the three drawings, 14 balls, numbered 1 to 14, were placed in a lottery machine. The machine randomly selected four balls. The resulting four-number series (without regard to selection order) was matched against a chart that shows all possible combinations and the clubs to which each was assigned. The chart showed that the Devils had been assigned the numbers (1-5-6-12) that were expelled in the first drawing, followed by the Flyers (5-6-8-12) in the second drawing and the Stars (2-6-8-13) in the third drawing.

The 2017 NHL Draft will take place at the United Center in Chicago. The first round will take place on Friday, June 23rd and the subsequent rounds (2 through 7) on Saturday, June 24th.

* Information provided via NHL Press Release