It’s honestly the worst lottery I’ve ever seen. The NHL Draft lottery once again played out in the most predictable, boring, and unimaginative way possible as only the Chicago Blackhawks moved up two spots from the 16 possible teams in the lottery.
The NHL should honestly abandon the lottery all together with how predictable it is.
The 2023 NHL Draft lottery took place last night and even though most people are complaining about the Chicago Blackhawks, the sole dynasty franchise of the 2010’s, jumping two spots to win the rights to the 1st overall pick, I’ve got a much bigger problem with the lottery in general: it’s SO PREDICTABLE.
You honestly get more nuance from the NFL Draft lottery than you do the NHL one…even though the NFL Draft “lottery” is literally the worst place team gets the 1st overall pick and so on. So, in other words, it doesn’t exist and yet it’s still more exciting than the NHL’s current system! I can’t seriously be the only person who finds this to be a massive problem, right?
What’s the point of all the silly T.V. build up, ridiculous amount of “security” around the pick, and the flat-out stupid “seriousness” of the commissioner, NHL Network on-air presenters, the deputy commissioners, the people proctoring the lottery selection, etc. if the entire lottery is essentially the worst teams draft right where they finished with the exception of the Blackhawks?
I mean, it’s not like anyone at home takes this lottery selection nearly as seriously as these presenters and proctors as everyone just wants to hear the results without all of the phony build up and commercialized process.
And, to be honest, I’m not even sure the people running the lottery take it as seriously as I’m saying as NHL Network presenter Kevin Weekes (who’s kind of obnoxious with his takes, but that’s another story in of itself) spoiled the “grand reveal” of the Blackhawks moving up from the 3rd best odds to the 1st best odds, deputy commissioner Bill Daly had the Anaheim Ducks card upside down, and commissioner Gary Bettman looked utterly ridiculous drawing the lottery ball with his 40-page script early in the day.
It all looks so stupid and clownish, yet it holds so much weight to the future of these franchises.
The “best” (and even these weren’t too exciting) NHL draft were back in the early 2000’s as instead of this multi-ball, multi-fortune system where these teams are essentially playing Powerball to get 1st overall as it is now, all teams got at least one ball (with the worst teams usually getting 2-4) and the commissioner would select one at a time.
Was it a perfect system? No. Did it necessarily help the worst teams in the league? Sort of as the 2005 draft (the most famous case of this lottery system in use) gave the lowest seeded Penguins the best odds to draft to draft Sidney Crosby 1st overall…at a 6.5% chance (all the teams in the league were included in that lottery given the lockout a year prior).
Still, with huge lottery upsets like the Hawks rising up the odds to take Patrick Kane 1st overall in 2007, the Oilers winning the 2015 lottery to take Conor McDavid 1st overall, the Devils overcoming all the lottery odds to win the 2017 (Nico Hischier) and 2019 (Jack Hughes) NHL Draft lotteries despite not being the worst ranked team in either season.
Honestly, the 2020 lottery selection was pretty great too as the 14th worst ranked Rangers, who were definitely not the worst team in the league, were able to win the lottery and select Alexis Lafrenière to the anger of every fanbase that actually had bad teams due to the COVID-19 pandemic messing up the regular season.
Sure, the Rangers missed the playoffs and weren’t cup contenders (they got bounced by the Hurricanes 3-0 in the Qualifying Round), but they didn’t really deserve the 1st overall pick given their record and core.
But that’s what makes these lottery selections so exciting. Having teams that finish 8th-16th worst in the NHL have a chance to rise all the way up the draft and take the next generation of NHL superstar makes for a far more exciting product, while also forcing the teams finishing 1st-7th worst in the league to draft wisely with their selections.
The mediocre/rebuilding teams in the league shouldn’t be punished with “moving-up” handicaps for trying to get better, while the worst teams in the league shouldn’t always be rewarded for mismanagement and awful scouting.
It’s not fun watching the same crap team (aka: the 2000’s and mid-2010’s Edmonton Oilers, the 2010’s Buffalo Sabres) constantly win the draft lottery and either select awful picks or ruin really skilled talents year after year.
Anyways, congratulations Chicago, as you guys are bound to get one of the Top-5 (Sidney Crosby, Alex Ovechkin, Connor McDavid, Jack Hughes, and now Bedard) most hyped NHL draft prospects in recent memory in Connor Bedard.
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