2023 NHL Draft lottery odds: Ducks favored to win chance at selecting generational prospect Connor Bedard
Several teams in the NHL tanked this season for the chance to finish with the fewest points in the league and the best chance -- 18.5% -- of winning the draft lottery and the shot to take Canadian center Connor Bedard No. 1 overall in the 2023 NHL Draft. He's arguably the most touted prospect to enter the league since Edmonton's Connor McDavid was the top pick in 2015. Anaheim is a +340 favorite at DraftKings to win tonight's lottery.
The 17-year-old Bedard, a Vancouver native, played for the Western Hockey League's Regina Pats this past season and had a league-leading 143 points with 71 goals and 72 assists. He was the first WHL player since 2012 to score at least 10 goals in a playoff series. Bedard also helped Team Canada win the gold medal at the 2023 IIHF World Junior Championship with a tournament-best 23 points. He has been compared to McDavid and Sidney Crosby, the No. 1 overall pick in 2005 by Pittsburgh.
Similar to the NBA Draft lottery, a set of 14 ping-pong balls are placed in a lottery machine, which allows for 1,001 combinations. Each team in the lottery is assigned a set of random four-number combinations. The worse a team's record was, the more combinations they are assigned. The Ducks had the NHL's fewest points and thus will get 185 combinations.
A team can move up a maximum of 10 spots in the lottery per a fairly new rule, so only the top 11 seeds will be eligible to receive the first overall selection in the 2023 NHL Draft – all the way down to Vancouver via the below list. If one of those five teams outside the top 16 wins the lottery, that team move up to 10 spots in the order and Anaheim would automatically be declared the winner. Thus technically, the Ducks have a 25.5% chance of winning the top pick, because you can add the 7% combined chance of the teams seeded 12th-16th.
The lottery is held in Secaucus, N.J., at a studio within NHL Network headquarters. ESPN has the telecast at 8 p.m. ET. The 2023 draft is scheduled to be held at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville with Round 1 on June 28.
The Ducks have never had the top pick. There will be two lottery drawings, one for the No. 1 pick and one for the No. 2 pick. There's a pretty good consolation prize available at No. 2 overall in University of Michigan freshman forward Adam Fantilli, who is the -400 favorite at DK to be chosen second. He won the Hobey Baker Award, college hockey's version of the Heisman Trophy, among other honors.
2023 NHL draft lottery chance to win and DraftKings odds
- Anaheim Ducks: 18.5% (+340)
- Columbus Blue Jackets: 13.5% (+500)
- Chicago Blackhawks: 11.5% (+600)
- San Jose Sharks: 9.5% (+750)
- Montreal Canadiens: 8.5% (+850)
- Arizona Coyotes: 7.5% (+900)
- Philadelphia Flyers: 6.5% (+1100)
- Washington Capitals: 6.0% (+1200)
- Detroit Red Wings: 5.0% (+1500)
- St. Louis Blues: 3.5% (+2000)
- Vancouver Canucks: 3.0% (+2000)
- Ottawa Senators: 2.5% (pick will go to the Coyotes if it is not in the top 5; +1100 as part of field)
- Buffalo Sabres: 2.0% (+1100 as part of field)
- Pittsburgh Penguins: 1.5% (+1100 as part of field)
- Nashville Predators: 0.5% (+1100 as part of field)
- Calgary Flames: 0.5% (+1100 as part of field)
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