No luck Canucks lose draft lottery while team right beside them moves up
The Vancouver Canucks can’t catch a break when it comes to the draft lottery.
The team didn’t get lucky once again this year and will stay in the 15th overall draft position. Granted, they had a 97.9 per cent chance of staying in their position, just a 1.1 per cent chance of moving up, and the same chance of moving down.
This year’s draft will take place on June 27 and 28 in Los Angeles, California. It will be decentralized, which means the key decision makers for each team will stay in their respective cities and participate virtually.
The NHL drew the ping-pong balls for the lottery live on TV for the first time ever. There were two draws, one for the top pick and one for the second pick, although teams were only allowed to climb a maximum of 10 spots.
The New York Islanders won the first draw and will get the first pick in this summer’s draft. They had the 10th-best odds heading into the lottery at 3.5 per cent. The Utah Hockey Club won the second draw and moved up the maximum 10 spots, from 14th to 4th overall.
Utah finished just one point behind the Canucks in the standings this year.
The Canucks infamously have had terrible luck at draft lotteries. They had the third-worst record in the 2015-16 season but ended up picking fifth. The next season, they finished second last and picked fifth again. They also dropped in the 2018 and 2019 drafts. They are one of just five NHL teams to never move up in the draft order at the lottery.
Because of the new NHL draft lottery rules, the Canucks had zero chance at getting the first overall pick. Even if they had won the lottery, they would have just moved up from the 15th overall pick to the 5th overall pick.
The Canucks weren’t expected to be in the lottery this year but a nightmare season which included significant off-ice drama and plenty of injuries to key contributors sent them sinking down the standings.
There’s no guarantee the Canucks will hold onto their first round pick this summer. President of hockey operations Jim Rutherford recently admitted they’d be open to trading the pick if they could get a significant contributor in return, ideally a centre.