Vancouver Giants fail to win WHL Draft lottery, will pick 2nd in bantam draft

Vancouver is 0-for-1 in draft lotteries this year, after the Vancouver Giants failed to win the big prize at WHL Draft lottery this morning.

With a record of 23-40-5-4, the Giants missed the playoffs this season, finishing with the WHL’s second-worst record.

The WHL held a lottery for the six non-playoff teams to decide the draft order for the upcoming bantam draft. The lottery was weighted and teams could only move up a maximum of two spots.

WHL / Periscope

The end result was probably the right one, with the Kootenay Ice winning the first pick. Kootenay had the best odds of winning the lottery and were easily the worst team in the league this year, winning just 12 times in 72 games.

The last time the Giants had the first overall pick was in 2013 when they selected Tyler Benson. Some other notable first overall picks include Jake Virtanen (2011), Ryan Nugent-Hopkins (2009), Jonathan Toews (2003), Gilbert Brule (2002), and Jay Bouwmeester (1998).

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