The 2018 NHL Draft Lottery either went well or went terribly for teams. Let’s look at five winners and losers from it.
The 2018 NHL Draft Lottery was held on Saturday night. In a huge surprise, Buffalo finally won something meaningful in the NHL, as the Buffalo Sabres finished the night with the first overall pick. The Carolina Hurricanes moved all the way up to the second pick and the Montreal Canadiens picked up the third overall pick.
Of course, it didn’t go well for everyone. Let’s look at the five winners and five losers from the draft lottery.
Loser: Chicago Blackhawks
The moment it was announced the final three teams would know which pick they had later on Saturday night, everyone assumed the Chicago Blackhawks were going to be one of the final three teams. After all, getting a major media market to tune in while biting their nails is a heck of a way to ensure you get a ton of people watching the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
It turns out people were expecting the wrong major media market. The Blackhawks really could have used any pick in the top three, but Rasmus Dahlin would have been perfect for them. Chicago needs to rebuild their blueline. Dahlin would have been perfect for them. Heck, even Andrei Svechnikov or Filip Zadina would have given them another dynamic forward. Instead, the Blackhawks got the eighth overall pick.
Granted, Chicago will probably find an excellent player there, as this is a deep draft. But they won’t find a defenseman as great as Dahlin.
Winner: The Western Conference
Congratulations Western Conference teams, you have won a prize. Barring a trade, you won’t have Dahlin, Svechnikov, Zadina, and one of Brady Tkachuk or Adam Boqvist in your conference. Each of the top four picks and five of the top six picks belong to an Eastern Conference team.