New York Islanders win the NHL draft lottery, securing the No. 1 selection
New York Islanders pro scouting director Ken Morrow knows a thing or two about so-called hockey miracles.
Article content
Article content
Witnessing the Islanders win the NHL draft lottery on Monday and vault nine other teams in the order for the right to have the No. 1 pick represented yet another memorable moment for the four-time Stanley Cup champion and member of the 1980 gold-medal-winning 'Miracle on Ice' U.S. Olympic team.
Article content
'I've had a lot of thrills in my hockey life, but this is right up there at the top,' Morrow said. 'The hockey gods smiled on us. I can't tell you how thrilled I am for Islanders fans, for our ownership, for the entire Islanders organization.'
Article content
The Islanders, who missed the playoffs for the second time in four seasons, are in the midst of a front-office shakeup after not renewing general manager Lou Lamoriello's contract on April 22. And they earned a remarkable lottery win by entering the day with a 3.5% shot — the 10th-best odds — of seeing their numbers come up.
Article content
New York wasn't the only team to buck the lottery odds. The Utah Hockey Club won the second round of the lottery, and made the jump from 14th to fourth under the rules limiting teams from moving up no more than 10 spots in the draft order.
Article content
'A couple of seconds ago, we were just like 10 back, so it still hasn't sunk in,' Utah GM Bill Armstrong said of a first-year franchise that finished just seven points out of a playoff spot. 'This is an exciting moment for us. It's a game-changer for us.'
Article content
The San Jose Sharks will pick second after entering the day with the best odds, 18.5%, to win the lottery and a 25.5% chance of landing the No. 1 choice. San Jose, which finished last for a second consecutive year, was seeking to become the NHL's first team to win the lottery and pick first in consecutive years.
Article content
Article content
'We definitely lucked it out last year to be able to select Mac,' Sharks GM Mike Grier said in referring to selecting Boston University center Macklin Celebrini first overall. 'This year would have obviously been nice to have the pick and have the choice of all the players. But picking two, we're still in a pretty good spot so we're happy.'
Article content
The Chicago Blackhawks had the second-best chances to win the lottery and will pick third. The remaining 12 teams moved two spots back in the order, starting with Nashville dropping from third to fifth. The final 16 draft spots will be determined following the playoffs.
Article content
The Islanders have the right to pick first for the fifth time in team history, and first since selecting John Tavares with the No. 1 choice in 2009.
Article content
This year's draft will be held in Los Angeles with the first round taking place on June 27, followed by the final six rounds the next day. Top prospects will convene for the weeklong predraft combine being held in Buffalo next month.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
National Post
10 minutes ago
- National Post
Tom Mayenknecht: Stanley Cup and NBA finals roar out of the gate
Bulls of the week Article content If the opening games in the NHL Stanley Cup Final and NBA Finals are of any indication, then hockey and basketball fans are in for a real treat over the next two weeks. Game 1 for each delivered plenty on the entertainment meter, setting the stage for big world of mouth and heavy social media traffic going into their respective Game 2. Overtime games and one-point buzzer beaters result in the television ratings spikes that are pure joy to broadcast programmers, national sponsors, merchandisers, licensees and sports bars and restaurants across North America. Article content That's exactly what we saw Wednesday in the 4-3 overtime win by the hometown Edmonton Oilers over the defending Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers and Thursday in the 111-110 jaw-dropper that the Indiana Pacers laid on the Oklahoma City Thunder. Indiana overcame a 15-point deficit in the fourth quarter to completely change the tone and tenor of the NBA Finals, beginning with the surge in viewers that happened in the final 12 minutes. The OCT became the first NBA team in 28 post-seasons to lose a game in which they led in the last three minutes of regulation time by seven or more points. Game 1 of the NBA Finals saw Tyrese Haliburton of the Pacers outdo MVP Shai Gilgeous Alexander — the Canadian from Hamilton, Ontario. The track record this season for Gilgeous Alexander and the Thunder has been to rebound nicely from their rare losses and that could happen here, but make no mistake that there is now no more room for error by the Thunder, a consistently dominant team all year and one anchored by the professional poise of SGA. Article content Article content The biggest bull market may be lining up for Connor McDavid and the Edmonton Oilers, who could become the first Canadian-based team to win the Stanley Cup in the 32 years since the Montreal Canadiens did so in 1993. The single biggest beneficiary would be the personal legacy of McDavid, already one of the stars of Canada's win at the Four Nations Face-Off in February. He needs a Cup to cement his status as an all-time great, in much the same way stars such as Wayne Gretzky, Sidney Crosby and Alexander Ovechkin have done over the past 40 years. Article content Article content It's one thing for Major League Baseball to have two of its franchises — the Tampa Bay Rays and the team formerly known as the Oakland Athletics — playing in minor league ballparks or spring league venues seating about 10,000 fans. It's quite another thing for the Miami Marlins to be drawing flies to their much larger ballpark in South Florida. Television images of the Marlins playing at home are not worthy of the major league designation. They're the antithesis of what you want to attract new fans, especially when stadium employees outnumber paying customers.
Edmonton Journal
15 minutes ago
- Edmonton Journal
Tom Mayenknecht: Stanley Cup and NBA finals roar out of the gate
That's exactly what we saw Wednesday in the 4-3 overtime win by the hometown Edmonton Oilers over the defending Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers and Thursday in the 111-110 jaw-dropper that the Indiana Pacers laid on the Oklahoma City Thunder. Indiana overcame a 15-point deficit in the fourth quarter to completely change the tone and tenor of the NBA Finals, beginning with the surge in viewers that happened in the final 12 minutes. The OCT became the first NBA team in 28 post-seasons to lose a game in which they led in the last three minutes of regulation time by seven or more points. Game 1 of the NBA Finals saw Tyrese Haliburton of the Pacers outdo MVP Shai Gilgeous Alexander — the Canadian from Hamilton, Ontario. The track record this season for Gilgeous Alexander and the Thunder has been to rebound nicely from their rare losses and that could happen here, but make no mistake that there is now no more room for error by the Thunder, a consistently dominant team all year and one anchored by the professional poise of SGA.
Vancouver Sun
23 minutes ago
- Vancouver Sun
Tom Mayenknecht: Stanley Cup and NBA finals roar out of the gate
If the opening games in the NHL Stanley Cup Final and NBA Finals are of any indication, then hockey and basketball fans are in for a real treat over the next two weeks. Game 1 for each delivered plenty on the entertainment meter, setting the stage for big world of mouth and heavy social media traffic going into their respective Game 2. Overtime games and one-point buzzer beaters result in the television ratings spikes that are pure joy to broadcast programmers, national sponsors, merchandisers, licensees and sports bars and restaurants across North America. That's exactly what we saw Wednesday in the 4-3 overtime win by the hometown Edmonton Oilers over the defending Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers and Thursday in the 111-110 jaw-dropper that the Indiana Pacers laid on the Oklahoma City Thunder. Indiana overcame a 15-point deficit in the fourth quarter to completely change the tone and tenor of the NBA Finals, beginning with the surge in viewers that happened in the final 12 minutes. The OCT became the first NBA team in 28 post-seasons to lose a game in which they led in the last three minutes of regulation time by seven or more points. Game 1 of the NBA Finals saw Tyrese Haliburton of the Pacers outdo MVP Shai Gilgeous Alexander — the Canadian from Hamilton, Ontario. The track record this season for Gilgeous Alexander and the Thunder has been to rebound nicely from their rare losses and that could happen here, but make no mistake that there is now no more room for error by the Thunder, a consistently dominant team all year and one anchored by the professional poise of SGA. The biggest bull market may be lining up for Connor McDavid and the Edmonton Oilers , who could become the first Canadian-based team to win the Stanley Cup in the 32 years since the Montreal Canadiens did so in 1993. The single biggest beneficiary would be the personal legacy of McDavid, already one of the stars of Canada's win at the Four Nations Face-Off in February. He needs a Cup to cement his status as an all-time great, in much the same way stars such as Wayne Gretzky, Sidney Crosby and Alexander Ovechkin have done over the past 40 years. It's one thing for Major League Baseball to have two of its franchises — the Tampa Bay Rays and the team formerly known as the Oakland Athletics — playing in minor league ballparks or spring league venues seating about 10,000 fans. It's quite another thing for the Miami Marlins to be drawing flies to their much larger ballpark in South Florida. Television images of the Marlins playing at home are not worthy of the major league designation. They're the antithesis of what you want to attract new fans, especially when stadium employees outnumber paying customers. Those three clubs are the cellar dwellers when it comes to MLB attendance numbers as the baseball season approaches its midway mark. Playing at Steinbrenner Field — the Grapefruit League home of the New York Yankees — the Rays are drawing an average of 9,855 per game while the Athletics are averaging 10,005 in Sacramento. Yet the Marlins' average of 11,648 fans per game — which is less than one-quarter the attendance of the league-leading Los Angeles Dodgers (50,250) — is the most embarrassing of all given their stadium capacity of 37,422 at LoanDepot Park. Think of it this way: the Marlins need to play more than four games to match a single night's turnstile count at Dodger Stadium. Tom Mayenknecht is the host of The Sport Market on Sportsnet 650 on Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. The Vancouver-based sport business commentator and principal in Emblematica Brand Builders provides a behind-the-scenes look at the sport business stories that matter most to fans. Follow Mayenknecht at: .
