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The NHL Draft Lottery results were announced Saturday night, and the only surprise the New York Islanders experienced was a sorry one: The highest of their two picks dropped down a slot.
Entering the night slated to have the 12th and 10th overall picks, they’ll now be in a slightly worse position — barring any trades — at the draft June 22-23 in Dallas. Because the Carolina Hurricanes, who were originally in the 11th position between the Islanders’ two picks, won a lottery for one of the top three picks, the Isles’ selection slated for 10th is now an 11th overall pick. The 11th pick is their own, but the 12th is the pick acquired from Calgary in the Travis Hamonic trade.
It’s some solace, perhaps, that at least it wasn’t the Panthers, Blues or Stars who won a lottery spot, as either of those three winning would have bumped both of the Islanders’ picks down a slot.
The NHL will wait to the second intermission of the Sharks-Knights Game 2 to announce which teams won each of the top three selections through the lottery, though we know the Hurricanes and Canadiens will get two of them through lottery luck, along with the Sabres, who earned it through old-fashioned tank/stinking.
[UPDATE: Two hours later, they announce that Buffalo hangs on to the top spot, Carolina gets the 2nd overall pick, and Montreal 3rd.]
A Made For Dull TV Event
We are a world of billions of disagreeing people, but one thing everyone can universally agree on is that the team that picks first will pick Swedish phenom defenseman Rasmus Dahlin.
At the site of the lottery announcement, the Islanders were represented by Chris Lamoriello, assistant general manager and director of player personnel.
The NHL has decided to forcefeed a major TV production out of the lottery, including making those team representatives ridiculously sit on stools in the studio while they wait for the NHL to turn a three-minute announcement into a half-hour show.
This included an awkward internet interview before the lottery where they asked Dahlin how it feels and how excited he is, and he basically said, “We’ll see how it goes...yes, we’ll see how it goes.”