The Avalanche will get the second pick in June’s NHL draft after Tuesday’s draft lottery.
The Avalanche had an 18.8 percent chance of winning the lottery, which was determined in New York but announced formally in Toronto. But the New Jersey Devils actually won the lottery, moving up from eighth to fourth in the draft, which meant the Avs automatically stayed at the second selection.
The Avalanche also will pick 11th in the first round of the draft, to be held June 24-25 in St. Paul, Minn. The Avs got the 11th pick because the St. Louis Blues forfeited it by finishing outside of the 10 worst NHL teams points-wise this season, part of a trade the teams made in February.
The Oilers will select first for the second season in a row. They are a team with major defensive needs, so many will speculate they might take defenseman Adam Larsson of Sweden, the No. 1-ranked European skater by the NHL’s Central Scouting service.
But center Ryan Nugent-Hopkins is the No. 1-ranked North American skater, and he plays in the Western Hockey League for the Red Deer Rebels — close to Edmonton. There will be much popular sentiment to take Nugent-Hopkins in Edmonton because of that.
The player considered the third-best available in the draft is another Swede, winger Gabriel Landeskog of the Kitchener Rangers of the Ontario Hockey League. He is a left winger, an area of concern to the Avalanche, and he has the kind of size that might be attractive to a team that was considered too small by many pundits.
Avalanche general manager Greg Sherman was at the lottery selection in Toronto. He told the Canadian network TSN that the team had not decided on a favored top pick yet.
