Bruce Fedyck – USA TODAY Sports
The Winnipeg Jets are officially out of the playoff race after taking it down to the wire having a slim chance to clinch one, but ultimately lost to the Montreal Canadiens last night, which took them completely out of the picture. The Jets can now look forward to the NHL Draft Lottery and the 2013 NHL Draft.
The NHL announced today that the draft lottery will take play on Monday, Apr. 29 to determine the first 14 picks of the 2013 NHL Draft. This will be the first time in league history that all 14 teams not making the playoffs will be eligible for acquiring the first overall pick in this year’s draft. The remaining 13 teams will go in reverse order of how they finished the season based on number of points.
The NHL also released the percentages of each team’s chance of being selected in the Draft Lottery based on how each team finished the season and it is as follows (via NHL.com):
Florida Panthers - 25.0%
Colorado Avalanche - 18.8%
Tampa Bay Lightning – 14.2%
Nashville Predators - 10.7%
Carolina Hurricanes - 8.1%
Calgary Flames - 6.2%
Edmonton Oilers - 4.7%
Buffalo Sabres - 3.6%
New Jersey Devils - 2.7%
Dallas Stars - 2.1%
Philadelphia Flyers - 1.5%
Phoenix Coyotes - 1.1%
Jets - 0.8%
Columbus Blue Jackets – 0.5%
As you can see, next to the Blue Jackets, the Jets are the least likely to be picked in the Draft Lottery, so they can’t even look forward to a chance at having the first overall pick in the Draft. I guess that would mean the Jets have third pick overall, if I’m understanding the procedures correctly.
The Draft Lottery will be aired on television at 8:00 pm (est) on TSN in Canada and NBC Sports Network in the US then will re-air on the NHL Network at 9:00 pm (est). The actual 2013 NHL Entry Draft is set for Sunday, Jun. 30.
Stephanie Lewark is an NHL and Pittsburgh Penguins Senior Writer for www.RantSports.com. Follow her on Twitter (@steelcitysports), check out her Facebook page, or add her to your Google+ circle.
