The Boston Bruins will be one of 14 teams to participate in the 2015 NHL Draft Lottery after missing the Stanley Cup playoffs for the first time since the 2006-07 season.
This year’s lottery is set to be a major event because the 2015 draft class includes two potential franchise-cornerstone players — Connor McDavid of the Erie Otters and Jack Eichel of Boston University — who have drawn rave reviews from talent evaluators at every level. They are two of the most impressive draft prospects in the last 50 years.
The Buffalo Sabres finished with the worst record in the NHL and have the best odds of winning the lottery at 20 percent. They cannot pick lower than second overall.
Here are the odds for each team. The Bruins have the lowest odds of securing the top pick at one percent.
The Bruins will land in one of two places, first overall or 14th. There is no in between. The other 13 teams have three possible slots they could draw into.
via Twitter/@mirtle
The numbers listed below are the 10 combinations (out of 1,001) that would give Boston the No. 1 pick.
The Bruins haven’t selected first overall since they drafted Joe Thornton in 1997. Boston’s last two lottery picks were Phil Kessel (No. 5, 2006) and Zach Hamill (No. 8, 2007). They also selected Tyler Seguin (No. 2, 2010) and Dougie Hamilton (No. 9, 2011) in the lottery with picks conveyed from the Toronto Maple Leafs via the Kessel trade in September 2009.
The lottery will take place Saturday, April 18, at 8 p.m. ET, shortly before the New York Rangers and Pittsburgh Penguins play Game 2 of their first-round playoff series.
The 2015 NHL draft will be held on June 26 at BB&T Center, the home of the Florida Panthers.
Thumbnail photo via Twitter/@CCMHockey
