Poll: Who Will Have The Best Chance At The 2018 #1 Pick?

The Edmonton Oilers have an interesting relationship with the first-overall pick. In 2016 they traded away two former top selections in Taylor Hall and Nail Yakupov, while Ryan Nugent-Hopkins remains in trade speculation as the team looks towards a troubling future salary structure. None of those three became the franchise-leading players they had hoped for, with Yakupov not even turning into a reliable regular. Still, Connor McDavid came through a few years later and almost immediately rejuvenated a franchise and brought them back from being one of the laughing stocks of the league. The first-overall pick is no guarantee, but it can surely change an organization if you pick the right one.

Toronto and Pittsburgh can relate. The latter was near-bankrupt before Marc-Andre Fleury and Sidney Crosby came along in the span of a couple of years (with a #2 Evgeni Malkin jammed in between) and have risen to the level of the NHL’s elite, while the former was the butt of almost every joke going back almost 50 years. Auston Matthews changed that for the Maple Leafs, though he and his other young stars have still yet to even win a single playoff series.

New Jersey hopes that Nico Hischier more like Matthews and less like Yakupov, though there’s no guarantee on his performance at the next level. The young Swiss forward has all the potential in the world, but will have to prove that he can keep taking steps forward in his development. If he makes the Devils out of camp perhaps Hall can help him deal with the pressures a #1 pick faces each and every night.

That brings us to this year, where some teams will fight for a Stanley Cup and others will pray for a few lottery balls. Teams that miss the playoffs all have a chance at selecting first, like the Devils, Flyers and Stars did this year. The Devils had the best chance of the three, but weren’t even in the top 3 league wide. 15 teams will miss this season after the addition of the Vegas Golden Knights, and one team will be given the greatest chance to have their choice of Andrei Svechnikov, Rasmus Dahlin or whoever else pushes their way into the first-overall conversation.

We ask you, who will finish last in the league this season and have the best shot at the #1 pick?

[Mobile users click here to vote!]