Phase two of the NHL Draft Lottery took place this evening, and the New York Rangers were the big winners. The first-overall pick and the right to draft Alexis Lafreniere was on the line after the first part of the lottery ended up in a “TBA” team winning, which then went to one of the eliminated qualification round teams. Lafreniere, the consensus top prospect in this year’s field, will get a chance to join Artemi Panarin and Mika Zibanejad on October 9th when the draft is held virtually and is expected to make an impact in the 2020-21 season.
The rest of the qualification losers will be dropped in based on regular season points percentage. That means the top-15 selections will look like this:
- New York Rangers
- Los Angeles Kings
- Ottawa Senators (via San Jose Sharks)
- Detroit Red Wings
- Ottawa Senators
- Anaheim Ducks
- New Jersey Devils
- Buffalo Sabres
- Minnesota Wild
- Winnipeg Jets
- Nashville Predators
- Florida Panthers
- Carolina Hurricanes (via Toronto Maple Leafs)
- Edmonton Oilers
- Pittsburgh Penguins
Lafreniere is quite the prize for the Rangers. The 18-year old forward is coming off his second consecutive CHL Player of the Year award after dominating for the Rimouski Oceanic of the QMJHL. In 173 regular season games across three years for the club, Lafreniere recorded 297 points to go along with Hlinka-Gretzky and World Junior gold medals. There is very little he can’t do offensively, and he’ll get to join what is turning into a loaded forward group in New York. Remember, the Rangers won the second-overall pick in last year’s lottery and ended up selecting Kaapo Kakko, another extremely talented winger (who admittedly didn’t have an excellent rookie season).
Another change from the lottery includes the Hurricanes picking up a top-15 pick of their own. The Maple Leafs had sent them that pick to get Carolina to buyout Patrick Marleau, but it was lottery protected and would have stayed with Toronto had they won tonight. The Hurricanes will actually give up their own pick to the Rangers as part of the Brady Skjei deal, but still have a chance of picking a top prospect.
Undoubtedly though, the Rangers front office will come out of tonight with huge smiles on their faces. Though they didn’t get the chance to advance in the playoffs, their time is coming as a contender in the Eastern Conference.
Rigged.
Lol from a Pittsburgh fan hahaha, but no doubt rigged
Cry me a river dude. Crosby to Pittsburgh was rigged and they got their 3 cups. Time for that team to go away.
If it were rigged Pittsburgh, Toronto, or Edmonton would’ve gotten it.
Rigged. Lol. And we purposely got smoked by Carolina just to have a 12% chance. Sounds like a great conspiracy theory
euh gross. at least it wasnt the Pens.
Well, at least it was one of the only bad teams in the lottery that won it
They weren’t bad, they were on pace for 93 points, and were 6th in the league in scoring.
They laid an egg in the Carolina series but they are loaded to the ceiling with young talent.
Their farm is ridiculous right now.
Everyone is going to need to get whatever trash talk about the rangers they have out of their system, because they’re going to be one of the best teams in the NHL for at least the next 5 seasons, starting next year.
Poor kid
LETS GO RANGERS! I was so convinced it was going to be PIT or EDM! The future is bright in the Big Apple!!!!
I’m sure Quinn will play him with dreck like Howden.
Just hopes he doesn’t get the Andersson treatment and get staples to Fourth liners
all he needs to do then is not act like a spoiled brat.
Well ain’t that some shyt.
All Hail RangersTown! I *knew* the Blueshirts would come out on top! ~..~ Less carnage this way… @acarneglia – You may turn out to have understated optimism!
This was the single stupidest stunt the NHL has ever pulled. Bettman should be fired as should those under him for this entire draft fiasco.
Don’t be surprised if the league considers this a huge success and does the draft this way from now on.
I have a few other things I’d fire Bettman over, but this is only a lesser of his offences.
@James72 – Word on the street is that NHL.com will be adding a new section — “NHL Spin Zone” ;)
Frozen envelope v2.0?
He dropped Rangers ball early. It was weighted down….. In all seriousness they should have put the balls into a case like the world cup.
Way to go San Jose Sharks !
could have had the third pick instead of Karlsson that hasn’t produced a damm thing.
Signed “A Loyal Sharks Fan”
Man I can’t call the league rigged. I just can’t. I know it is a big market team and I don’t like it, but really, almost every team in the running was a big market. Poor Florida.
Lots of recent 1/2 picks to the NY and Philly media markets.
Philly has only one of those and that wasnt even the #1
And it was Nolan Patrick who has looked bleh for a #2 pick.
Can’t call Patrick “bleh” when he’s dealt with serious headache issues. I dealt with debilitating headaches for a long time and it wasn’t fun (for anyone who has, i recommend wild oil of oregano. It’s been a life saver)
Jury is still out on the kid. Would love to see him healthy and in Vigneault’s system
So did anyone out there catch the major screw up the NHL network host for this event when she said that Taylor Hall was drafted by the New Jersey Devils back in 2010. I know we make mistakes but… Not reading off a screen… And know a little knowledge of the sport u are covering…
Who hails from, if I can read the car here, Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan.
But but but the Wild won poll on the other thread
2005 draft lottery was rigged. Rangers finally got redemption for that garbage 15 years ago.
Yes!!!
LOL.
On what planet were the Ranger entitled to that top pick in 2005?
Redemption from what? Seriously…redemption from what, exactly?
Hoping for Winnipeg or Minnesota. At least it not Edmonton . Still trying to understand why the rest of picks do not go in order of points except Stanley cup winner who always picks last? Penalizing a team like Chicago because they have heart and leadership. Edmonton has McDavid, Draisaitl,nugent Hopkins,nurse. not much else. except bear who looks like a a good three/four defensemen.
This is great news for the Rangers and the best fans in hockey. The Rangers have been getting screwed by the NHL for like ever. This is payback for getting screwed out of Lindros.
and Lindros was payback for Seaver
Best fans in hockey? Said no one about the Rangers fans ever…
Rangers move up 2 drafts in a row? When they refuse to pull the balls live? What an absolute coinky dink
To me, simply none of the playoff teams should pick first overall. Never understood the lottery. You finished last..pick first and so on.
Rigged? 1965 last time Rangers picked first!
i’m just spitballing here but few years back i was listening to the local sports station and they were talking about taking. the guest that was on (don’t remember the guest name was years ago) but he proposed instead of the tanking teams getting the top picks or a lottery system which from what i’ve seen is a flawed system. teams that just missed the playoffs get the top picks in order they barley missed by. now this system was based on mlb and how hou and chi went from jokes to good and how they deliberately sucked to pick high. this system the way it was explained would award teams that try to be competitive and try to win a championship even though honestly there team really wasn’t a playoff team. instead of a team that just sucks or a lotto system that more times than not seems “fixed”.
would like to here your thoughts on this even thou this was brought up in a baseball segment i think it applies to all sports and it may not be a perfect system it dose help keep the sport competitive. tbh i’d rather see the “loser” teams and least try and win instead of we’ll we suck and we know it so we’re really going to suck so we can pick high. really makes a lot of games unwatchable and if i’m a fan of any said team why would i spend hard earned money on a bad product.
Hahaha! What a bunch of whiners…
Long time Ranger fan back when there were only 6 teams. Rangers are quickly becoming a team nobody wants to play. I’m witnessing, so far, a very successful team and organizational transformation before my eyes since 2018 when they publically committed to a total rebuild.
Jeff Gorton, Ranger’s GM, has a “good luck” charm. Turns out, prior to the draw the other night, he sat somewhere in Ranger HQ holding the badge of a policeman shot in Central Park while on patrol on July 12, 1986. The officer was totally paralyzed since that fateful day and subsequently passed away on January 10, 2017. The officer was a lifetime Ranger fan and promoted to a Detective, before his death, I believe. Gorton also used the officer’s badge last year when the Rangers placed 2nd in the lottery, picking Kaapo Kakko. GR8 night for the Rangers and their fans.
So, yes, maybe it was rigged but not by unfounded claims of jealous and/or disappointed fans or proofless accusations of it being rigged but by a police officer’s badge worn by a cop who prematurely gave his life to protect lives and keep people safe.
Nuff said. I like the idea put forth by brodie-bruce, above. It’s properly awarding teams who didn’t do well in the previous year and ranks them inversely to their success rate. Then fit in all the playoff teams inversely ranked according to their success rate in the playoffs with ties decided by a coin flip.
IMO, there should be an independent body (if there is such a thing today) set up to be judges of team play during the second half of the season. This committee of, say 5, judges will judge the quality of play of all teams, noting near the end any team/s quitting and purposely playing poorly to get a higher pick. Those teams ID’d as such will automatically go to the end of the line, being placed just below the cup winner in inverse order of just how really poorly they played or how honestly they tried to do better. My only question here is what the committee should consist of to maintain its independence. Thinking NHL sportswriters but how much bias is there with them? Needs to be people knowledgeable about hockey yet not biased toward one organization over another. Perhaps NHL league officials or something.