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An Underwhelming 2018 Goalie Draft Class

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There are already 15 teams whose 2017-18 season has come to and end, with eight more joining the group in the next week or two. For those teams, full attention has already been turned to preparing for the off-season. The first major event of the summer is the NHL Entry Draft, coming up on June 22-23, where teams can add promising young prospects at every position. However, for any teams in need of a major addition in net to the pipeline, the 2018 class leaves a lot to be desired.

The days of goaltenders being selected early in the first round may be over, but at least one goalie has been selected in the first fifty picks of the draft every year since the turn of the century, including several years with multiple first-round keepers. That streak may come to an end in 2018. Somewhat lost in the hype of top prospects like Rasmus Dahlin and many other high-ceiling forwards and defenseman is the fact that few see any young goaltenders worthy of value picks this year. The first mock drafts from NHL.com and Yahoo both fail to include any keepers in the top 31 picks and Sportsnet’s latest Top 31 makes no mention of one either. The Hockey Writers takes it one step further, including just one goaltender among the first 75 players in their Top 93.

That one goalie, Czech pro Jakub Skarek, is a polarizing prospect. Skarek has good size and put up good numbers for HC Dukla Jihlava, one of the worst teams in the top Czech league, earning his top ranking among European goalies by NHL Central Scouting. Yet, Skarek also looked completely over-matched at the World Juniors and many feel is still a very raw talent, lending some explanation to what some feel is a third-round grade. Skarek may be the best the class has to offer though. The QMJHL offers a relatively strong group – Alexis Gravel, Olivier Rodrigue, and Kevin Mandolese – but all pale in comparison to top prospects from recent draft years.

Could one of these goalies slip into the first round? It would be a major surprise. The top fifty picks? That could more likely, but at this point in the pre-draft process seems to also be a stretch. So, for those teams in need of a top goaltender in the system, and there a quite a few, this may be the year to look for a sleeper in the late rounds rather than reach for an underwhelming option early on.

Filip Zadina Joins Czech World Championship Team

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Now that his Halifax Mooseheads have been eliminated from the QMJHL playoffs, Filip Zadina could settle in and wait for the upcoming draft, where he is expected to be among the very first few names off the board. Instead, he’s headed to join the Czech Republic men’s team as they prepare for the upcoming World Championships.

While it’s not clear if Zadina will suit up in the tournament for the Czech’s, the fact that he has been invited to their training camp shows just how talented the youngster is. The 18-year old recorded 44 goals and 82 points in the regular season for the Mooseheads, while being one of the most dangerous players at the World Juniors and putting up another 12 points in 9 playoff games. His year has been quite impressive, and an appearance at the Worlds would be icing on the cake.

Though he may still go third behind Rasmus Dahlin and Andrei Svechnikov (or even fourth behind Brady Tkachuk), Zadina figures to be a franchise-changing offensive talent in the NHL. The sniper can create offense all by himself by beating players with his speed and goaltenders with his shot, and he could likely slide onto an NHL powerplay right away. While he may need a bit more seasoning to develop his all-around game, there’s little doubt he can make an impact at the next level.

We won’t know where he’s going until the day of the draft, but on April 28th we’ll get an idea of where he could end up. That’s the draft lottery, where the Buffalo Sabres have the best chance at selecting first overall. Whoever ends up in second will have quite the decision on their hands, while third and fourth won’t complain about the superstar talent that falls to them.

2018 NHL Draft Lottery Odds

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The regular season is over and for the first time in NHL history there are 15 teams on the outside of the playoff picture. For those squads and their fans, it’s a long wait for anything positive to come, with the 2018 NHL Entry Draft more than ten weeks away, scheduled for June 18th, and the start of free agency another two weeks after that. However, the odds for this year’s NHL Draft Lottery are now set and teams can at least look forward to the ping pong balls being drawn at the end of the month, on Saturday, April 28th. With the teams in the running now set, here are the odds for the #1 overall pick in this years draft:

31st – Buffalo Sabres: 18.5%

30th – Ottawa Senators: 13.5%

29th – Arizona Coyotes: 11.5%

28th – Montreal Canadiens: 9.5%

27th – Detroit Red Wings: 8.5%

26th – Vancouver Canucks: 7.5%

25th – Chicago Blackhawks: 6.5%

24th – New York Rangers: 6.0%

23rd – Edmonton Oilers: 5.0%

22nd – New York Islanders: 3.5%

21st – Carolina Hurricanes: 3.0%

20th – New York Islanders (from Calgary Flames): 2.5%

19th – Dallas Stars: 2.0%

18th – Philadelphia Flyers (from St. Louis Blues (top-ten option)): 1.5%

17th – Florida Panthers: 1.0%

If you are a fan of one of these teams, you can entertain yourself for the next few weeks with this Lottery Simulator from Tankathon.com.

Poll: Who Will End Up With The Best Odds In The 2018 Draft Lottery?

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The NHL released their official draft lottery odds today, giving the worst team in the league an 18.5% chance at selecting first overall in June. Rasmus Dahlin—the expected prize of the top spot—is a franchise-changing talent, and likely able to step right into the NHL next season and make a difference.

Behind him there are exceptional talents, but there is no mistake that the first pick is worth quite a bit more than second or third. With that in mind, front offices in cities across the league are hoping that the odds land in their favor when the season ends.

Currently, the Buffalo Sabres sit in last place with 60 points, but they have Casey Mittelstadt debuting and could catch several other teams before the season is finished. Arizona, Ottawa and Vancouver are all still within reach, while the Red Wings and Canadiens are long-shots.

Who do you think will end up with the best odds in the lottery, and will they actually win it? Make sure to leave a comment below explaining who you think will be picking first overall in June.

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NHL Officially Announces Draft Lottery Odds

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The NHL Draft Lottery will take place on April 28th in Toronto, where up to 15 teams will hope to see their name move up the board to select in the top three. Up to, because the New York Islanders currently have two selections in the lottery after acquiring the Calgary Flames pick last offseason.

The official odds to select first overall for each team as follows:

31st in NHL: 18.5%

30th: 13.5%

29th: 11.5%

28th: 9.5%

27th: 8.5%

26th: 7.5%

25th: 6.5%

24th: 6.0%

23rd: 5.0%

22nd: 3.5%

21st: 3.0%

20th: 2.5%

19th: 2.0%

18th: 1.5%

17th: 1.0%

The odds for the second and third pick increase proportionately, based on who is selected.

NHLPA Approves Proposed Changes To Lottery Odds

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In what has become an annual event, the NHL Players’ Association has yet again approved changes to the NHL Draft lottery odds. TSN’s Pierre LeBrun reports that the NHLPA today signed off on a new lottery set-up recently submitted by the league. It marks the third season in a row that the odds have been altered.

The percentage chance that a team is selected to pick first, second, or third, as expressed by the number of ping pong balls present in the lottery draw, is dependent on where they finish in the overall league standings. Unsurprisingly, the changes to the odds first agreed upon in the Collective Bargaining Agreement began with the Edmonton Oilers and the painful realization that they had won yet another lottery in 2015 and would move up in the draft order to select Connor McDavid as their fourth first overall pick in a six year span. In response, the league significantly boosted the odds in 2016 toward the teams finishing last winning the lottery – expecting that Edmonton would no longer be in that range – as LeBrun notes that the 30th-place team had 20% odds of picking first two years ago. After the worst team in the NHL, the Toronto Maple Leafs, retained the top pick that year and selected Auston Matthews, the league and NHLPA again agreed to lessen the odds and insert more chance (and excitement) into the lottery. LeBrun indicates that last year the league’s worst, the Colorado Avalanche, had an 18% chance of holding on to the top pick. However, in a wild turn of events, three teams outside the bottom four won the lottery and moved into the top three draft slots, the biggest shift being the Philadelphia Flyers, who narrowly missed the playoffs, picking second. So, to perhaps combat another clean sweep, the odds have again been increased for those toward the bottom

Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reports that the new odds of selecting first for the upcoming 2018 NHL Draft will be 18.5% for 31st, 13.5% for 30th, and 11.5% for 29th. With the addition of an extra non-playoff team, there is also a new distribution which in fact increases the odds for the last team to miss the playoffs, the 17th-place finisher, by a tenth of a percent to 1%. This is accomplished by lessening the odds for the middle-of-the pack lottery teams. It may not be a coincidence that the Oilers are part of that group. Nor may it be a coincidence that the current bottom three – the Buffalo Sabres, Vancouver Canucks, and Arizona Coyotes – are all teams that have been struggling for years and would certainly appreciate retaining their high picks. This yearly change in draft lottery odds seems to be very responsive to the results of each prior lottery, but that isn’t a bad thing. So long as both the league and NHLPA agree, it’s safe to assume that the changes have the best interests of competitive balance in mind.

New York Rangers Open To Trading First-Round Pick

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The New York Rangers were busier than any other team at the trade deadline, tearing down their old core by trading players like Rick Nash, Nick Holden, Michael Grabner, J.T. Miller and of course Ryan McDonagh. Those moves came with the benefit of stockpiling draft picks, but that’s not necessarily where the work finishes.

Speaking with Craig Custance of The Athletic (subscription required) at the GM meetings in Florida, Rangers’ GM Jeff Gorton admitted he’s open to trading away one of the first-round picks he holds in the upcoming draft. New York has their own pick—which with every loss is getting higher and higher—along with those of the Boston Bruins and Tampa Bay Lightning. Both of those picks will be closer to the end of the round.

Custance’s piece goes in depth on several other subjects from the meetings, but one thing remains clear. This Rangers rebuild isn’t going to be a long project. With the additions of prospects like Libor Hajek, Brett Howden and Ryan Lindgren, and promotions of some of their other young players, the Rangers could be just a few years from competitiveness. That’s good news for Henrik Lundqvist, who just turned 36 and has three years remaining on his current contract.

The Rangers have just 13 players in the NHL who are signed through next season, meaning this summer will bring many more decisions on who will be retained to be part of the solution. Players like Ryan Spooner, Kevin Hayes and Vladislav Namestnikov are all restricted free agents, and are already in the middle of their twenties. Gorton will be one of the most popular men on the draft floor, with many teams trying to mine his roster and draft stockpile for assets.

Poll: Who Will Be The Second-Overall Pick In 2018?

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With just a handful of games remaining in the 2017-18 season, fans of half the league are already looking forward to the first big date on the offseason calendar. The 2018 NHL Entry Draft will start on June 22nd in Dallas, where Rasmus Dahlin looks to be the first name off the board. The Swedish defenseman is almost unanimously at the top of the rankings at this point, after showing off his huge potential by logging big minutes in the SHL, dominating the World Juniors and even suiting up for his country in the recent Olympics.

But after Dahlin, the decision becomes much tougher. For many months the leading theory was that Andrei Svechnikov, the dominant scoring Russian winger would be the second-overall pick, until he suffered an injury and then was forgettable at the World Juniors. Instead, many eyes turned to Filip Zadina who starred at the tournament and continued to wow audiences in the QMJHL on his way to a 44-goal season and a place on many of the league leaderboards. The 18-year old Czech forward can score from just about anywhere in the offensive zone, and does it with enough flair that everyone in the building takes notice.

Another player stood out in the World Junior tournament though, and that was Brady Tkachuk out of Boston University. Tkachuk had already been quietly climbing the draft boards, showing that he perhaps had just as much talent as his older brother—Calgary Flames forward Matthew Tkachuk—when he put up nine points in seven games and was clearly one of the most dangerous players for the dynamic Team USA. Tkachuk plays a heavy game and is a well-rounded talent that could now go as high as #2 overall, just as TSN’s Craig Button ranked him on his latest board.

Button isn’t alone in thinking Tkachuk has a chance to go second, but he certainly isn’t the consensus. That’s because there simply isn’t one, with other players like Adam Boqvist and Quinn Hughes even getting some love at the top of draft boards around the hockey world. There are several high-end players in this draft who could be franchise-altering talents, and the second-overall pick is still very much undecided. It might be determined by which team is selected in the draft lottery, and moves up (or down) to select right after Dahlin is off the board.

Who do you think will walk up to the podium after hearing his name second at this year’s draft? Will it be one of the trio of forwards, or a second defenseman? Will Dahlin be knocked off his perch entirely, and end up as a (excellent) consolation prize after someone decides they need help up front instead? Cast your vote down below, and be sure to explain your selection in the comment section.

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Expansion Notes: Seattle Ownership, Bettman, Vancouver

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The NHL-to-Seattle movement is in full swing, and ESPN’s Emily Kaplan recently caught up with hopeful owners Jerry Bruckheimer, David Bonderman, and Tim Leiweke and talked about everything from the remodeling of KeyArena, to branding, to even acquiring an NBA franchise down the road. For now, the trio are just invested in being the ownership group of the league’s 32nd team (literally, as they paid a $10MM down payment along with their application paperwork earlier in the month). The next step is a season ticket drive, about which Bruckheimer told Kaplan “there’s a lot of momentum working in our direction”. Should the ticket drive prove successful, the NHL is likely to accept the bid and begin planning the next stage of NHL expansion. That would of course include another Expansion Draft. The Seattle ownership group has to be hopeful after seeing the success of the Vegas Golden Knights this season, and Bonderman told Kaplan “The commissioner has been consistent in saying it’s the same kind of process and procedures that they used in Vegas, and we’re going to hold them to that”.

  • Well, NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman spoke about that exact topic today, telling TSN’s Farhan Lalji that the process would be exactly the same for Seattle as it was for Vegas. The expansion process was unlike any seen in professional sports before, allowing the existing NHL teams to only protect a maximum of 11 players from their roster. While first- and second-year players were exempt, Vegas GM George McPhee still had several valuable players to pick as well as several vulnerable teams to manipulate. The resulting roster did not blow anyone away, but proved to be the perfect fit for head coach Gerard Gallant’s system and the Knights are now contenders in their inaugural season. The Seattle ownership group is a ways away from naming a GM or coach, but they’ll have to make strong selections if they wish to maximize the entry draft process like Bill Foley and the Golden Knights did.
  • The other decision that may still be a ways away but will nonetheless draw major attention and speculation is the team name. The name, logo, and colors of any sports team is a huge factor and the reveal of the Golden Knights was a major, televised event. So when is the earliest we could find out the Seattle moniker and see some colors and logos? How about the 2019 NHL Draft? The league announced today that the Vancouver Canucks will host the draft in 2019. What better time to reveal the first details about Seattle than at a key league event hosted by the team that will eventually be their natural geographic rival to kick off the league year prior to their planned induction ahead of the 2020-21 season. It hardly seems like a coincidence that Vancouver was chosen to host this specific draft, the last in which they will be the only NHL team from the Pacific Northwest. Bettman and company are thinking ahead. Stay tuned.

Vancouver Officially Announces 2019 NHL Entry Draft

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After being rumored for the last week, the Vancouver Canucks made it official today and announced that they will be hosting the NHL Entry Draft on June 21-22, 2019. In the announcement, that was rejoiced by media members across the continent—Vancouver is a beloved city for visitors—NHL commissioner Gary Bettman explained why the NHL is heading west next year:

Returning the Draft to Vancouver allows the entire NHL family to meaningfully participate in a highlight of the Canucks’ 50-year anniversary celebration. The 2019 NHL Draft will provide another memorable moment for the Canucks and their fans while shining the spotlight on one of the world’s most scenic cities and serving as the starting point for so many NHL careers.

The Canucks have been part of the league since 1970, and have previously hosted the draft on two occasions. 1990, when a talented and feisty kid from the OHL named Owen Nolan was selected first-overall by the Quebec Nordiques, and 2006, when the St. Louis Blues decided to take big American defenseman Erik Johnson over several high-profile centers.

The 2019 draft is shaping up to be an excellent group, with Jack Hughes trying to fend off players like Bowen Byram and Dylan Cozens for the top spot. Vancouver, who are in the midst of a rebuild, could have another shot at the draft lottery next season, which would make the draft even more exciting for the Canucks and their fans.

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