NHL Draft Lottery to be Held on Monday, April 29th

The Avalanche will be participating in the NHL Draft again this year, starting with the NHL Draft Lottery, a sweepstake to determine the selection order of this year’s draft.  The lotto will happen on Monday, April 29th, at 8 PM EST.  The results will be published on TSN, NBCSN, and the NHL Network, as well as MileHighManiac.com.

Based on the standings the Avalanche, who finished 29th in the league, have 18.8% of moving up and claiming the 1st overall pick.   This year will be the first time that all teams which failed to qualify for the NHL draft have a chance of winning the 1st overall selection.  This means that all 14 teams which failed to qualify for the playoffs could move to 1st overall, bumping the Avalanche down the the 3rd overall selection.  Worst case scenario, the Avalanche will move down to 3rd, as opposed to the best case scenario, with the Avalanche picking at 1st.

Based on the standings, the chances for the NHL draft are:

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%
Winnipeg Jets  0.8%
Columbus Blue Jackets  0.5%

Good luck to the Avalanche on Monday!