2023 NHL Draft Lottery Odds – Which Team Has Best Chance of Landing Connor Bedard?
- At odds of +340, the Anaheim Ducks are favored to win the 2023 NHL Draft Lottery on Monday, May 8
- Five other NHL teams are given betting lines shorter than +1000 to earn the pick
- The Vancouver Canucks are given the longest odds to with the lottery at +2200
Will the NHL Draft Lottery be the night when luck is finally changing for the Anaheim Ducks?
Over the past five seasons, the Ducks have missed the Stanley Cup playoffs each spring. The annual disappointment hit a new low this season. At 23-37-12, Anaheim was posting the NHL’s worst regular-season record.
They say that every cloud has a silver lining, though, and it could be that the Ducks picked the perfect season to bottom out. That’s because the grand prize awaiting the winner of the draft lottery is generational talent Connor Bedard of the WHL’s Regina Pats.
The Ducks are listed as +340 favorites to be the team to win the NHL Draft Lottery and earn the right to claim Bedard, who will be the instant favorite in the Calder Trophy odds.
NHL Draft Lottery Odds
| Team | Odds |
|---|---|
| Anaheim Ducks | +340 |
| Columbus Blue Jackets | +500 |
| Chicago Blackhawks | +600 |
| San Jose Sharks | +750 |
| Montreal Canadiens | +850 |
| Arizona Coyotes | +900 |
| Philadelphia Flyers | +1100 |
| Washington Capitals | +1200 |
| Detroit Red Wings | +1500 |
| St Louis Blues | +2000 |
| Vancouver Canucks | +2200 |
| Field (any other team) | +1100 |
There are five other NHL teams showing odds of less than +1000, so the pairing of Anaheim with Bedard, a 90-goal scorer this season in all competitions, is not at all guaranteed.
The NHL Draft Lottery is slated for Monday, May 8 at 8pm ET. ESPN is carrying the live telecast in the USA and Sportsnet will be broadcasting the event in Canada.
Odds as of May 8 at DraftKings Sportsbook.
What Are The NHL Draft Lottery Chances?
Since introducing the NHL Draft Lottery in 1995, there have only been eight occasions when the team that finished last overall in the NHL standings also won the right to select first in the following season’s NHL Entry Draft.
On Monday night, the NHL will hold its draft lottery.
Eleven teams will learn if they’ll receive the No. 1 pick and be lucky enough to put Connor Bedard’s name on their 2023-24 roster.
Breaking down his fit on each team:https://t.co/x9zY9OTC4H pic.twitter.com/YdMT22QWx4
— The Athletic NHL (@TheAthleticNHL) May 6, 2023
The good news for the Ducks is that the worst team has won the lottery in each of the past two seasons. From 2008-10, it happened three years in a row, so Anaheim can cling to that precedent as well. On the other hand, the Ducks have never made a first-overall selection during the NHL Draft Lottery era.
Thanks to their basement finish, Anaheim is given the best percentage of winning the lottery. However, it’s barely better than a 1-in-4 chance at 25.5%.
Who Could Win If Anaheim Doesn’t?
Under current NHL Draft Lottery rules, a team is only able to be moving up a maximum of 10 spots. That means only 11 of the 16 teams who missed the playoffs are remaining eligible for the first overall pick. If a team between 12-16 in the draft seeding were to win the lottery, the #1 pick will be reverting back to the Ducks.
Beyond Anaheim, the Columbus Blue Jackets (13.5%) and Chicago Blackhawks (11.5%) are 2-3 in the NHL Draft Lottery when it comes to their percentage chance of landing at #1 in the selection process. Bedard’s hometown team the Vancouver Canucks are given just a 3.0% chance of bringing him home. At +2200, the Canucks are also assigned the longest odds of winning the lottery.
Which Team Will Be Claiming Bedard?
History shows us that in nine of the last 11 NHL Draft Lottery drawings, the winning team was seeded among the top three placings. Based on that data, you’re probably looking at Anaheim, Columbus, or Chicago as Bedard’s likely landing spot. Whichever team lands him, they can expect shorter Stanley Cup odds to also be in their future.
Chicago was the winner of the NHL Draft Lottery in 2007, grabbing a superstar player in Patrick Kane with the first overall pick. In 2012, Columbus was situated where Anaheim is right now, but watched as Edmonton jumped from #2 to win the lottery. These two teams were listed as the favorites to land Bedard when NHL Draft Lottery odds first dropped in January.
Only 1 more day until the @NHL Draft Lottery!
Our final countdown highlights the achievements of players selected 1st overall. pic.twitter.com/mNQcwuEpsf
— Columbus Blue Jackets (@BlueJacketsNHL) May 7, 2023
He’s the only #1 overall pick that the Blackhawks have ever made. Then again, that’s one more #1 pick than either the Blue Jackets or Ducks have ever had.
Since the NHL reconfigured its draft lottery format in 2021, the team favored to get #1 got #1. The Ducks will make it three-for-three.
Pick: Anaheim Ducks (+340).
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An industry veteran, Bob literally taught the course on the history of sports at Elder College. He has worked as a Sports Columnist for Postmedia, appeared as a guest on several radio stations, was the Vice President of the Society For International Hockey Research in Ontario, and written 25 books.
