Tonight’s NHL draft lottery figured to be a fairly uneventful night for the Philadelphia Flyers, who had a 2.2 percent chance of winning the lottery and roughly a 7.2 percent chance of jumping into the top 3. Couple in the fact that there was an obviously very real conspiracy in place against the Flyers, and it seemed likely that the team would be looking at the 13th pick in the draft this June.
BUT THAT’S NOT WHAT HAPPENED.
In a year that has by and large been a monumental disappointment for the Flyers, their card was NOT pulled at the No. 13 slot. No, the Flyers will pick all the way up at No. 2 in this year’s draft in Chicago, the highest they have picked since picking James van Riemsdyk in the same spot ten years ago.
The only remotely bad news of the night is the fact that the team that did end up at No. 1 is none other than the New Jersey Devils, who will now have a chance to pick up a game-breaking forward that they so desperately need. But in a draft that’s increasingly being billed as one with two potential high-end forwards — Brandon center Nolan Patrick and Halifax center Nico Hischier — No. 2 overall is just fine with us.
This has the potential to drastically change the entire trajectory of the franchise for the Flyers, who have been staring the potential decline of Claude Giroux in the face for over a year now and, until now, had no obvious replacement for him in their forward prospect ranks. We’ve got a lot to talk about between now and June 23, but for now, let’s celebrate.
Lottery order is below. I love you all.
- New Jersey Devils
- Philadelphia Flyers
- Dallas Stars
- Colorado Avalanche
- Vancouver Canucks
- Vegas Golden Knights
- Arizona Coyotes
- Buffalo Sabres
- Detroit Red Wings
- Florida Panthers
- Los Angeles Kings
- Carolina Hurricanes
- Winnipeg Jets
- Tampa Bay Lightning
- New York Islanders
