NHL Draft Lottery: Chicago wins Bedard sweepstakes (2024)

The Chicago Blackhawks won the Connor Bedard sweepstakes Monday, securing the No. 1 pick in the 2023 NHL Draft. The Anaheim Ducks — the favorite to win this year's lottery — and Columbus Blue Jackets will pick No. 2 and No. 3, respectively, while San Jose and Montreal round out the top five.

The Athletic has you covered with reactions and analysis on how the NHL Draft Lottery shook out.

2023 NHL Draft Lottery results

1. Chicago Blackhawks
2. Anaheim Ducks
3. Columbus Blue Jackets
4. San Jose Sharks
5. Montreal Canadiens
6. Arizona Coyotes
7. Philadelphia Flyers
8. Washington Capitals
9. Detroit Red Wings
10. St. Louis Blues
11. Vancouver Canucks
12. Arizona Coyotes (from Ottawa)
13. Buffalo Sabres
14. Pittsburgh Penguins
15. Nashville Predators
16. Calgary Flames

Background reading

• NHL Mock Draft 2023: Connor Bedard to Blackhawks as we pick for every lottery team
• Blackhawks’ Connor Bedard lottery prize ends one era and starts another
• Inside the moment the Chicago Blackhawks won the NHL Draft Lottery — before a TV miscue
• How (and where) Connor Bedard scored 100 goals in his NHL Draft year

(Top photo of Bill Daly: Mike Stobe / NHLI via Getty Images)

Is it possible the Flyers explore the option of trading up? Of course — it would be a surprise if interim GM Daniel Briere didn’t at least gauge the willingness of teams in the 1-6 range to move down, whether now or on draft day itself depending upon how the picks ultimately fall. But most likely, given the post-salary cap reticence of GMs to trade top-10 picks, the Flyers will make their given selection. And they’ll have a number of plausible options available to them at that spot.

(Photo: Matt Rourke / AP Photo)

Washington’s philosophy is typically to pick the best player available. When drafting so high, though, organizational need can be a tiebreaker. A top-six forward — a center, specifically — ranks at or near the top of the Caps’ wishlist, what with Evgeny Kuznetsov facing an uncertain future with the Caps, 35-year-old Nicklas Backstrom struggling to return to form following hip surgery, T.J. Oshie plagued by injuries and set to turn 37 in December, and Alex Ovechkin turning 38 in September. Prospects Connor McMichael and Hendrix Lapierre are coming along in Hershey but their presence would not preclude MacLellan and company from investing in a high-end forward, nor would Miroshnichenko’s.

So, with all of that as a backdrop, here are four forward players who could fit the bill around No. 8:

Sabres' General manager Kevyn Adams has rebuilt Buffalo’s prospect pool into one of the strongest in the NHL. He’ll get a chance to add another top-tier player to that group with this pick unless he chooses to trade it. While Connor Bedard is the prize of the draft, the Sabres should still get a talented player at No. 13.

Here’s an early look at some of their options.

Read more here

Once again the NHL Draft Lottery has come and gone without delivering a savior to Detroit.

Connor Bedard looks destined to be a Chicago Blackhawk. Adam Fantilli would figure to head West to Anaheim. And the Red Wings, meanwhile, will pick ninth — exactly as expected entering the night.

It’s certainly not the outcome Detroit fans would have dreamed up, especially with Bedard going to an Original Six rival, but the silver linings are: Bedard and Fantilli won’t be the latest elite prospects to clog up the fearsome Atlantic Division, and the Red Wings didn’t move backward.

Now, Steve Yzerman, Kris Draper and company are armed with the ninth pick, another in the top 20 courtesy of the Islanders, and about seven weeks to make some colossally important decisions.

Here are some of the names who could be toward the top of the Red Wings’ list now that they know their pick.

Read more here

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Every draft is a crucial one for every NHL team, particularly in the contemporary NHL where affordable labour rules, but for a Canucks organization with a relatively weak prospect pool intent on retooling around their current core group, the 11th overall pick looms particularly large. From Dallas to Boston to Minnesota, it’s all but impossible to find an organization that has successfully retooled in the hard cap era without finding a major star outside of the top 10 at the NHL Entry Draft.

So who should Vancouver be hoping falls to them with the 11th overall pick in 2023?

Patrick Kane was traded to New York in February for a meager return. Jonathan Toews was kicked out the door, told he wouldn’t be offered a new contract. All that remained was a gutted roster, a franchise stripped down to the studs, and enough draft picks to fill Grant Park again. New general manager Kyle Davidson, cleaning up the mess left by his predecessor, Stan Bowman, had “cleared the decks,” to use his words, and for the first time in 16 years, the Chicago Blackhawks had no face, no voice, no star for the team to sell, for the fans to cling to, for hope to arise from.

That dark age lasted all of 25 days.

Less than a month after Toews took his final curtain call, telling his teammates that the overwhelming reaction he received from the Chicago faithful was proof that all the work and sweat and sacrifice is worth it, the Blackhawks won the NHL Draft Lottery and the right to draft 17-year-old wunderkind Connor Bedard, he of the 71 goals and 72 assists in 57 games with the Regina Pats, he of the jaw-dropping highlights that have dotted the hockey landscape all season. The grand prize.

Is he the next Connor McDavid? The next Sidney Crosby? The next Patrick Kane? Too soon to tell. But he’s the next face of the franchise, Chicago’s next big thing. From 19 and 88 to 98 and 4-5-9-13 — Bedard’s number and the combination of numbers that won the lottery — the Blackhawks’ chain of stars will be unbroken.

Read more here.

(Photo: Minas Panagiotakis / Getty Images)

The Canadiens didn’t win the NHL draft lottery Monday evening, but they did beat the odds in holding their spot in the standings with the No. 5 pick. They only had about a one-in-four shot of that happening, far worse odds than the 58 percent chance of them dropping to No. 6 or 7, so that can be seen as a win, even if it isn’t the win they or their fans were dreaming about.

And yet, that win puts the Canadiens right in the sweet spot of what will be the biggest dilemma of this year’s draft, and that is the incredibly talented Russian forward Matvei Michkov. If his case were not complicated by his passport or an ongoing war in Ukraine or his contract linking him to SKA St. Petersburg at least until the end of the 2025-26 season, this would not be a dilemma for the Canadiens, because he would be long gone before they picked at No. 5.

But those factors are very real, and it will be up to the Columbus Blue Jackets at No. 3, the San Jose Sharks at No. 4 and the Canadiens to determine how to balance the talent of the player against those factors.

“For sure, it scares us more than it would another prospect because of the obvious reasons, but I couldn’t tell you today,” Canadiens general manager Kent Hughes said Monday, after a long pause, when asked if the organization is afraid of drafting Michkov. “If we determine that Michkov is much more talented than the other available players, we’ll have a decision to make. For now, we have a lot of work to do on his file, first of all as a player and second of all on the risks that would come with it, and from there we’ll make a decision.”

Read more here.

At this point, after two years of hype, two years of hyperbolic rankings, of endlessly looping GIFs, of frothing at the mouth over some kid in Saskatchewan, what would the wunderkind Connor Bedard need to do in order to actually live up to it all? To justify everything that’s been said and written about him? To truly be the puck prince that was promised?

Would 61 goals do it? Because that’s what Boston’s David Pastrňák, the 25th pick in the 2014 draft, did this season.

Would 46 goals and 63 assists do it? Because that’s what Dallas’ Jason Robertson, a second-round pick in 2017, did this season.

Would 99 points and Selke Trophy-caliber defense do it? Because that’s what Toronto’s Mitch Marner, the fourth pick in 2015, did this season.

Or would he have to do something almost inconceivable in the modern era, like post 153 points in a single season? You know, like Connor McDavid just did this season.

The NHL that Bedard will be walking into this fall — surely as a member of the Blackhawks after Chicago won Monday night’s draft lottery and the right to make Bedard the No. 1 pick on June 28 in Nashville — is not the same one that Sidney Crosby walked into in 2005, or that McDavid walked into in 2015. The year before Crosby debuted, Rick Nash, Ilya Kovalchuk and Jarome Iginla tied for the league lead with 41 goals. Martin St. Louis was the only 90-point scorer. The year before McDavid debuted, Jamie Benn won the scoring title with a mere 87 points.

Read more here.

(Photo: Minas Panagiotakis / Getty Images)

The NHL Draft Lottery balls bounced and whirred on Monday night in Secaucus, N.J.

With the fate of 11 NHL franchises in the balance, the winning combinations granted the first overall pick in the much hyped 2023 NHL Entry Draft to the Chicago Blackhawks and the second overall pick to the Anaheim Ducks. The poor Columbus Blue Jackets had their third overall selection tipped before NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly had an opportunity to show their placard to the broadcast audience.

At the top of the draft order, Connor Bedard looms large. He’s the consensus pick to have his name called out first from the NHL Draft floor in Nashville in June. Is there any meaningful debate about who Chicago should take with the first overall pick?

For Anaheim, if the first overall pick unfolds as expected, Adam Fantilli is widely expected to be the consolation prize. Is that set in stone though, or could we see a curveball thrown at the top of the draft order in the form of 6-foot-3 Swedish forward Leo Carlsson? And what about Matvei Michkov? Could he fall out of consideration entirely for Monday’s two winners at the NHL Draft Lottery?

To get a sense of the industry view of the apex of the 2023 draft class, we reached out to a quartet of veteran amateur talent evaluators from across the league. In order to have these NHL amateur scouts speak freely on the matter, we’ve made sure to only feature scouts from teams that weren’t part of the 2023 NHL Draft Lottery process and we’ve granted them anonymity. We’ll identify these scouts solely as Scout 1, Scout 2, Scout 3 and Scout 4. Some quotes have been edited for readability or clarity.

Read more here.

For a franchise often seen as the ignored one in a two-team NHL market, it doesn’t sit well that an Original Six franchise with three Stanley Cup championships in its not-so-distant past, one that openly dumped its 2022-23 season for a shot at Connor Bedard, managed to jump two spots and over the Ducks to No. 1. There’s no way around it. This stung.

To the throng of Ducks season-ticket holders who braved rush-hour SoCal traffic, general manager Pat Verbeek applied balm to some hurt feelings.

“There’s two players, three players that we’re going to be looking at that are going to make a big difference in our franchise,” he said. “We probably didn’t get Connor Bedard, but the next three guys are very exciting.”

Three guys, huh? Perhaps we can take it as Verbeek viewing the Ducks’ choices at No. 2 on June 28 as being in line with what’s long been projected: Adam Fantilli, Leo Carlsson or Matvei Michkov. The Michkov factor, with him being in the KHL until his contract expires in 2026, can certainly play into whether he’ll go within the top five, as his talent suggests, or slip beyond that given the lengthy wait for the dynamic winger.

Read more here.

EDMONTON — It’d be weird to assume that Jack Eichel had anything on his mind Monday night besides the game he just played.

Eichel was the best player on the ice at Rogers Centre, leading the Vegas Golden Knights to a 5-1 Game 3 win over the Edmonton Oilers. They’re up in the series now, having answered Edmonton’s Game 2 fireworks show with one of their own. This is the postseason. Eichel is getting his first taste. And friends, it seems to agree with him.

The toolkit was on display. He scored a goal, set up two others and generally looked like the well-rounded, five-on-five force he’s shown himself to be … when allowed. Injuries and ineptitude at the helm of his old franchise denied this opportunity and delayed this moment a whole lot longer than anyone would’ve guessed back in 2015.

It was long enough for another generational player to crop up. Connor Bedard is a pending Chicago Blackhawk, as of a few moments before puck drop on Monday. Connor McDavid is still around. He’s great. We’re not here to litigate that. For the time being, though, he’s also losing home playoff games to Eichel, who’d have been the No. 1 pick in nearly any draft other than the one that fell when both were eligible.

Their paths haven’t diverged, necessarily — not much more than anyone would’ve expected, at least. McDavid breathes his own air these days, though, and Eichel is playing catch-up. That puts him in a crowded club. The comparison is unfair for any player, let alone him, and the only reason it’s still A Thing, though it has waned, is because they came up together. It’s still something he deals with, because it’s still impossible not to be in the same room, or the same arena, and not think about it.

So as Eichel scored Vegas’ fourth goal of the night — he put Evan Bouchard on a poster, whether Bouchard blew a tire or not — and stared into the seats, it was worth double-checking. Did that goal have any extra juice, given where we are and what happened before the game?

Read more here.

(Photo: Steph Chambers / Getty Images)

The good news for the San Jose Sharks is they did not drop after the results of the 2023 NHL Draft Lottery were revealed.

Getting to stay put at No. 4 is a small victory, given the odds were nearly two-thirds in favor of the Sharks ending up at No. 5 or No. 6. Having the fourth pick in a draft that has either four or five elite players in it is a fine outcome, particularly after pulling off the most improbable tank job in modern NHL history.

Now comes the really interesting part, because this decision is not only going to change the course of the franchise for years to come … it’s probably not going to be an easy one.

“I think we’re excited that we’re going to get a good player,” Sharks general manager Mike Grier said. “Obviously you hope you maybe get some luck and things go your way. But at the end of the day, we didn’t drop, which I think we’re all really happy about.”

Chicago could turn in its choice right now. People are likely already buying Connor Bedard jerseys in the Windy City. It’s probably going to be an easy call for Anaheim to select Adam Fantilli with the second pick as well.

And then the real intrigue begins, with Columbus on the clock at No. 3 and San Jose on deck. There are likely three players in consideration after Bedard and Fantilli — Swedish forward Leo Carlsson, Russian forward Matvei Michkov and American forward Will Smith.

Read more here.

SECAUCUS, N.J. — About 30 minutes before the NHL holds its annual draft lottery, league commissioner Gary Bettman is making small talk and snacking on chips in a small room just down the hallway from the NHL Network’s studio.

He steps away from a brief conversation about the draft order and declares which outcome he’s rooting for. “I root for no controversy,” he said, smiling.

Well, almost.

The NHL draft lottery itself went off without a hitch or a hiccup on Monday. Chicago won the Connor Bedard sweepstakes by jumping from No. 3 to No. 1 in the draft order, pushing Anaheim into the No. 2 overall pick and Columbus to the No. 3 overall pick.

It was on the TV show about an hour later — when the draft order was revealed to the public via ESPN — that the flub occurred. As the network cut to a commercial break with the top three picks still a mystery, broadcaster Kevin Weekes spoiled the surprise.

“And there’s our first change in the order,” Weekes said, “with Columbus dropping to third, so now either Anaheim or Chicago will select first overall.”

Wait. What?

It wasn’t until the show returned from break — which must have seemed like an eternity to those watching at home — that NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly confirmed Weekes’ slip-up by flipping over the No. 3 placard to reveal the Blue Jackets’ logo.

Both Weekes and the NHL declined to comment. A source with knowledge of the situation told The Athletic that a production error fed the wrong words into the teleprompter that Weekes was using, and that it wasn’t just a passing comment by the former NHL goaltender and veteran broadcaster.

Most importantly, it had no impact on the actual draft order, which was determined approximately an hour before the TV show. It only ruined the surprise element of the draft, particularly in Columbus, where fans gathered at a local brewery for a watch party.

Read more here.

With the lottery balls deciding that Chicago will get the No. 1 pick — very likely Connor Bedard — in the 2023 NHL Draft, it is officially mock draft season. The Athletic’s staff of NHL writers participated in this exercise, making the first 16 picks in the draft order. I’ve provided my commentary and solicited some NHL scouts’ opinions as well.

The 2023 NHL Entry Draft takes place in Nashville on June 28 and 29.

1. Chicago Blackhawks: Connor Bedard, C, Regina (WHL)

The Blackhawks sure didn’t have to sit very long with the question of how they were going to replace Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews on and off the ice. Bedard may not immediately elevate the Blackhawks to Stanley Cup contender again, but he does push them faster in the right direction and provides them the marketing piece they desperately needed. As soon as Bedard’s name is called at the draft, 98 jerseys will hang where 19 and 88 jerseys once did. And like Kane and Toews did as rookies, Bedard arrives to Chicago when expectations have been lowered after recent years. Fans will undoubtedly fill the United Center to see Bedard’s talent, but he will have time to adapt and develop. Bedard is a major piece to general manager Kyle Davidson’s rebuild, but there are other pieces to go. It could be the ideal situation for Bedard to step into with a major market but one that will be patient, too. —Scott Powers

Read the full mock draft here.

(Illustration: Sean Reilly / The Athletic; photos: Jaime Crawford, Dennis Pajot, Dale Preston / Getty Images)

That was exactly what it’s supposed to be: a tense, edge-of-your-seat TV spectacle that alters the trajectory of two (it’s easy to forget, with all the bluster about this No. 1, that two lotteries were drawn Monday night) organizations. My heart rate picked up watching it play out with no stake in the game, so I can only imagine what it must’ve felt like for the fans and teams involved, let alone for Connor Bedard — who looked as nervous as I’ve seen him in his interview off the top of the show — and his family.

Now, as the dust settles, the stage begins to set, first for final scouting meetings and the NHL Scouting Combine in Buffalo, N.Y., as teams are finally able to narrow in their lists, and then for the main event in Nashville, Tenn., on June 28 and 29. And as I sort through what the finalized draft order means myself, here are the big questions I’m considering, and everything else I’m thinking about.

(Photo: Mike Stobe / NHLI via Getty Images)

SECAUCUS, N.J. — Once again, the NHL draft lottery was no friend to the Blue Jackets.

The Blue Jackets, coming off one of the worst seasons in franchise history, slid from No. 2 to No. 3 in the draft order in Monday’s lottery, knocking them out of the running for the two elite-level prospects — forwards Connor Bedard and Adam Fantilli — ahead of next month’s draft.

It was a crushing blow to the Blue Jackets, and perhaps extra difficult for their fans, who watched on television as the Blue Jackets were announced as having the No. 3 pick before deputy commissioner Bill Daly turned over the card. The Blue Jackets were dreaming of a chance to draft Bedard, of course, but they were hopeful of landing a top-two spot. Bedard and Fantilli are both considered NHL-ready centers, ready to make an impact in 2023-24 and beyond.

“I always try to remain optimistic, but I look at the odds, and you know the odds weren’t great when you have a 13.5 percent chance at winning the lottery,” Blue Jackets GM Jarmo Kekalainen said. “It’s just the reality of it. It’s out of our control."

ANAHEIM, Calif. — A sizable gathering of Ducks fans at a restaurant across the street from Honda Center got louder with its cheers as deputy commissioner Bill Daly counted down toward the No. 1 placard. And when Columbus was revealed as the team with the third pick in this summer’s NHL draft, the crowd’s anticipation reached a fever pitch.

Either Chicago or Anaheim was going to be revealed. The possibility that the Ducks were going to get the first pick in a draft for the first time in franchise history started to look like reality, so much so that a commercial break temporarily burst the emotional balloon being blown.

When Daly turned over the “1” placard and the Blackhawks logo appeared, there was an audible groan from an amped-up audience. The Ducks will have the No. 2 pick and they’ll get a terrific player – perhaps Hobey Baker winner Adam Fantilli. But this crowd wanted No. 1 and the decidedly downbeat vibe after the lottery finished was in stark contrast to the fueled-up nature before.

“You get close to No. 1 – I mean the franchise has never had a No. 1 overall – so I think from that aspect, that’s disappointing,” Ducks general manager Pat Verbeek told The Athletic. “Five days away from the end of the season, maybe less, we were looking at picking fifth. You lose (the lottery) and you could go to seven. That would have been really disappointing.

“I’m really excited. We’re going to get a really good player that’s going to really help turn our franchise around.”

Before jumping into a round of interviews, Verbeek spoke to the crowd that was ready for a Bedard celebration and tried to deliver an upbeat message. The No. 2 pick might be Fantilli or not, but Verbeek feels good that choice will be someone they truly covet.

“It’s an exciting opportunity,” he said. “We’re going to pick the player we want. If we would have been three, we might not have gotten to pick the player. That’s the difference.”

(Photo: Mike Stobe / NHLI via Getty Images)