The Ducks will select 10th overall in next month’s NHL draft, which will be held at L.A. Live’s Peacock Theater on June 27-28.
The Ducks had the eighth-worst record in the NHL this season but slid back two spots thanks to leaps by the New York Islanders, who will pick first overall, and Utah HC, which will select fourth, in Monday’s draft lottery.
“It is always frustrating to fall back in the lottery,” Ducks general manager Pat Verbeek said. “We believe there is a strong group of players that will be available within the top 10 of this draft. We are confident with our scouting we will add an exciting young player to what we believe is already one of the best young group of players in the NHL.”
This will be the Ducks’ seventh straight year selecting in the top 10 of the draft, having missed the playoffs in each of those campaigns to accumulate the third-longest active playoff drought behind Detroit and Buffalo. Four of their prior six top-10 picks are on the roster now – Leo Carlsson, Mason McTavish, Pavel Mintyukov and Trevor Zegras – with another in juniors (last’s year third prospect taken, Beckett Sennecke) and a sixth who was traded for an even higher-profile prospect when Jamie Drysdale was shipped to Philly as part of a deal for Cutter Gauthier.
In their 31-year history, the Ducks have selected in the top 10 on 17 prior occasions, most notably taking Paul Kariya fourth overall in their very first entry draft back in 1993.
In this upcoming draft, the Ducks own nine picks, one in each of the seven rounds plus an additional selection in the third and fifth rounds.
The Islanders vaulted nine teams, including the last-place San Jose Sharks, in winning the opportunity to have the No. 1 pick.
The Islanders, who finished 10th in the standings and are in the midst of a front-office change, overcame having just a 3.5% chance to winning the lottery. New York has the right to pick first for the fifth time in team history, and first since selecting John Tavares with the No. 1 pick in 2009.
The San Jose Sharks will pick second after entering the day with the best odds, 18.5%, to win the lottery and a 25.5% chance of landing the No. 1 choice. San Jose, which finished last for a second consecutive year, was seeking to become the NHL’s first team to win the lottery and pick first in consecutive years.
The Chicago Blackhawks had the second-best chances to win the lottery and will pick third.
Utah won the second lottery drawing and made the jump from 14th to fourth under the rules limiting teams from moving up no more than 10 spots in the draft order.
The lottery was held at the NHL Network studios in New Jersey, and conducted live for the first time in the event’s 30-year history. Previously, the lottery was held shortly before the broadcast in front of a limited audience of sequestered observers, followed by the draft selections being revealed in reverse order.
The remaining 14 draft spots will be determined following the playoffs.