How the last five NHL drafts would have happened with a lottery like 2017

This year’s draft lottery was pretty upsetting for many NHL fans.

The fan bases for three teams were very happy, as the New Jersey Devils, Philadelphia Flyers and Dallas Stars all shot up the charts and will be drafting much higher than they were projected to.

New Jersey and Dallas had the fifth and eighth best chances, whereas Philadelphia was all the way down at 13th best chances. It really goes to show you how lucky the draft can be and how easily things can change for teams. Last year, the Toronto Maple Leafs were fortunate to finish last and receive the first overall pick, despite having an 80% chance of getting a different pick.

If you want to talk fortunate, just look at the Oilers who have too many 1st round picks to count. But what if every year ended up like this year? One Twitter user pointed out what the top six would have been like last year if it was picked like the 2017 lottery and it would have changed the entire landscape of the NHL.

If the 16 draft went down like last night it woulda been

1-Calgary

2-Ottawa

3-Buffalo

4-Toronto

5-Edmonton

6-Vancouver



eep — Jared (@JaredOfLondon) April 30, 2017

So, that got us thinking, what would the last five drafts look like if they got the same unlikely outcome as the 2017 draft. It’s bizarre. Keep in mind, how the draft lottery works did change after the 2014 draft, so this would have only been possible in 2015. Still, it’s interesting to see.

We’re using the same draft order as every draft, because there’s no way to know how each team felt about a particular player.

2016

Calgary Flames: Auston Matthews Ottawa Senators: Patrik Laine Buffalo Sabres: Pierre-Luc Dubois Toronto Maple Leafs: Jesse Puljujarvi Edmonton Oilers: Olli Juolevi Vancouver Canucks: Matthew Tkachuk Columbus Blue Jackets: Clayton Keller Winnipeg Jets: Alexander Nylander Arizona Coyotes: Mikhail Sergachev Montreal Canadiens: Tyson Jost

2015

Carolina Hurricanes: Connor McDavid Dallas Stars: Jack Eichel Columbus Blue Jackets: Dylan Strome Buffalo Sabres: Mitch Marner Arizona Coyotes: Noah Hanifin Edmonton Oilers: Pavel Zacha Toronto Maple Leafs: Ivan Provorov New Jersey Devils: Zach Werenski Philadelphia Flyers: Timo Meier San Jose Sharks: Mikko Rantanen

2014

New York Islanders: Aaron Ekblad Nashville Predators: Sam Reinhart Toronto Maple Leafs: Leon Draisaitl Buffalo Sabres: Sam Bennett Florida Panthers: Michael Dal Colle Edmonton Oilers: Jake Virtanen Calgary Flames: Haydn Fleury Vancouver Canucks: William Nylander Carolina Hurricanes: Nikolaj Ehlers Winnipeg Jets: Nick Ritchie

2013

Carolina Hurricanes: Nathan MacKinnon Arizona Coyotes: Aleksander Barkov Buffalo Sabres: Jonathan Drouin Florida Panthers: Seth Jones Colorado Avalanche: Elias Lindholm Tampa Bay Lightning: Sean Monahan Nashville Predators: Darnell Nurse Calgary Flames: Rasmus Ristolainen Edmonton Oilers: Bo Horvat New Jersey Devils: Valeri Nichushkin

2012

Toronto Maple Leafs: Nail Yakupov Buffalo Sabres: Ryan Murray Carolina Hurricanes: Alex Galchenyuk Columbus Blue Jackets: Griffin Reinhart Edmonton Oilers: Morgan Rielly Montreal Canadiens: Hampus Lindholm New York Islanders: Mathew Dumba Anaheim Mighty Ducks: Derrick Pouliot Minnesota Wild: Jacob Trouba Winnipeg Jets: Slater Koekkoek

The winners of this format have to be the Hurricanes who come out of it with Connor McDavid and Nathan MacKinnon. Things could have been very different.

Mitch Marner in Buffalo, Patrik Laine in Ottawa, Leon Draisaitl in Toronto, and Auston Matthews in Calgary. Talk about bizarro world.