NHL Teams With the Worst Draft Lottery Luck

NHL Draft Lottery
Photo Credit - Max Molski

With the 2024 NHL Draft Lottery only a few days away, I decided to go through and record all the teams that have suffered the most from the NHL Draft Lottery in the last 5 years.

Detroit Red Wings (-5 Spots)

Detroit has one of the best U23 rosters in the NHL, despite getting unlucky in the NHL Draft Lottery, many times. They dropped 2 spots in 2019, going from 4th to 6th. They still landed a very solid player in Moritz Seider, but missed out on the opportunity of drafting Bowen Byram and Alex Turcotte. The next year they dropped 3 spots, going all the way from 1st to 4th, in a worst case scenario situation. They drafted Lucas Raymond but still missed out on the opportunity of getting Alexis Lafreniere, Quinton Byfield, and Tim Stuetzle. Even when you look further past 2019, the Red Wings have dropped a total of 8 spots in the last 11 drafts.

Detroit has a very slim .5% chance of winning the NHL Draft Lottery this year. Although that’s very unlikely to happen, you can’t be upset if it does, because the Wings are due.

Anaheim Ducks (-4 Spots)

Anaheim hasn’t dropped multiple spots in the same year, but it seems to be a safe bet every year that they will drop 1 spot, as they have done so in 4 of the last 5 years. Anaheim most recently came off a draft lottery in which they fell from 1st to 2nd, in arguably the most valuable year to land the first overall pick, since the Connor McDavid draft in 2015. Anaheim missed out on Connor Bedard in 2023, Matty Beniers in 2021, Jake Sanderson in 2020, and Philip Broberg in 2019. If anyone with a realistic chance to move up or even win the draft lottery this year, you’d have to think it’d be Anaheim’s turn.

The Ducks are currently sitting with the 3rd best odds at winning the 2024 NHL Draft Lottery, with a 11.5% chance. Macklin Celebrini is the clear-cut first overall pick, according to many scouts, and while the Duck’s strength would be down the middle, they could absolutely use another elite-level prospect. Another option, if Anaheim wins, is the ability to move down and take the winger or defenceman they need while still getting rewarded with a few extra assets to drop a few spots in the draft.

Related Post: Anaheim Ducks Draft Lottery (Bad) Luck

Minnesota Wild (-2 Spots)

Minnesota ranks third worst in Draft Lottery luck, dropping one spot in both the 2019 and 2020 NHL Drafts. In 2019, the Wild selected Matt Boldy at 12th overall, but missed out on selecting Victor Soderstrom. The year after, when they once again dropped a spot, they missed out on Jack Quinn but didn’t disappoint by selecting Marco Rossi with the 9th overall pick.

The Minnesota Wild hold a 2% chance of winning the Draft Lottery, and you know the organization itself and their fanbase is wishing for exactly that to happen. Macklin Celebrini could be the perfect player, to give this team the little retool they need to once again return to being a playoff contender.

2024 NHL Draft Lottery

The 2024 NHL Draft Lottery will take place on May 7th, the exact time of the lottery is still yet to be announced.

Here are the full list of odds, of all teams that will be entered into the lottery.

Draft Lottery Participants(Fewest Points to Most)
Odds
San Jose Sharks 18.5%
Chicago Blackhawks 13.5%
Anaheim Ducks 11.5%
Columbus Blue Jackets 9.5%
Montreal Canadiens 8.5%
Utah 7.5%
Ottawa Senators 6.5%
Seattle Kraken 6.0%
Calgary Flames 5.0%
New Jersey Devils 3.5%
Buffalo Sabres 3.0%
Philadelphia Flyers 2.5%
Minnesota Wild 2.0%
Pittsburgh Penguins * 1.5%
Detroit Red Wings 0.5%
St. Louis Blues 0.5%

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