What are Golden Knights’ odds in NHL draft lottery?
For only the second time in their history, the Golden Knights will have something at stake during the NHL draft lottery Tuesday.
They will hope for better luck this year. The Knights were tied for the third-best odds to win the lottery before their inaugural season but picked sixth overall in 2017, their lowest possible position.
It’s likely Tuesday’s two draws also don’t go their way. The Knights are tied for the 15th-best lottery odds at 0.5 percent, the worst possible, and need to move up to avoid giving their first-round pick to Buffalo as part of the Jack Eichel trade. Their odds of winning either draw are 1.1 percent, according to the website Tankathon.
The NHL draft lottery will be televised at 3:30 p.m. on ESPN. Even though it probably will leave the Knights without a higher pick than anticipated, owner Bill Foley said he is “100 percent” behind the Eichel trade.
“Jack is going to be a great asset for us for years and years,” Foley said. “He started showing that later in the season once he got used to (playing again).”
The Knights’ pick involved in the Eichel deal is top-10 protected. They would get the 16th pick if they do not win either lottery draw, and it would transfer to Buffalo. If they don’t win the first draw, their odds to win the second would go up proportionally depending on which team does win.
The Knights are limited to moving up 10 spots because of a new rule. They could only get the sixth or seventh pick if they win, which would still leave them out of range to take the prize of this year’s draft — Ontario Hockey League center Shane Wright.
The Knights would give Buffalo their 2023 first-round pick if they move up. They also would owe the Sabres their 2024 second-round pick instead of their 2023 second rounder.
The Knights already do not own their third- and fourth-round picks in the 2022 draft. They have an extra third-round pick from the New York Rangers from the Ryan Reaves trade and an extra fifth-round pick from Chicago as part of the Mattias Janmark deal.
The Knights haven’t been afraid to part with first-round picks. They had three in 2017 — selecting center Cody Glass, center Nick Suzuki and defenseman Erik Brannstrom — and eventually traded all three players. Suzuki and Brannstrom were used to acquire left wing Max Pacioretty and captain Mark Stone, respectively.
The Knights’ 2018 first-round pick was traded to acquire left wing Tomas Tatar from Detroit at the trade deadline. The team used its 2019 first-round pick on forward Peyton Krebs, who was included in the Eichel deal. The Knights’ 2020 and 2021 first-round picks — right wing Brendan Brisson and center Zach Dean — are still in the organization.
“We all anticipated (our strategy when we started) would be based on draft, develop, trade away your expiring contracts at the trade deadline, try to build it that way,” general manager Kelly McCrimmon said. “Things changed in season one. It was a special team. … What that did for us, it changed the approach we needed to take.”
Contact Ben Gotz at bgotz@reviewjournal.com. Follow @BenSGotz on Twitter.