Everything You Need To Know About Lottery Day
It’s Draft Lottery Day.
Today is the day the Flyers learn their fate. Either Bettman won’t be able to find his shadow, and Connor Bedard or Adam Fantilli will be wearing burnt orange in October.
Or he will see his shadow and the Flyers will be in for 6 more months (starting in October) of winter… also known as abject talent poverty.
Unlike Groundhog Day, there are actual numbers behind the likelihood of each event. And the stakes are very much real.
The Flyers have a 6.5% chance of coming home with the 1st overall pick, which will invariably be used to select Regina Pat’s sensation: Connor Bedard.
They have a 6.7% chance of coming home with the 2nd overall pick, which will most definitely be used to select NCAA standout and Hobey Baker winner: Adam Fantilli.
They have a 0.2% chance of coming home with the 3rd overall pick, for which there is some intrigue. But it will most likely end with the selection of Swedish power forward and playmaker hybrid: Leo Carlsson.
The Flyers have never won 1st overall from the draft lottery in their franchise’s history.
The one time they selected 1st overall was via trade when then generational talent Eric Lindros demanded a trade, and the actual lottery winners (the Quebec Nordiques) obliged.
It was a trade that sent an array of assets to Quebec, including a future generational talent in Peter Forsberg, who the Flyers originally drafted at 6th overall in the Lindros draft.
The Flyers have won the draft lottery to secure the 2nd overall pick twice, and both turned out to actually be examples of bad luck.
In 2007, the Flyers were the worst team in the league. They moved down a spot from 1 to 2 in the draft lottery after Chicago won it. The Blackhawks selected a one-of-a-kind dynamo: Patrick Kane.
Left with a true consolation prize, the Flyers selected James van Riemsdyk.
10 years later, in 2017, the Flyers moved up from 13th overall to 2nd over after winning the draft lottery.
The Flyers used the 2nd overall pick to select—at the time—a special power forward prospect who figured to be a franchise player in the making: Nolan Patrick.
Before injuries derailed his draft year, Patrick was the consensus #1 overall pick. Injuries never stopped derailing his career, and he’s currently no longer playing in the NHL.
Miro Heiskanen, Cale Makar, and Elias Pettersson were selected with the next 3 picks. The Flyers have never once—in the history of their franchise—experienced true lottery luck.
There’s a 13.4% chance that happens tonight. And if the pick actually pans out, it would be the first time in franchise history they got lucky on lottery day.
Mandatory Credit: NHL.com
