Six teams have punched their ticket to the second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs.
Vegas, San Jose, Nashville and Winnipeg are through in the Western Conference. Pittsburgh and Tampa Bay are both moving on in the Eastern Conference. The Bruins, Maple Leafs, Capitals and Blue Jackets are fighting it out for those last two spots. Tense time, indeed.
Meanwhile, the real action is just five days away.
On Saturday night in Toronto, the 15 teams that missed the post-season will be entered into a lottery with the grand prize of a franchise-altering defenceman by the name of Rasmus Dahlin. Pretty solid second and third place prizes too in the form of potential game-changing forwards like Andrei Svechnikov, Filip Zadina and Brady Tkachuk.
In a season where everything has gone wrong for the Ottawa Senators, they’ll be hoping for a little bit of luck this weekend.
13.5%. That’s the likelihood that the Senators walk away from the lottery with the number one selection. Only the Buffalo Sabres have better odds (18.5%) but it’s still a long-shot. They have a 26.5% chance at landing one of the top two picks and a 38.8% chance at finishing somewhere in the top three.
From The Athletic- “Breaking Down Rasmus Dahlin”
The Senators can essentially land anywhere in the top five.
In fact, 4th overall is the most likely landing spot for the Senators, coming in at 33.3%. And it’s a 27.9% chance they finish with the 5th overall selection.
61.2% chance they fall outside of the top three.
Terrifying, really.
Saturday’s festivities will consist of three separate draws: the 1st Lottery Draw will determine the club selecting first overall, the 2nd Lottery Draw will determine the club selecting second overall and the 3rd Lottery Draw will determine the club selecting third overall. Once the selections have been made, teams will be announced in reversed order from 15 to 1.
You can prepare yourself for this weekend by running the simulator a few hundred times. And if that one isn’t working out for you, there’s another option here.
-Team Sweden has announced their final roster for the upcoming World Championships and it includes a few familiar faces. Filip Gustavsson is one the three goalies along for the ride and UFA to be Magnus Paajarvi is also there. Mikael Wikstrand, who has shown some interest in a potential NHL return, is also expected to suit up for Sweden.
