Maple Leafs Win 2016 Draft Lottery
The Toronto Maple Leafs won the 2016 NHL Draft Lottery and will pick first overall in this year’s draft.
The Lottery assigned the top three slots in the first round of the NHL draft, which was a change from years prior when the Draft Lottery was only used to determine the winner of the first overall selection only.
The Winnipeg Jets will pick second while the Columbus Blue Jackets won the rights to draft third in the draft.
The Maple Leafs finished the season with a 29-42-11 record and a league worst 69 points. Since Toronto finished last place, they had the best chance to win the Draft Lottery, at 20 percent. The Leafs were the ninth team to retain the first overall selection in the lottery, according to the NHL’s PR Twitter account. This is also the first time in team history that they have won the Draft Lottery. Toronto has selected first once in their history and that was in 1985 when they chose Wendell Clark with the pick.
The Leafs will have a chance to pick one of the “Big Three” prospects. The prospects are center Auston Matthews, left wing Patrik Laine and right wing Jesse Puljujarv. Matthews is ranked number one on NHL Central Scouting’s final ranking. Toronto is the first Original Six team to pick first overall since the Chicago Blackhawks did so in the 2007 Draft.
The Jets had the biggest jump in the Lottery going from sixth to second, while the Blue Jackets moved up one from fourth to third. The Edmonton Oilers fell back two spots to the four and the Vancouver Canucks fell two spots to the fifth spot in the draft.
The rest of the draft order will be based on how the teams finish in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. The Draft will be held on June 24-25 at Niagara Center in Buffalo.
Here is the rest of the 2016 Draft Order:
1. Toronto Maple Leafs
2. Winnipeg Jets
3. Columbus Blue Jackets
4. Edmonton Oilers
5. Vancouver Canucks
6. Calgary Flames
7. Arizona Coyotes
8. Buffalo Sabres
9. Montreal Canadiens
10. Colorado Avalanche
11. New Jersey Devils
12. Ottawa Senators
13. Carolina Hurricanes
14. Boston Bruins (second consecutive year that BOS will pick 14th)
