Golden Knights unlucky in NHL Draft Lottery, to pick 6th
Lady Luck was not with the Golden Knights on Saturday, as the expansion team didn’t get one of the top three spots in the NHL Draft Lottery in Toronto.
The Knights will select sixth in the first round of the NHL draft on June 23 in Chicago.
The New Jersey Devils won the lottery and have the No. 1 pick, likely to be Brandon Wheat Kings center Nolan Patrick. The Philadelphia Flyers will select second, followed by the Dallas Stars, Colorado Avalanche and Vancouver Canucks.
The Knights had a 10.3 percent chance of winning the lottery, but when the Stars’, Flyers’ and Devils’ logos were revealed, their fate was sealed at No. 6. The Knights, though, will pick in the No. 3 spot for rounds 2 through 7 on June 24.
“You want to pick as high as you can,” Vegas general manager George McPhee said. “But we’re sixth, and we’ll find a good player at six. A lot of good players have come out of that spot.”
Recent No. 6 selections include Sean Monahan of Calgary (2013), Oliver Ekman-Larsson of Arizona (2009) and Mikku Koivu of Minnesota (2001). Hall of Famers Paul Coffey and Peter Forsberg were taken at No. 6.
About 200 premium season-ticket holders attended a lottery party at T-Mobile Arena, and the team brought out its good luck charm, Stanley the Rooster.
But the day got off to a bad start for the Golden Knights. McPhee didn’t make it to Toronto, where he was to represent the team, because of travel issues in Washington, D.C. The Knights were represented by Tom Poraszka, the team’s hockey operations analyst.
“There were some mechanical issues with the plane, and we were stuck on the tarmac for a while,” McPhee said. “By the time we went back to the gate and found another flight, it was going to be too late to get to Toronto.”
Things quickly went south for the Knights when Philadelphia, which had a 2.2 percent chance of winning the lottery, jumped into the top three. The Knights’ odds shrunk more when Dallas, which had a 5.8 percent chance, jumped into the top three.
And when the Devils, with odds of 8.5 percent, became the third team, the Knights’ fate was sealed, as Colorado and Vancouver locked in at Nos. 4 and 5.
“It’s very disappointing,” said Las Vegan Heather McCallum, who attended the party at T-Mobile. “It would have been nice in our first year to get the No. 1 pick.”
Las Vegan Woody Peitz thought it was a long shot that the Knights would win the No. 1 pick.
“I’m not disappointed,” he said. “To me, the biggest surprise is Philly moving up to No. 2. Their odds were like 2 percent or something?”
Knights vice president Murray Craven gave fans a pep talk afterward, telling them: “Don’t worry about where we’ll be in the draft. We’ll be just fine.”
McPhee no doubt will be getting calls from NHL general managers to inquire about trading the No. 6 pick. He also might make some calls about moving up in the first round.
“I’m sure we’ll be talking to a lot of people, but at least we now know where we are picking and we go from there,” McPhee said.
Contact Steve Carp at scarp@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2913. Follow @stevecarprj on Twitter.
NHL draft order
1. New Jersey
2. Philadelphia
3. Dallas
4. Colorado
5. Vancouver
6. Golden Knights
7. Arizona
8. Buffalo
9. Detroit
10. Florida
11. Los Angeles
12. Carolina
13. Winnipeg
14. Tampa Bay
15. New York Islanders
Positions 16 to 31 will be determined after the Stanley Cup playoffs.
Possible picks for Golden Knights
The Golden Knights have the No. 6 pick in the NHL Entry Draft on June 23 in Chicago. Here are three players they might consider taking with the pick:
1. Cody Glass, center, Portland Winterhawks (Western Hockey League) — The 6-foot-2-inch, 179-pounder led the team in scoring with 32 goals and 94 points. He is an excellent skater who plays both ends of the rink. He can be physical and has a high hockey IQ. He moved from No. 8 in the NHL Central Scouting midseason rankings to No. 6.
2. Martin Necas, center, HC Kometa Brno, Czech Republic — A 6-1, 168-pound 18-year-old who has represented his country in several international events and acquitted himself nicely. He skates exceptionally well and has a sneaky hard shot. Stood out at World Junior Championships in December and physically held his own. Can create space to make plays for himself.
3. Michael Rasmussen, center, Tri-City Americans (WHL) — He’s 6-6 and loves contact. He had 32 goals and 55 points in 50 games for Tri-City. Scouts say he has a game similar to Florida’s Aleksander Barkov, which means he’s a responsible player in the defensive half of the ice. Another player who has moved up the Central Scouting rankings and finished No. 5.
Steve Carp/Review-Journal
