The NHL draft lottery took place on Tuesday, with the San Jose Sharks securing the first overall pick in this year's draft. While the lottery did not impact the Edmonton Oilers directly per se, it was still noteworthy that a Pacific Division rival won the top draft selection.
In this respect, fellow divisional rivals the Seattle Kraken and Calgary Flames, will pick eighth and ninth respectively in the first round of this year's draft. In terms of fellow Canadian teams, the Montreal Canadiens will select fifth and the Ottawa Senators will choose seventh.
As per Josh Gold-Smith of the Score, the final lottery draft order matched the odds exactly. This made it the first lottery since 2010, when no team moved up or down relative to their chances.
As a result, the Chicago Blackhawks will pick second in the first round, with the Anaheim Ducks rounding out the top three. The rest of the draft order for the opening round, will be determined by how the Stanley Cup playoffs play out.
The draft will be covered by the NHL Network, Sportsnet, ESPN and TVA Sports, with it scheduled for June 28 and 29 at the Sphere in Las Vegas; the first round will take place on the 28th and rounds two-seven will be the following day. The Oilers and their fans will of course by hoping to hold an unfavourable draft position, i.e. if they can win their first Stanley Cup since back in 1990.
What picks do the Oilers hold?
Regardless, the Oilers do not hold a first round pick in this year's draft, due to trading it away as part of the deal which landed Sam Carrick from the Ducks back in March. In fact they only hold one draft pick in the first four rounds as things stand, with a second rounder.
The Oilers hold six picks overall for the 2024 draft, including a fifth rounder, two in the sixth round and another two in the seventh round. Again though, this won't concern the organisation too much if Connor McDavid finally gets his hands on the Stanley Cup.
As per Mike G. Morreale of NHL.com, the Sharks are leaning towards taking Boston University centre Macklin Celebrini with the first overall pick. Meanwhile the Blackhawks -- who selected Connor Bedard with the top pick last year -- could choose Michigan State University blue-liner Artyom Levshunov.