The NHL Draft Lottery served as the guiding force for the rebuilding Arizona Coyotes all season long and soon it will be determined how the team’s efforts this season impact its future.
Through every trade this season, Coyotes General Manager Bill Armstrong has made the team’s focus of building through the draft known.
The Coyotes outperformed expectations this season, and it hurt the team’s mission of securing the best odds.
With this year’s draft class possessing one of the best in the last few years, it was crucial to stay within the best odds for a top-three pick. Instead, the Coyotes went to overtime 22 times.
Monday’s draft lottery at 5 p.m. will determine where the Coyotes will be picking at the 2023 NHL draft, which will take place at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville on Wednesday, June 28.
“This core is at a good age and they’re all kind of in that same age range,” Armstrong said. “If we can now add some of the prospects that come in. We never know if we can get somebody high in the draft or someone from last year’s draft, there’s still some pieces that we can add through there.”
Odds and ends
It hasn’t been in the cards for the Coyotes when it comes to the draft lottery itself. The Coyotes have never won the lottery since its inception in 1995 and haven’t had a top-two selection.
On paper, it doesn’t look too promising that the Coyotes will win the lottery with 7.5% odds, the sixth-best. In the last two years, the team with the best odds has retained the first selection.
After the first lottery draw, the odds for the remaining teams will increase on a proportionate basis for the second lottery draw, based on which team wins the No. 1 pick.
The 14 teams not selected in the 2023 NHL Draft Lottery will be assigned the remaining 2023 NHL Draft selections (among 1 through 16 in the first round), in inverse order of regular-season points.
NHL Draft Lottery 2023: Odds, teams, date, time, TV channel, how to watch
How the trade deadline impacts the lottery
The trade deadline gutted the Coyotes with top defensemen Jakob Chychrun and Shayne Gostisbehere leaving. But instead of falling backwards immediately, the Coyotes compiled a 6-1-2 record in the nine games after the trade deadline and pulled out of contention in the bottom three.
One thing that came out of the trade deadline that will show up at the lottery is where the Ottawa Senators will pick. The Coyotes earned the Senators’ first-round pick if it is not a top-five pick in this year’s draft from the Chychrun trade.
The Senators finished with the 12th-worst record in the league and can’t win the draft lottery, but can still get the No. 2 pick. The Senators have a 2.5% chance of winning that pick.
If the Senators fall outside of the top five, the Coyotes will be guaranteed a pick between No. 6 and No. 16.
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: 2023 NHL Draft: Arizona Coyotes draft lottery outlook
