NHL Draft Lottery Scheduled for April 29

The Carolina Hurricanes have not officially been eliminated from the playoffs yet, but the team is 10 points out of a playoff spot with several teams to jump over and there are only seven games remaining. Currently, the Canes are tied for third from the bottom of the league with 36 points. (Florida 32, Colorado 34, Calgary 36).

Two weeks from today, the NHL will hold a draft lottery and for the first time ever, all teams who do not make the playoffs will be eligible to participate. This could be an extremely important date for the future of the Hurricanes.

There are a few players available in the draft who have been labeled as "franchise" type players, including Seth Jones, a 6'4" defenseman who could be the long term cure to what ails the Carolina blueline. There are other excellent players available as well, (and we will get into more details of the players in the draft later), but the important thing for now is, where will the Canes end up?

Much will depend upon how the team plays down the stretch and how many more points they accumulate, (as well as their competitors), but luck will come into play as well.

Following are the odds each non-playoff team has of getting the first overall pick this summer:

Team 1- 25.0%

Team 2- 18.8%

Team 3- 14.2%

Team 4- 10.7%

Team 5- 8.1%

Team 6- 6.2%

Team 7- 4.7%

Team 8- 3.6%

Team 9- 2.7%

Team 10- 2.1%

Team 11- 1.5%

Team 12- 1.1%

Team 13- 0.8%

Team 14- 0.5%

No club will move down more than one position as a result of the lottery.

As you can see from the listing above, even the worst team in the league only has a one in four chance of getting the number one pick. The lottery is more important than ever this year. Do you feel lucky Caniacs?

We will have much more about the lottery, draft, and the players available in the coming weeks.