The St. Louis Blues have done it. The team that was in last place in the entire NHL in early January has come all the way back to defeat the Boston Bruins and win the Stanley Cup. With that, we now know where every team will land in the first round of the upcoming NHL Entry Draft, though deals can obviously still be made to move the picks around. The final order is as follows:
1. New Jersey Devils
2. New York Rangers
3. Chicago Blackhawks
4. Colorado Avalanche (from Ottawa Senators)
5. Los Angeles Kings
6. Detroit Red Wings
7. Buffalo Sabres
8. Edmonton Oilers
9. Anaheim Ducks
10. Vancouver Canucks
11. Philadelphia Flyers
12. Minnesota Wild
13. Florida Panthers
14. Arizona Coyotes
15. Montreal Canadiens
16. Colorado Avalanche
17. Vegas Golden Knights
18. Dallas Stars
19. Ottawa Senators (from Columbus Blue Jackets)
20. New York Rangers (from Winnipeg Jets)
21. Pittsburgh Penguins
22. Los Angeles Kings (from Toronto Maple Leafs)
23. New York Islanders
24. Nashville Predators
25. Washington Capitals
26. Calgary Flames
27. Tampa Bay Lightning
28. Carolina Hurricanes
29. Anaheim Ducks (from San Jose Sharks via Buffalo)*
30. Boston Bruins
31. Buffalo Sabres (from St. Louis Blues)*
*Technically the Ducks have the choice of these two picks.
For Buffalo fans, things couldn’t have worked out worse. Not only did they have to watch their former star Ryan O’Reilly lift the Conn Smythe trophy moments before the Stanley Cup, but the Blues winning knocked them down another spot in the draft rankings.
The lottery results do not affect the other six rounds, meaning the Ottawa Senators, Los Angeles Kings and New Jersey Devils will own picks 32-34.