Expected No. 1 pick Rasmus Dahlin of Sweden (photo by Andrew Knapik/MiHockey)

NHL Draft Lottery odds officially announced; where will Red Wings pick?

By @MichaelCaples –

The Red Wings picked up a win against the Pittsburgh Penguins last night, but, their record over the last 10 games is still 2-8-0.

The good news, though? Their odds of getting a high first-round draft pick are going up.

The NHL has officially announced the odds for the 2018 Draft Lottery, which is used to determine the order of the top 15 selections in the upcoming 2018 NHL Entry Draft.

The 2018 Draft Lottery will consist of three drawings; the first lottery draw will determine the No. 1 overall selection, the second lottery draw the No. 2 overall selection and the third lottery draw the No. 3 overall selection.

The 15 teams that miss the playoffs – which officially includes the Red Wings – will take part in the lottery. Here is the breakdown of the odds for each team being selected in the draft lottery, in reverse order of how they finish in the NHL regular-season standings.

The first number is for the 2018 odds, the second number shows what the odds were in 2017 and the third number shows what the odds were in 2015 and 2016.

1, 18.5%, 18.0%, 20.0%

2, 13.5%, 12.1%, 13.5%

3, 11.5%, 10.3%, 11.5%

4, 9.5%, 10.3%, 9.5%

5, 8.5%, 8.5%, 8.5%

6, 7.5%, 7.6%, 7.5%

7, 6.5%, 6.7%, 6.5%

8, 6.0%, 5.8%, 6.0%

9, 5.0%, 5.4%, 5.0%

10, 3.5%, 4.5%, 3.5%

11, 3.0%, 3.2%, 3.0%

12, 2.5%, 2.7%, 2.5%

13, 2.0%, 2.2%, 2.0%

14, 1.5%, 1.8%, 1.0%

15, 1.0%, 0.9%

 

The Red Wings, who would hold the No. 5 spot at the moment, would have an 8.5-percent chance of landing the No. 1, 2 or 3 overall pick.

Detroit, 67 total points, is currently seven points ahead of last-place Buffalo with five games remaining on the schedule. Those two teams play on Thursday; the Red Wings conclude the season with a home game against Ottawa on Saturday, a road game against Columbus on Apr. 3, and home games against Montreal and the New York Islanders on Apr. 5 and 7, respectively.

Columbus is the lone team remaining that figures to be a playoff team.