The Montreal Canadiens And GM Kent Hughes Win 2022 NHL Draft Lottery

The Montreal Canadiens will be the center of attention in more ways than one at the 2022 NHL Draft.

On Tuesday, their lucky ping-pong balls were drawn, giving them the first-overall pick on July 7.

They’ll be making that pick on the floor of their own arena, the Bell Centre, as the draft returns to its traditional live format for the first time in three years. The Canadiens had originally been tagged to host the draft in 2020, but that event and the 2021 edition were both held virtually due to the pandemic.

Normally, the draft now moves to a different NHL market every year. But Montreal was the event’s original home, and July 7-8 will mark the city’s 27th turn as host. When the player allocation system was first introduced in 1963, the proceedings were held in the ballroom of Montreal’s Queen Elizabeth Hotel. It then shuffled through several locations around the city for more than two decades. In 1985, the draft was held in a new city, Toronto, for the first time.

After an unlikely trip to the Stanley Cup Final in 2021, the Canadiens’ success from the pandemic-shortened season proved to be short-lived. They finished this year with a record of 22-49-11 for 55 points — last in the league and two points behind the 31st-place Arizona Coyotes.

That earned them a league-leading 18.5% chance of securing the first-overall selection by having their numbers drawn. Their odds were juiced further by a new rule, introduced this season, that lottery winners can no longer move up more than 10 spots in the draft order.

The Vegas Golden Knights, Vancouver Canucks, Winnipeg Jets, New York Islanders and the Columbus Blue Jackets were the teams ranked from No. 16-12. Together, they had a collective 7% chance of winning. It didn’t happen, but if one of them had won, their climb wouldn’t have gone far enough to dislodge the Canadiens.

The Devils’ Deal

In 2021, the NHL amended another draft lottery rule, now drawing only for the top two selections instead of three in previous years.

This year, the New Jersey Devils were the winners of that second drawing — moving up from fifth to second. This comes on the heels of two recent draft lottery wins. The Devils selected Jack Hughes first overall in 2019, and Nico Hischier at No. 1 in 2017.

The Devils’ win is especially interesting, given another rule change. Starting in 2022, no team will be allowed to move up via a draft-lottery win more than twice in any five-year period.

If the rule was retroactive, New Jersey would now be out of contention for the 2023 draft lottery because of their wins in both 2019 and 2022. Luckily for them, the clock starts now.

And while the Devils are a young, rebuilding team, general manager Tom Fitzgerald indicated in his season-ending media availability that he’d be open to moving his first-round pick for more immediate help.

A top-tier goaltender would likely be especially appealing. New Jersey finished 29th in goals against in 2021-22, and injuries led to the team using seven different goalies over the course of the year.

Two Trades Completed

On Tuesday, we also learned the fates of two first-round picks that were part of big trades over the last year, but were lottery protected.

Because they did not move into the top two, the Chicago Blackhawks’ sixth-overall pick transfers to the Columbus Blue Jackets as part of the trade return for defenseman Seth Jones. And because the Vegas Golden Knights did not move into the top 10, their 16th pick transfers to the Buffalo Sabres as part of the return for forward Jack Eichel.

Next month, both Columbus and Buffalo will have multiple first-round picks for the second consecutive year.

Here is the full order for the first 16 picks of the 2022 NHL Draft:

The remaining draft order will be determined by the order of elimination of the 16 teams that have competed in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. The Nashville Predators have already been eliminated, so they will pick 17th.

2022 NHL Draft Class

As for what’s at stake — NHL Central Scouting released its final rankings for the 2022 Draft on May 5.

Among North American skaters, the top two prospects remain unchanged from the mid-term rankings: centers Shane Wright of the OHL’s Kingston Frontenacs and Logan Cooley of the U.S. National Team Development Program. Winger Cutter Gauthier, also from the NTDP, has climbed to No. 3, after ranking sixth at mid-terms.

On the European side, Slovakia’s precocious power forward Juraj Slafkovsky moved up one position to take over top spot. Already listed at 6’4” and 218 pounds, Slafkovsky turned 18 on March 30 — just over a month after he led all players with seven goals and was named tournament MVP as he helped his team win a bronze medal at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing.

Slafkovsky’s star turn bumped Finnish winger Joakim Kemell down to the second spot among the European prospects. Another Slovak, defenseman Simon Nemec, moved up from No. 6 to No. 3.

The Canadiens will be the first team with the opportunity to draft first overall in their home city since the Toronto Maple Leafs selected Wendel Clark at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre in 1985.

Montreal has not drafted first overall since selecting Doug Wickenheiser in 1980.