NHL draft lottery to be held May 7

The NHL draft lottery will be conducted on May 7, the league announced Friday.

The San Jose Sharks will have the highest odds of winning the first overall pick and the right to select Boston University standout Macklin Celebrini, while the Chicago Blackhawks have the second-highest odds just one year after drafting Connor Bedard with the top pick.

Here are the teams' odds of being chosen in the lottery:

A team can move up a maximum of 10 spots if it wins one of the lottery draws as part of changes the NHL made to the process in 2021 for the following year's event. This means only the top 11 seeds are eligible to nab the first overall pick.

So the Sharks actually have a 25.5% chance of winning the first overall pick because the bottom-four teams can't move up that high.

The Pittsburgh Penguins must deal a first-rounder in either 2024 or 2025 to the Sharks to complete the Erik Karlsson trade from last August. If the Penguins move into the top 10 in this lottery, Pittsburgh will have the option to send San Jose its 2025 first-rounder instead.

The Sharks finished last in the NHL with 47 points at 19-54-9. They chose Will Smith at No. 4 last year. Bedard and the Blackhawks had five more points than San Jose with a record of 23-53-6. Anaheim wrapped up the regular season with seven more points than Chicago at 27-50-5.

The Ducks took Leo Carlsson second overall in 2023, and the Blue Jackets picked Adam Fantilli third overall. The Canadiens selected David Reinbacher with the fifth selection.

The 2024 NHL Draft will be held at The Sphere in Las Vegas on June 28 and 29.

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