Panthers Win NHL Draft Lottery

[April 16, 2014]  The Florida Panthers, who finished with the second-worst record in the NHL this season, won the league's draft lottery Tuesday.

Florida will make the first overall pick in the draft to be held June 27-28 in Philadelphia.

The Panthers owned an 18.8 percent chance of landing the top pick after finishing 29-45-8. The Buffalo Sabres, who had a 25 percent opportunity in the lottery, are coming off a 21-51-10 season. They will select second.

Rounding out the top five will be the Edmonton Oilers (29-44-9), the Calgary Flames (35-40-7) and the New York Islanders (34-37-11).

The other draft selections that were determined Tuesday: No. 6 Vancouver Canucks, No. 7 Carolina Hurricanes, No. 8 Toronto Maple Leafs, No. 9 Winnipeg Jets, No. 10 Anaheim Ducks (from the Ottawa Senators), No. 11 Nashville Predators, No. 12 Phoenix Coyotes and No. 13 Washington Capitals.

The next 16 positions will go to the playoff teams, depending upon their success in the postseason. The 30th and last first-round selection belongs to the New Jersey Devils, part of the penalty for signing winger Ilya Kovalchuk to a contract that broke league rules in 2010.

The only other time the Panthers selected first in the draft, they acquired defenseman Ed Jovanovski in 1994. Florida dealt away the No. 1 overall pick in 2002 and 2003. Left winger Rick Nash and goalie Marc-Andre Fleury were chosen first in those years, respectively.

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