2022 NHL Draft Location
Montreal is no stranger to hosting the NHL Entry Draft. While hosting this year's draft is a make-up for the Covid pandemic getting in the way of them hosting in 2020 and 2021, it hasn't been all too long since their last appearance. The last time the Bell Centre hosted the event was during the Canadiens' centennial year in 2009. Prior to that, Montreal hosted the drafts in 1992, 1988, and 1986, along with every draft between 1963 and 1984. With our top online sportsbooks locations don't matter as much these days, but in a prior era, draft bookies may as well have camped in Montreal every summer.
2022 NHL Draft Lottery Teams
Sixteen teams had skin in the 2022 NHL Draft Lottery, as non-playoff participants. The teams with the top five odds to win the opportunity to select first, based on their spot in the NHL standings in 2021/22 were as follows:
- Montreal Canadiens: 18.5%
- Arizona Coyotes: 13.5%
- Seattle Kraken: 11.5%
- Philadelphia Flyers: 9.5%
- New Jersey Devils: 8.5%
Chicago, Ottawa, Detroit, Buffalo, Anaheim, San Jose, Columbus, the New York Islanders, Winnipeg, Vancouver, and Vegas all also have a chance at securing that top pick, with their odds ranking from 0.5 to 7.5%. Two of the team's first-round picks were contingent on the results of the lottery as part of prior trades - if Chicago finished lower than 2nd, they'll send their pick to Columbus, and if Vegas finished lower than 10th they'll send their pick to Buffalo. Both conditions were satisfied by the results.
2022 NHL Draft Lottery Results
The Canadiens had the top odds going in, and that batch of lottery ball combinations worked in their favour - they were the last envelope revealed by Bill Daly, earning them the proverbial golden ticket. As far as teams looking to move up went, the Devils were the biggest winners, moving up three spots from fifth overall to second. Arizona, Seattle, and Philadelphia all fell one spot each to make up for it, to 3rd, 4th, and 5th respectively. Columbus will pick 6th with the aforementioned Chicago selection, and Buffalo will select 16th with Vegas' first rounder.
2022 NHL Draft Lottery Prospects
While not as deep as most years, there's still a lot of interest in the top of the draft. The team that gets the top lottery ball will almost undoubtedly lean towards Shane Wright, who is the captain of the OHL's Kingston Frontenacs and is ranked 1st by just about every major scouting agency. The Burlington, Ontario native has played with a maturity beyond his age since his early teens and is a gifted two-way playmaker.
An interesting name to keep an eye on after Wright would be Juraj Slafkovsky, a Slovakian born forward who plays in the Finnish Liiga. Slafkovsky's stock rose quickly after a seven goal in seven game tear in the 2022 Olympics, leading his country to a bronze medal before his eighteenth birthday. Other interesting names include Simon Nemec (Slovakia), Logan Cooley (USA), Matthew Savoie (Canada), and once highly ranked but since falling Brad Lambert (Finland).
