NHL Holds Lottery Draft Today

There’s no Shaquille O’Neal on skates at stake in the NHL’s first draft lottery today. No Eric Lindros either.

The Mighty Ducks are one of five teams with a chance to secure the No. 1 selection in the July 8 NHL draft, but there is no clear-cut top pick.

“This is not like the year when Eric Lindros was No. 1 and No. 2 was Pat Falloon,” said Ottawa General Manager Randy Sexton, whose team had the league’s worst record last season and has the best chance--45%--of coming away with the top pick.

“I don’t think anybody in hockey would have picked anybody but Lindros. Even when it was Alexandre Daigle, 85%-90% of the league was saying they’d take Daigle. This year, there’s far less decisiveness. Our guy might be No. 3 on Anaheim’s list and theirs might be No. 6 on ours.”

The Kings are also in the lottery but can move up to no higher than third under a weighted system that includes all 10 nonplayoff teams but gives only the teams with the five worst records a shot at No. 1. Teams can move up no more than four positions and drop no more than one.

Ottawa, to some extent, was the inspiration for the NBA-style draft lottery. Commissioner Gary Bettman, then newly arrived from the NBA, pushed for the lottery system after allegations--never proven--that the Senators threw games to secure the top pick in 1993, when Daigle was the prize at No. 1.

“That was all a ridiculous situation, but you can’t allow anything to call into question the integrity of the game,” said Sexton, noting that the Senators voted for the lottery.

The Ducks, currently third, have a 15.1% chance to move up to first but could also drop to fourth. Though General Manager Jack Ferreira said he is excited about the chance to be No. 1, he admits that the draft is so wide open that the Ducks might be able to get the top player on their list without picking first.

“We could probably get him third or fourth,” said Ferreira, whose team has chosen fourth and second in its two drafts. “There’s a possibility of that happening. Four teams like one guy, three teams like another. . . . “

Two defensemen, Bryan Berard, 18, who played for the Detroit Jr. Red Wings last season, and Wade Redden, 17, who played for the Brandon Wheat Kings, a Canadian junior team, are generally considered the best prospects in the draft, followed by a Finnish defenseman, Aki-Petteri Berg. Centers Daymond Langkow of the Tri City (Wash.) Americans and Chad Kilger of the Kingston Frontenacs, another Canadian team, are among the highest-rated forwards.

The NHL’s first lottery will be held behind closed doors at about noon (PDT) Sunday in New York, without the televised fanfare that accompanies the NBA drawing. A league spokesman said results will be announced in a news release issued during the Western Conference final playoff game between Chicago and Detroit.

Ottawa has a 45% chance at No. 1--a 30% chance of winning the 10-team lottery combined with the 15% chance that one of the five teams ineligible to pick first will win. The New York Islanders have a 21% chance to get the top pick, followed by the Ducks (15.1%), Tampa Bay (10.9%) and Edmonton (8.0%).

The Kings, currently seventh, have only a 4.2% chance of moving up to third and a 4.9% chance of dropping to eighth.