Connor Bedard Sweepstakes - Draft Lottery May 8th

[senryu]

With the order we have now, what do you think might happen to Michkov? Assuming Bedard, then Fantilli. Do you see Columbus passing on a sooner-arriving asset? Jarmo has been there for a while and the pressure must be on to get results. Would the Sharks pass on Michkov at 4? They seem to be in a bottoming out mode. If SJ goes Will Smith or something else, would Montreal be content to sit and wait?

[J0e Th0rnton]

Weekes saying that Columbus dropped to 3 before the actual card was shown makes me take back what I said above. The fix is in!

Yeah, everyone noticed that.

Was definitely rigged. the draw should happen in full view of everyone. We just trust them to come from behind a curtain and say "This team won fair and square"

[Pengwin7]

Weekes #3 reveal doesn't have anything to do with rigging.

There are numbered balls drawn in a room with an accounting firm - accessible live to team reps (GMs) well before the actual "TV Reveal" that we all were privy to.
So the NHL elite already all had the results.

What we saw was "just a show".
Otherwise, buddy could just shuffle the cards and... nobody would be the wiser.
(That's not happening. There's full behind-the-scenes transparency and definitely will be evidence of the balls and what "combination" of four numbers was pulled.)
The shot of each GM looking super mundanely "blah" is because they already knew they had NOT moved up.

With Weekes - I'm sure it was just confusion.
He would've assumed the break after the commercial was the "surprise of #1 vs #2"...
And the NHL obviously was pausing for the top 3.
But... it was all settled way before then - and Weekes surely had the list & script to properly announce the order.
That'll all be covered in the next day or two - even that'll have some transparency as to what happened.


As for draft, I think we see ANA go with Fantilli, CBJ go with Leo Carlsson (Jarmo can't "wait" and they need a center), and SJ (Grier, as new GM) can afford to "wait" on Michkov at #4.
Michkov gives Grier "hold" time on his position - great thing to have for new GM.
People will have to treat him like MIN with Kaprizov... "this guy could be dynamic".


In fantasy hockey - besides the obvious direct winners of Bedard.
Anybody holding NAZAR, LUKAS REICHEL, or KEVIN KORCHINSKI should be rubbing their hands together right now.
Lucky you, that's a big hike on the value of those three players.

[Invictus]

Welp. This blows.

Detroit never lucky, usually unlucky.

Habs at 5th was hoping to get in top 4. Was really hoping for 2nd.
obviously 1st is the dream.

[Axeman33]

I wont lie, I didnt care where he went as long as it wasn't Montreal. I was cheering for Columbus to land him. Chicago... meh. Guys like Reichel just took a jump up the value chart for me.

The real fun for this draft starts are #2 anyway.

[Daydream Nation]

With the order we have now, what do you think might happen to Michkov? Assuming Bedard, then Fantilli. Do you see Columbus passing on a sooner-arriving asset? Jarmo has been there for a while and the pressure must be on to get results. Would the Sharks pass on Michkov at 4? They seem to be in a bottoming out mode. If SJ goes Will Smith or something else, would Montreal be content to sit and wait?

Recent podcast on the Athletic (yeah I listen CBJ podcasts) stated that Columbus would not be taking Michkov at 3 and that it would be Karlsson assuming Fantili was gone at 2. Veteran beat reporter for whatever that is worth.

[Pit Bulls]

I was rooting for CHI for a very selfish reason - in my main league, I was linked to CHI for the draft lottery.

A lot of arm chair GMs don't like the fact Bedard is going to CHI, but don't forget they cleaned house after the Beach debacle. Also, CHI was obviously tanking for Bedard, but they weren't the only ones - they were just the most obvious imo.

Pundits are also saying there is nobody in CHI for Bedard to play with.

Crosby, and before him Lemieux, didn't have anyone to play with in PIT either. CHI will continue to suck for the next couple of years, ensuring a couple more very high draft picks. This will add to Reichel, Nazar & Korchinski (who played on the same line with Bedard during the WJC) that are already in the CHI system.

In regards to the NHL draft, I wouldn't be surprised to see Michkov drop in the draft, down to the 6-10 position (or possibly further). The Russian factor, Ukraine war and the wait time will turn off a lot of GMs.

[forsbergfan]

With the order we have now, what do you think might happen to Michkov? Assuming Bedard, then Fantilli. Do you see Columbus passing on a sooner-arriving asset? Jarmo has been there for a while and the pressure must be on to get results. Would the Sharks pass on Michkov at 4? They seem to be in a bottoming out mode. If SJ goes Will Smith or something else, would Montreal be content to sit and wait?

This is the biggest question of the draft. Assuming Bedard and Fantilli going to Chicago and Anaheim, and Columbus going with a center - the assumption is Carlsson but Bob McKenzie has Will Smith at 3rd overall and Jarmo has been known to go against the grain, even if it means not taking a European (see: Dubois over Puljujarvi). San Jose's ownership philosophy is to never rebuild due to the impact it has on the overall business, so I can't see them taking Michkov. I assume they take whichever center Columbus doesn't take.
Then we get to the Habs. Do they really want to wait till 2026-27 when there will be many other very good prospects to take at 5? Does Michkov even ever come over (he has said he will, but that doesn't mean there isn't a chance he doesn't)? With Caufield and Slafkovsky on the team, do they need to take a chance on another winger? I don't think their fan base wants to wait till 2027 either...
I fully expect Arizona to take him at 6 if he's available. They can wait. They're not even really trying for the next few years. Imagine Michkov and Cooley together!!!

[2014olympicgold]

Not sure if this came out already here but the winning lottery number was 4-5-9-13, Vancouver had 4-5-9-12.

Also, the Blackhawks made more money in the hr proceeding the lottery in season ticket sales than they got fined for covering up the Kyle Beach assault.

[random-d]

Someone said that the CBJ pick glitch was a broadcast booth error. Someone skipped or fast forwarded some of the footage, or something like that. I personally have no idea how it works so seems plausible.

[2014olympicgold]

Someone said that the CBJ pick glitch was a broadcast booth error. Someone skipped or fast forwarded some of the footage, or something like that. I personally have no idea how it works so seems plausible.

It's all filmed prior, and it's just showing the world the results. It's not like the guy is picking up stats instantly about a team picking in slot 7. So the audio clip of CBJ going 3rd was left on the clip while the visual was put to some generic clip prior to commercial.

It was an editing error.

[hockeyrobot]

Someone said that the CBJ pick glitch was a broadcast booth error. Someone skipped or fast forwarded some of the footage, or something like that. I personally have no idea how it works so seems plausible.

Boggles my mind that they can F this up most seasons.

[hockeyrobot]

I was rooting for CHI for a very selfish reason - in my main league, I was linked to CHI for the draft lottery.

A lot of arm chair GMs don't like the fact Bedard is going to CHI, but don't forget they cleaned house after the Beach debacle. Also, CHI was obviously tanking for Bedard, but they weren't the only ones - they were just the most obvious imo.

Pundits are also saying there is nobody in CHI for Bedard to play with.

Crosby, and before him Lemieux, didn't have anyone to play with in PIT either. CHI will continue to suck for the next couple of years, ensuring a couple more very high draft picks. This will add to Reichel, Nazar & Korchinski (who played on the same line with Bedard during the WJC) that are already in the CHI system.

In regards to the NHL draft, I wouldn't be surprised to see Michkov drop in the draft, down to the 6-10 position (or possibly further). The Russian factor, Ukraine war and the wait time will turn off a lot of GMs.

I mean they cleared house MONTHS after the allegations came out and after they tried to dismiss them haha. From incidents 10+ years in the past!

[2014olympicgold]

Pitts had Malkin (2nd overall), MAF (1st overall), and Whitney (5th overall) when they drafted Crosby. Then J.Staal (2nd overall the next yr).

On the roster was Gonchar, Lemieux, and Recchi (old though).

If Pitts was like Chicago, they'd move those guys for picks to try and get better odds at Crosby.

[PoolPartyPuljeejarvi]

I used to scoff at the lottery being rigged and after this year you will never convince me its not. Not cause of the Weekes the thing. The differential in sales/marketting/advertising between anaheim Columbus and Chicago is immense. Two are fringe markets and one is an original six cash cow with fans all over the world- you tell me with a traifgt face that rat faced weasel bettman didn't put him where the money is.

And thus Chicago knows (or it least has a pretty strong feeling) they will always come out ahead if they just suck hard enough for long enough. They're the NHL golden child where active tanking is incetivized and futility is somehow the goal.

I really feel like pundits and experts will be given a mandate to "gloss over it". Why?

Its an embarrassment to the league but from a financial standpoint bettman was never going to let this go another way...