SECAUCUS, N.J. — The NHL held its annual Draft Lottery on Tuesday night.
In front of a live television audience, the league hosted the lottery from NHL Network studios in Secaucus, New Jersey, where the first 16 picks of next month’s NHL Draft were decided.
The Florida Panthers were a part of the mix on Tuesday after an injury-filled season led to the Panthers finishing with the eighth-worst record in the league.
Holding a 6% chance at landing the first overall selection, the Panthers were not one of the lucky teams to see the ping pong balls fall their way.
This year’s big winner was the Toronto Maple Leafs, who jumped from fifth to first to claim the top pick.
Winning the second draw and moving from up from ninth overall to the second selection was the San Jose Sharks.
With the Sharks moving up from behind the Panthers, that means Florida was bumped back from eighth to ninth overall.
In their history, the Panthers have only picked ninth in the first round of an NHL Draft once. That came in 2002, when Florida made Czech forward Petr Taticek the ninth player selected.
The Taticek pick didn’t work out for either side.
He only played three total NHL games with Florida and eventually finished his career playing overseas.
We’ll see what the Panthers end up doing with their pick this time around. Don’t be surprised to see Florida General Manager Bill Zito explore trading the selection in the weeks to come.
The Panthers are a team in win-now mode, and it would make sense if they considered flipping the pick for a player or players who could immediately contribute to an already stacked roster.
This year’s NHL Draft is set for June 26 and 27 at KeyBank Center in Buffalo.
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