2023 NHL Draft Lottery

The Capitals were actually up for the first overall pick until the last lotto ball

The NHL’s Draft Lottery did not favor the Capitals this year, instead choosing the Chicago Blackhawks to pick first overall. The Caps will pick at eighth overall, choosing in the top 10 for the first time since 2007.

Though the Capitals ultimately lost out on a top-two pick, it was closer than any of us thought. In fact, the Caps had a shot at winning the lottery down to the very last ball.

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By Katie Adler 5 months ago

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Chicago Blackhawks win 2023 NHL Draft Lottery and right to select phenom Connor Bedard first overall

The Connor Bedard sweepstakes are over.

The Chicago Blackhawks won the 2023 NHL Draft Lottery and will have the opportunity to make Bedard the first overall selection.

The Blackhawks came into Monday night’s lottery with the third-best odds to select first and leaped over both the Columbus Blue Jackets and the Anaheim Ducks.

It will be the second time in franchise history that Chicago will kick off the draft after taking Patrick Kane first in 2007.

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By Chris Cerullo 5 months ago

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Capitals to pick 8th in 2023 NHL Draft after standing pat in lottery

Lady Luck was not kind to the Washington Capitals after their worst full season in sixteen years.

The Capitals gained no spots in the NHL Draft Lottery and will select 8th overall in the 2023 NHL Draft. The Capitals finished the season as the eighth-worst team in the league.

The Chicago Blackhawks won the lottery and will pick first overall. They’ll be followed by the Anaheim Ducks and Columbus Blue Jackets.

The first round of the NHL Draft will be held on Wednesday, June 28, at Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena.

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By Ian Oland 5 months ago

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These teams better not win the Draft Lottery

The NHL Draft Lottery is scant hours away, and the fortune of one NHL team is about to change. The consensus number-one pick, Connor Bedard, is a special player who could transform a franchise. The Capitals have a six-percent chance of being that lottery-winning team — about the same chances you have of rolling a crit on your d20 — which means probably someone other than you is going to have a good night. And in some cases, that’ll be bad news.

We have already prepared for you a comprehensive primer on how the lottery will run, but here now is what I think Bedard would do for each team in the running, whether or not them getting him would be a good thing for the universe, and — naturally — what J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings thinks of each situation.

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By Peter Hassett 5 months ago

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2023 NHL Draft Lottery: A primer, the prospects, and how to watch on TV

The NHL will hold its annual Draft Lottery on Monday night. The event, which will be held at NHL Network’s Secaucus, New Jersey, studio, starts at 8 pm (EST) and will be broadcast on ESPN, Sportsnet, and TVA Sports.

The Washington Capitals will participate in the Draft Lottery and have an opportunity to land the first overall pick for the first time in nine years (2014). The Caps have the eighth-best odds to win earn the right to take Connor Bedard with the first overall pick.

If they don’t win the lottery, the Capitals could also end up picking second, third, eighth, ninth, or tenth overall depending on how the lotto balls fall.

The 2023 NHL Draft will be held June 28 and 29 in Nashville at Bridgestone Arena.

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By Chris Cerullo 5 months ago

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The players the Capitals could select at eighth, ninth, or tenth overall at the 2023 NHL Draft

The Washington Capitals will have a chance to move up to one of the top three spots in the 2023 NHL Draft at Monday’s lottery. But the cold reality is that they have a much larger probability of ending up picking either eighth, ninth, or tenth overall.

We’ve covered the potential top three picks in this year’s class in Connor Bedard, Adam Fantilli, and Matvei Michkov in case the Caps are blessed with good luck from the Hockey Gods.

Now, we’ll take a look at some maybe lesser-known names the Caps are much more mathematically likely to be targeting come June.

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By Chris Cerullo 5 months ago

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Matvei Michkov broke Alex Ovechkin’s Russian record as a 16-year-old and could now join him on the Capitals

At one point in the 2023 Draft class evaluation process, Russian phenom Matvei Michkov was considered to be almost neck-and-neck with the now-surefire first overall selection Connor Bedard.

Michkov, as a 16-year-old, broke a Russian record previously held by Alex Ovechkin for the youngest player to ever suit up for the Russian National Team. Since then, he’s found some consistency issues in his game but is still projected as at least the third-best player in the draft.

Ovechkin’s Washington Capitals have a nonzero percent chance at selecting first, second, or third overall so it’s important Caps fans get acquainted with Michkov after doing the same with Bedard and Adam Fantilli.

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By Chris Cerullo 5 months ago

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Why Michigan’s Adam Fantilli is considered the next best thing in the 2023 NHL Draft

While the focus at Monday’s 2023 NHL Draft Lottery will be on which team gets to select first and take super phenom Connor Bedard, the next best player in the draft class is no slouch either.

Adam Fantilli is a six-foot-two, 187-pound forward that played last season at Michigan University. Washington Capitals fans should get familiar with the name as the team has a chance to move up to the second overall selection in the second lottery drawing.

So, who exactly is Fantilli and why would he be a fantastic “consolation” prize for any team that just misses out on Bedard?

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By Chris Cerullo 5 months ago

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The greatness of Connor Bedard. What the Capitals are vying for in the 2023 NHL Draft Lottery.

The Washington Capitals could have the opportunity to select the next generational superstar in the NHL if things go their way in next Monday’s NHL Draft Lottery.

Connor Bedard is far and away the consensus number-one overall selection in the 2023 draft and the Caps, who finished as the league’s eighth-worst team, have a six percent chance of moving up to the very top of the draft. They would undoubtedly then make the center prospect a member of their organization next season.

So, why is there so much hype behind Bedard, and why exactly would it be huge for the Capitals if they were to somehow have their lotto ball pulled by Commissioner Gary Bettman?

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By Chris Cerullo 5 months ago

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