Canadiens win lottery for first pick at 2022 NHL draft

Montreal Canadiens won Tuesday’s 2022 NHL Draft Lottery and will be the first team to draft in the draft at their arena.

After posting a NHL-worst record of 22-49-11 this season, the Canadiens had the best chance to win the lottery at 18.5per cent.

They are now poised to be first team to speak at the draft, which will be held on July 7-8 at Montreal’s Bell Centre.

The New Jersey Devils made a move in the lottery and won the second overall pick. The third overall pick goes to the Arizona Coyotes.

The lottery was won for the second consecutive year by the team with the best odds. Owen Power, the Buffalo Sabres’ defenseman was chosen as their top pick for 2021.

Since Doug Wickenheiser was drafted at the 1980 draft at the Montreal Forum, the Habs have not had an initial overall selection.

The Canadiens also selected four other players in club history as first overall: Guy Lafleur, Rejean Hole, Michel Plasse, and Garry Monahan in the very first draft of 1963.

Montreal hosted every draft in the history of the Canadiens.

The top 10 draft picks include the Seattle Kraken and the Philadelphia Flyers, as well as the Columbus Blue Jackets (via Chicago), Ottawa Senators.

In part of the trade that brought Seth Jones from Chicago, the Blackhawks sent their sixth pick to Chicago.

As part of the Jack Eichel Trade, the Vegas Golden Knights will send the 16th overall pick to the Sabres.

The consensus top player ahead of the draft is centreman Shane Wright from the Ontario Hockey League’s Kingston Frontenacs. Wright had 94 points, 32 goals, and 62 assists in 63 games of the 2021-22 season.

The Burlington, Ont., native was preparing for Game 3 of the Frontenacs’ OHL playoff series against the North Bay Battalion while finding out the results of the lottery.

Among the other top prospects are centremen Logan Cooley of the United States Development Program and Matthew Savoie of the WHL’s Winnipeg Ice as well as left-winger Juraj Slafkovsky — a bronze medallist with Slovakia at the 2022 Olympics — of Finnish club TPS.