This article has been submitted by Alex Pennycook. Props go to Blake for dropping the ball and posting this a day late. My bad.
April 7, 2008 is debatably the biggest night in sports history and not because the Final Four finally comes to a close. Tonight, for only the second time ever, the NHL Draft Lottery will be aired on television. It is being billed as the Stamkos Sweepstakes and one lucky team will have to beat the odds and land this prized prospect. The Tampa Bay Lightning and Los Angeles Kings have the best chance of landing the first overall pick, however only once since 2000 have teams with the two best odds won the lottery.
The NHL switched to a lottery based system for allotting the draft selection order in 1995. Unlike the NBA draft lottery where every non-playoff team theoretically has a shot of winning the 1st overall pick, NHL rules stipulate that a team cannot move up more than four positions in the draft order. My interpretation of this rule says that really only one team is selected and they move up a maximum of 4 spots, and everyone else stays the same. This means for Leafs fans that their best case scenario gives them the 3rd overall pick and the worst they can do is fall to 8th. Only once since 95’ has a team moved up from 7th to 3rd, and it allowed the L.A. Kings to select Aki Berg, so keep your fingers crossed Leaf Nation. Either way, the Leafs are treading through uncharted waters, they haven’t possessed a top-10 pick since 1998. Chicago was the big winner last year, moving up from 5th to 1st to allow them to select (this year’s Rookie of the Year) Pat Kane.
While the first pick will most certainly be used to select Steve Stamkos, not many people know that much about this superstar. The 6-foot, 170-pound, 17 year-old is from Unionville, Ontario and plays for the Sarnia Sting of the Ontario Hockey League. He was selected by Sarnia first overall in the OHL Entry Draft, so it’s clear that he has been a phenom for a while now. In this, his 2nd year in the OHL, Stamkos tallied 58 goals and 47 assists in 61 games (he had 42 goals and 50 assists in 63 games in his 1st year). He also played this December in the World Junior Hockey championships, helping Canada secure their 4th straight gold medal. Keep in mind that he is still only in grade 12 (where conveniently his favorite subject is gym).
The great news for hockey fans is that Stamkos looks like another can’t miss prospect and should be an instant contributor to whatever team (NY Islanders, Atlanta, Tampa Bay, St. Louis or Los Angeles) he ends up on. This season the game was dominated by young stars like Ovechkin, Crosby, and Malkin while kids like Toews, Kane and Backstrom had big rookie seasons. The amount of young talent in this league is incredible and fans will be in for a treat in a couple more years as potentials are realized.
This article has been submitted by Alex Pennycook.
Editor’s Note: Tampa Bay won the draft lottery, meaning the draft will go in the exact reverse order of the final standings. Leafs pick 7th.
Last I heard Tampa won. Any opinions on whether this will encourage them to trade another big name, or use the talent to supplement Vinny snipe machine?