Written for The Canuck Way

Vancouver 04/08/19-

The Vancouver Canucks will be paying close attention to the draft lottery on Tuesday. Here’s a look at their chances of winning the lottery.

What an exciting time for hockey fans. The weather is finally getting nice, and the playoffs are right around the corner. The playoffs are sure to treat us to some of the best hockey all year and Vancouver Canucks fans, unfortunately, will have to worry more about the draft lottery instead of seeing their team in the postseason.

For the fourth straight year, the Canucks will be in the running —  hoping that the ping pong balls fall their way and grant them the first overall pick — something this franchise has never had. On Tuesday, we’ll find out if their draft lottery luck finally changes.

The Canucks go into this year’s lottery with much lower odds than they have had in the last three season. Vancouver had the third-best odds in 2016, and fell to fifth. In 2017, they had the second best odds and again fell to fifth. In 2018, the Canucks were given the sixth-best odds, and they moved down to seventh.

But despite the Canucks missing out on a top three pick, they have done well with who they have selected in the last three seasons.

2017 fifth overall pick Elias Petterson lit the NHL this year with a 66-point rookie campaign, and 2018 seventh overall pick Quinn Hughes showed well in his late-season cameo.

The jury is still out on the 2016 pick, Olli Juolevi, who has yet to make his NHL debut.

The Canucks finished this season 23rd in the NHL, which gives them the ninth-best odds in the lottery. They will have a 5 percent chance at claiming the first overall pick, and a 16 percent chance at coming away with a top-three selection.

While these odds may be longer than other years, one cannot forget that in the past much better teams have moved up in the lottery. For example, the Philadelphia Flyers moved up and got Nolan Patrick at No. 2 overall in 2016. Although the likelihood of the Canucks moving up is far-fetched, and past luck has gone against them, they are unlikely to move down.

Here is a look at the possible odds of where the Canucks could pick:

1st: 5%
2nd: 5.3%
3rd: 5.7%
9th: 48.8%
10th: 30.7%
11th: 4.3%
12: 0.1%