Buffalo Sabres Win 2021 NHL Draft Lottery, Kraken Move Up to #2

The NHL Draft lottery took place on Wednesday night and the Buffalo Sabres are the lucky winners, coming out ahead of the Seattle Kraken. The expectation is that the Sabres will select Owen Powers at No. 1 overall, but we’ll have to wait and see how the scouting and draft process roles out. A team clearly in need of major changes, it’s hard to know if the first-overall pick will be in play this summer or not.

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The top selection is typically reserved for the worst team during the NHL’s regular season, but the draft lottery provides a bit of assurance that it’s not a guarantee the last-place team will always get the top pick in that following year’s draft. This past season, with 37 points, the Sabres were certainly the worst, but they kept their spot on the draft.

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— Aaron Portzline (@Aportzline) June 2, 2021

Seattle jumped up one spot and grabbed the option to select second overall. GM Kevyn Adams said it was nice to finally beat former teammate Ron Francis (Seattle GM) at something. The Kraken moved ahead of the Anaheim Ducks, who will pick third. Rounding out the top five are New Jersey at No. 4 and the Columbus Blue Jackets at No. 5.

There were plenty of jokes floating around on social media that Owen Power, who enters the 2021 NHL Draft as the presumed favorite to be the No. 1 pick, will retire or did the exact opposite of winning the lottery. He is likely to stay the with most top ranked prospect with most NHL scouts and the thought is he could come in an play in Buffalo’s top-two alongside Rasmus Dahlin.

Interestingly, this is the fifth time that Taylor Hall’s most recent eligible team has won the draft lottery. He was also drafted with a lottery-winning pick. He was also once traded for a player who was drafted with a lottery-winning pick. Does that mean the Boston Bruins will pick #1 overall next year?

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