NHL betting: These teams have the shortest odds at getting the first overall draft pick
While many hockey supporters are dialed into the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs, other fans are already counting down to the 2024 NHL Entry Draft. And, like with everything else in sports, there are bets to be placed when it comes to the coveted first pick.
If you follow the NHL even casually, you know that there is a draft lottery that determines the order for the bottom-feeding teams. So even though the Anaheim Ducks were the worst team in the league in 2023, they ended up with the second-overall pick while the Chicago Blackhawks selected Connor Bedard first overall.
So, which teams have the shortest odds of being awarded the first-overall pick this season and selecting Macklin Celebrini?
Here are the likely candidates.
As previously mentioned, the worst team in the league isn't automatically guaranteed to get the first overall pick. But that hasn't stopped DraftKings from listing the San Jose Sharks as the betting favorite at +270 odds.
Team Teal is coming off of a ghastly 19-win season — that's right, only 19 wins in 82 games — and their list of needs to be better next season looms large. There is already some of a "changing of the guard" in San Jose with young players like William Eklund and Fabian Zetterlund leading the charge while the futures of veterans Logan Couture and Marc-Edouard Vlasic remain a mystery. Adding Celebrini would certainly ramp up the Sharks' rebuild, which makes them an appealing bet to land the first overall pick.
The Blackhawks and the Ducks are next on DK's odds board at +500 and +700 respectively to land the first overall pick. Both teams joined San Jose in the NHL standings cellar this season despite adding Bedard and Leo Carlsson to their rosters, and depth scoring was a culprit when each team went on a losing skid. Suffice it to say that getting another young scorer would benefit either roster.
The Columbus Blue Jackets are the next team on the list at +850 odds of landing the first overall pick, and boy would this team like a win of some kind. The Blue Jackets' 2023-24 season was off to a rough start before it even began thanks to Mike Babcock, and things only got worse as their general manager was sacked and the team finished at the bottom of the Eastern Conference standings.
Rounding out the teams with the most favorable odds of landing the first overall pick are the Montreal Canadiens (+900) and the Arizona Coyotes (+1000). The Habs haven't been to the playoffs since they lost to the Tampa Bay Lightning in the Cup Final in 2020, and the soon-to-be Utah franchise hasn't made it past the first round of the playoffs -- if into the playoffs at all -- since 2012. Both teams will get a high draft pick from the loaded prospect pool, although their longer odds of being awarded the first overall pick suggest neither will be getting Celebrini.
The NHL Draft Lottery is projected to be held in early May, with a date and time yet to be announced.
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