Games That Cost Each Team Dahlin

On Saturday night, the league held its annual draft lottery to determine the first-round selection order for this year’s draft. The Buffalo Sabres won the number-one pick after having the fewest points during the regular season. Winning the draft lottery gives the Sabres the opportunity to take top prospect Rasmus Dahlin, who has the potential to change a team’s outlook in the immediate future. For the Sabres, Dahlin means drafting a future number-one puck-moving defenseman similar to Erik Karlsson.

The teams that didn’t win the lottery have the consolation of drafting a talented prospect but in a draft like this year’s in which there is a sizable drop-off after the top prospect, losing the lottery is significant. For some teams, the difference in jumping over another team in the lottery came down to a single win. Here, I’ll look at the teams in the top 10 of the lottery that didn’t win and pinpoint individual games or stretches of games that ultimately hindered their odds to receive the first overall pick.

Edmonton Oilers

The hockey world would have erupted had the Oilers won the draft lottery for the fifth time in eight years. Luckily for most, that didn’t happen, as they will select 10th. The most disappointing team in the league, the Oilers failed to win consistently, with five winning streaks of at least three games but also seven losing streaks by at least the same number of games.

Road Wins After Season Was Lost

On Mar. 20 and 22 the Oilers won back-to-back road games against the Hurricanes and Senators after the season was a lost cause. Both games were by four goals and Connor McDavid had five points between the two. Entering the Mar. 20 game against Carolina, the Oilers had just dropped a 3-1 game to the Tampa Bay Lightning. After beating the Los Angeles Kings on Mar. 24 to conclude their final winning streak of the season, Edmonton lost five of its finals seven games, including four in regulation.

Winning those two road games against Carolina and Ottawa gave the Oilers four points that didn’t help them in the standings but could have been the difference between having the ninth-best lottery odds and the seventh best odds.

*All stats and information came from Hockey-Reference