Luck was on the Blackhawks’ side during the NHL draft lottery Tuesday in Toronto.
The Blackhawks only had an 8.2 percent chance of moving up to the top three, and the table tennis balls bounced their way to the No. 3 spot for this year’s NHL draft in Vancouver.
Chicago has drafted at No. 3 overall five times in franchise history.
1966: Terry Caffery (C)
1980: Denis Savard (C)
1984: Eddie Olczyk (RW)
2004: Cam Barker (D)
2006: Jonathan Toews (C)
The Devils and Rangers took the top two spots, respectively. American forward Jack Hughes of the United States National Development Program and Finnish winger Kaapo Kakko of Liiga’s TPS are the projected top two picks.
This year’s NHL Draft is June 21-22 at Rogers Arena in Vancouver.
Chicago general manager Stan Bowman has drafted nine players in the first round, and only the last three remain in the organization.
Chicago’s first-round picks by Bowman
2010: Kevin Hayes (RW) — No. 24
2011: Mark McNeill (C) — No. 18
2011: Phillip Danault (C) — No. 26
2012: Teuvo Teravainen (C) — No. 18
2013: Ryan Hartman (RW) — No. 30
2014: Nick Schmaltz (C) — No. 20
2017: Henri Jokiharju (D) — No. 29
2018: Adam Boqvist (D) — No. 8
2018: Nicolas Beaudin (D) — No. 27
Recent No. 3 overall picks
2014: Leon Draisaitl (C) — EDM
2015: Dylan Strome (C) — ARI
2016: Pierre-Luc Dubois (LW) — CBJ
2017: Miro Heiskanen (D) — DAL
2018: Jesperi Kotkaniemi (C) — MTL
2019 NHL draft lottery results
No. 1: New Jersey Devils
No. 2: New York Rangers
No. 3: Chicago Blackhawks
No. 4: Colorado Avalanche
No. 5: Los Angeles Kings
No. 6: Detroit Red Wings
No. 7: Buffalo Sabres
No. 8: Edmonton Oilers
No. 9: Anaheim Ducks
No. 10: Vancouver Canucks
No. 11: Philadelphia Flyers
No. 12: Minnesota Wild
No. 13: Florida Panthers
No. 14: Arizona Coyotes
No. 15: Montreal Canadiens