The Blackhawks will be in contention for the top overall pick in this year’s draft during the draft lottery, which determines the first 15 picks in the first round.
The draft lottery is at 7 p.m. Tuesday in Toronto.
The Senators finished in last place and would normally have the highest percentage of winning the No. 1 pick at 18.5 percent, but they traded the rights to that pick last season in the Matt Duchene trade to the Avalanche. 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.
Chicago has the 12th-best odds at 2.5 percent. The Hawks have a 8.2 percent chance at drafting in the top three. If they don’t receive a top three selection, they will draft 12-15.
The lottery is a weighted system implemented in 1995 to help determine the order of selection in the first round of the draft, which will take place June 21-22 at Rogers Arena in Vancouver.
How the lottery works
There are three draws — one for each of the top three picks, with all 15 non-playoff teams eligible to win. The odds for the remaining teams increase after each draw.
The 12 teams that do not receive a top-three pick will be assigned picks 4-15 in reverse order of their regular-season point totals.
Blackhawks’ winning lottery history
Chicago has won the lottery twice before in 1999 and 2007.
In 1999, Chicago moved up from the eighth spot to the fourth overall pick. The Hawks traded the pick to the Vancouver Canucks for defenseman Bryan McCabe and the Canucks’ first-round picks in 2000 and 2001. The New York Rangers acquired the pick in a trade with Vancouver and Tampa Bay, to select Pavel Brendl.
In 2007, the Hawks jumped from fifth to first with an 8.1 percent chance to select forward Patrick Kane, who has become one of the top players in franchise history.
Blackhawks’ draft history: Nos. 1-3, 12-15
Here’s a list of every top 10 draft selection in franchise history:
- Patrick Kane (‘07)
- Andy Culligan (‘65)
- Terry Caffery (‘66), Denis Savard (‘80), Ed Olczyk (‘84), Cam Baker (‘04), Jonathan Toews (‘06)
12. Dan Spring (‘71), Tony Tanti (‘81), Sergei Krivokrasov (‘92)
13. Jean-Pierre Bordeleau (‘69), Phil Russell (‘72), Darcy Rota (‘73), Todd Wolf (‘88), Daniel Cleary (‘97)
14. Dan Maloney (‘70), Everett Sanipass (‘86), Ethan Moreau (‘94), Brent Seabrook (‘03)
15. Larry Gibbons (‘66), Jerome Dupont (‘80)
How to watch
What: NHL draft lottery
Time: 7 p.m. Tuesday
TV: NBC Sports Network