Connor Bedard is headed to the Windy City. Chicago began the night with the third highest odds of securing the 1st overall pick at 11.5%, trailing only Columbus (13.5%) and Anaheim (18.5%), but were thrilled to see their logo turned over by Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly shortly after 8pm ET.
The last time the Chicago Blackhawks selected first overall, they kicked off their dynasty by selecting Patrick Kane in the 2007 NHL Entry Draft. He, alongside Jonathan Toews, helped guide the franchise to 3 Stanley Cups between 2010-2015.
With both Kane and Toews set to hit free agency this summer, a new era is officially underway in Chicago as the team looks to complete their tear down, and launch a new window to compete in the 2020’s.
Bedard will enter the league as the new face of the Original Six club, a fact which has the city absolutely buzzing at the moment. In the 1.5hrs after winning the top overall pick, Chicago announced that they had sold $2.5M worth of season-ticket plans for 2023-24, including more than 500 new full season plans.
“I think I just said, ‘Wow’ because you understand the impact that a first overall pick can have — and having a first overall pick in the right year,” Blackhawks GM Kyle Davidson said at a press conference following the draft lottery.
“Hopefully that’s what we’ve got here. It can change a franchise, it can change a city and it can change an era in a team’s history. There’s a lot of weight to that and lot of significance to that.”
Unfortunately for the Anaheim Ducks, it was another case of “always the bridesmaid, never the bride” as they fell 1 spot to 2nd overall. The draft lottery played out eerily similar to how the Sidney Crosby sweepstakes wrapped up 18 years prior when the Ducks narrowly missed out on a generational talent there as well.
Instead, Anaheim will have their pick of the litter of a talented trio of players in Adam Fantilli, Matvei Michkov or Leo Carlsson.
Here’s how the rest of the draft picks fell last night:
2023 NHL Draft Lottery Results:
1. Chicago Blackhawks
2. Anaheim Ducks
3. Columbus Blue Jackets
4. San Jose Sharks
5. Montreal Canadiens
6. Arizona Coyotes
7. Philadelphia Flyers
8. Washington Capitals
9. Detroit Red Wings
10. St. Louis Blues
11. Vancouver Canucks
12. Arizona Coyotes (via Ottawa)
13. Buffalo Sabres
14. Pittsburgh Penguins
15. Nashville Predators
16. Calgary Flames
-Kyle Skinner
Twitter: @JKyleSkinner
Photo: Steven Ellis. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license.