The 2017 NHL Draft Lottery has come and gone, and… the results aren’t great. Having finished in 20th place in the NHL’s regular season standings, the Jets were tentatively in the 12th spot and had 2.7% odds of moving up to first, but fell to 13th thanks to the Philadelphia Flyers winning one of the lotteries. For those wondering, Philadelphia will pick second.
Some recent notable 13th overall picks include goaltender Jean-Sebastien Giguere (Hartford-1995), right winger Ales Hemsky (Edmonton-2001), right winger Alexander Semin (Washington-2002), right winger Dustin Brown (Los Angeles-2003), centre Lars Eller (St. Louis-2007), and centre Radek Faksa (Dallas-2012). The Winnipeg Jets picked 13th in the 2013 NHL Entry Draft, when they selected defenceman Josh Morrissey, who played his rookie season this year.
Various scouting resources rank different players at 13th. The International Scouting Service, as well as TSN’s Craig Button in his March ranking, lists left winger Eeli Tolvanen, who scored 30 goals and 54 points in 52 games for the USHL’s Sioux City Musketeers. McKeen’s Hockey ranks centre Cody Glass, who scored 32 goals and 94 points in 69 games for the WHL’s Portland Winterhawks. Future Considerations lists centre/left winger Lias Andersson, who scored nine goals and 19 points in 42 games for the Swedish Hockey League’s HV71 Jonkoping. The NHL’s Central Scouting Bureau lists centre Ryan Poehling 13th among North American skaters and centre Alexei Lipanov 13th among European-based skaters. Poehling scored seven goals and 13 points in 35 points for St. Cloud State University, while Lipanov scored three goals and eight points in 21 games for Dynamo Balashikha of Russia’s VHL.
It isn’t exactly a secret that the Jets are a little lacking in quality defensive prospects, so I’ll also list a the highest-ranked defencemen on all those lists after 13th. ISS’, as well as Future Considerations’, next-highest ranked defenceman is Nicholas Hague, ranked 14th by ISS and 17th by Future Considerations, who scored 18 goals and 46 points in 65 games for the OHL’s Mississauga Steelheads. McKeen’s has Juuso Valimaki as their next-highest defenceman, ranked 16th after scoring 19 goals and 61 points in 60 games for the WHL’s Tri-City Americans. NHL Central Scouting’s next highest defencemen are 18th-ranked Conor Timmins among North Americans and 15th-ranked Filip Westerlund among Europeans. Timmins scored seven goals and 61 points in 67 games for the OHL’s Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds, while Westerlund scored one goal and seven points in 23 games for Frolunda J20 in the Swedish Superelit and four assists in 33 games for Frolunda of the SHL. Craig Button’s March ranking lists defenceman Cal Foote, who scored six goals and 57 points in 71 games for the WHL’s Kelowna Rockets.
The first-round order for lottery picks are the lottery is: New Jersey, Philadelphia, Dallas, Colorado, Vancouver, Vegas, Arizona, Buffalo, Detroit, Florida, Los Angeles, Carolina, Winnipeg, Tampa Bay, and the Islanders. The first round will be on June 23, with the rest of the draft on June 24.
