NHL Roundup: Detroit’s Steve Yzerman not surprised they lost the lottery and no Hub City announcement

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The Detroit Red Wings won a grand total of 17 games this season. They were far and away the worst team in the NHL. How bad were they? Both the awful Ottawa Senators and dismal San Jose Sharks had 23 and 24 more points respectively than Detroit’s 39. Yet after all that losing, GM Steve Yzerman’s Wings won’t even select 2nd or 3rd. That’s because when the lottery balls finished banging around and then flew up the tube, Detroit ended up with the 4th overall pick.

Steve Yzerman not surprised he lost the draft

After the shock and disappointment settled in, Steve Yzerman revealed that he wasn’t really surprised by the result. “We had an 18.5% chance of winning the first pick, so realistically I’m prepared to not be sitting here talking about the first pick,” the legendary Red Wings player said. “So I’m not real surprised. The bottom eight teams had a 24.5% of getting that pick,” Yzerman concluded.

Alexis Lafreniere could be a New York Ranger (NHLI/Getty Images)

Now the NHL will hold a Phase Two lottery after the 8 teams are eliminated from the qualifying round in August. Each losing team has a 12.5% chance of winning the Alexis Lafreniere sweepstakes.

It is going to be a fun summer for hockey fans, and the consolidation prize of losing a qualifying round for one team is a generational talent. Tell me another sport that has that kind of intrigue going for it right now? Simply put, you can’t.

Read the full story at Sportsnaut

No Hub City Announcement Yet

By Anthony Scultore

Anthony Scultore has been covering the New York Rangers and the NHL since 2014. His work also appears at... More about Anthony Scultore

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