In a summer expected to feature a number of big moves by the LA Kings, their first fork in the road comes in just over 24 hours. Wednesday at 4pm, live on NHL Network, the league will host their annual Draft Lottery, with the outcome serving as the first step in a series of dominos GM Rob Blake will look to set off in the coming months.
As mentioned on last week’s Kings Of The Podcast, we believe there is a near-zero chance the Kings will move this year’s first round pick should they win the Lottery and select in either position one or two.
Now, if the Leafs are willing to trade Auston Matthews, that’s a different story.
If not, the Kings will look to take one of the top defensemen available (more on that in a separate article soon). For now, we’ve already prepared a handful of scouting reports on some highly-ranked players.
Pre-Draft Player Profiles
2021 NHL Draft Preview: Defenseman Owen Power, Canada
2021 NHL Draft Preview: Luke Hughes, USA Defenseman
2021 NHL Draft Preview: Forward William Eklund, Sweden
2021 NHL Draft Preview: Forward Aatu Räty, Finland
More 2021 NHL Draft Profiles on MayorsManor
LA Kings Spot in the First Round
As for the Lottery itself, the league did make some changes to this year’s format. For better or worse, it’s pretty easy to explain at this point. There will be two separate drawings. First, there will be a drawing for the first overall selection. After that, there will be a separate drawing for the second overall selection.
Currently the Kings sit eighth on the depth chart. Thus, they can only end up in one of five spots on the 2021 Draft board:
Pick No. 1 — should LA win the first drawing
Pick No. 2 — should LA win the second drawing
Pick No. 8 — should the two teams winning the first and second drawing currently sit ahead of them in the rankings
Pick No. 9 — should only one of the two teams winning the first and second drawing currently sit behind them in the rankings (essentially, only one team would leapfrog them and push the Kings back a position)
Pick No. 10 — should both of the two teams winning the first and second drawing currently sit behind them in the rankings
Odds to win the 2021 NHL Draft Lottery
Below is a list of odds for each team in the the first Lottery Draw. Based upon which team wins the first Lottery Draw, all odds for the remaining teams will then increase on a proportionate basis for the second Lottery Draw. .
RANK (Team with odds)
1 Sabres 16.6%
2 Ducks 12.1%
3 Kraken 10.3%
4 Devils 10.3%
5 Blue Jackets 8.5%
6 Red Wings 7.6%
7 Sharks 6.7%
8 Kings 5.8%
9 Canucks 5.4%
10 Senators 4.5%
11 Coyotes* 3.1%
12 Blackhawks 2.7%
13 Flames 2.2%
14 Flyers 1.8%
15 Stars 1.4%
16 Rangers 1.0%
* NOTE: The NHL has punished the Coyotes for violating league rules regarding testing prospects outside of the Draft Combine. As a result, Arizona does not have a first round selection in the 2021 NHL Draft. A decision was recently made to keep all percentages the same, and should they win either of the two lottery draws, an immediate re-draw will take place.
When you factor in Arizona’s penalty situation, the odds increase for everybody else – to the point LA actually has a 12% chance of picking either first or second.
The league changed the lottery probabilities again, here they are for reference: pic.twitter.com/5D8WKq2NgC
— Micah Blake McCurdy (@IneffectiveMath) May 19, 2021
LA Kings Winning Numbers in 2021 NHL Draft Lottery
Below is a table with the Kings 58 winning combinations. If LA ends up as the first or second selection in the 2021 NHL Draft, it means one of these combinations hit.
LA Kings 2021 NHL Draft Selections
The Draft Lottery only impacts selections in the first round. All other rounds have been set, with the Kings pick coming as the eighth selection in each round. They also own a few more picks acquired from other teams via trade.
LA's 2021 fourth round pick was traded to NYR for Brendan Lemieux.
Kings 2021 seventh round pick went to Carolina as part of a 2020 Draft day trade that saw then send that pick plus a 2020 RD6 pick for the Hurricanes RD5 pick (used to select defenseman Ben Meehan).
— John Hoven | The Mayor (@mayorNHL) June 1, 2021
NHL Draft Lottery set for 4pm PST this Wednesday on @NHLNetwork.
If you're bored until then, just keep re-running the simulator…https://t.co/BRARDOdimi
— John Hoven | The Mayor (@mayorNHL) June 1, 2021
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Well, we’re 8th. Are the Kraken the best bet to move up in the draft for us? Even the #2 pick might not be year one in the NHL this year. Given the problems of BUT in icing a decent roster beyond 5 guys can their pick be gotten for ours, both seconds, and say Madden(just picking a name out of the air)? Ugh. Can’t we just fast forward to the end on this story?
THEY NEED A GOOD COACH! AND EXPECTEN ONE TO GO THE WAY.