The NHL Lottery is taking place on Monday, which means all the fanbases not geeking out over the release of the Stanley Cup playoff schedule are glued to the Lottery to see if their team will be able to strike gold and win the jackpot.
But before we find out who wins this year’s NHL Draft Lottery, let’s take a look back at who has won the NHL Lottery since its introduction in 1995. Note that prior to this season, winning the lottery didn’t secure you the No. 1 overall pick, rather it meant you moved up no more than four places in the order.
NHL DRAFT LOTTERY HISTORY | |||||
| YEAR | WORST TEAM | LOTTERY WINNER | 1ST OVERALL TEAM | 1ST OVERALL PICK | WINNER’S PICK |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1995 | Ottawa | Los Angeles* | Ottawa | Bryan Berard | Aki Berg |
| 1996 | Ottawa | Ottawa | Ottawa | Chris Phillips | – |
| 1997 | Boston | Boston | Boston | Joe Thornton | – |
| 1998 | Tampa Bay | San Jose# | Tampa Bay | Vincent Lecavalier | – |
| 1999 | Tampa Bay | Chicago** | Atlanta | Patrik Stefan | Pavel Brendl*** |
| 2000 | Atlanta | NY Islanders | NY Islanders | Rick DiPietro | – |
| 2001 | NY Islanders | Atlanta | Atlanta | Ilya Kovalchuk | – |
| 2002 | Atlanta | Florida^ | Columbus | Rick Nash | – |
| 2003 | Carolina | Florida^^ | Pittsburgh | Marc-Andre Fleury | – |
| 2004 | Pittsburgh | Washington | Washington | Alexander Ovechkin | – |
| 2005 | – | Pittsburgh+ | Pittsburgh | Sidney Crosby | – |
| 2006 | St. Louis | St. Louis | St. Louis | Erik Johnson | – |
| 2007 | Philadelphia | Chicago | Chicago | Patrick Kane | – |
| 2008 | Tampa Bay | Tampa Bay | Tampa Bay | Steven Stamkos | – |
| 2009 | NY Islanders | NY Islanders | NY Islanders | John Tavares | – |
| 2010 | Edmonton | Edmonton | Edmonton | Taylor Hall | – |
| 2011 | Edmonton | New Jersey++ | Edmonton | Ryan Nugent-Hopkins | Adam Larsson |
| 2012 | Columbus | Edmonton | Edmonton | Nail Yakupov | – |
* – Los Angeles could only move up a maximum of four spots (moved from 7th to 3rd)
# – San Jose was selected in the 1998 drawing, but Tampa Bay held the right to swap first round picks with the Sharks and exercised that right to go to first.
** – Chicago could only move up a maximum of four spots (moved from 8th to 4th)
*** – NY Rangers obtained Chicago’s pick in a trade (via Vancouver and Tampa Bay). The Rangers selected RW Pavel Brendl fourth overall.
^ – Florida traded first overall pick to Columbus
^^ – Florida traded first overall pick to Pittsburgh
+ – NHL lockout cancelled 2004-05 season, all 30 teams were entered
++ – New Jersey could only move up a maximum of four spots (moved from 8th to 4th)