The Connor McDavid Sweepstakes Date Set for April 18th

The NHL regular season is about to finish up which typically means hockey news is tilted towards teams fighting for Wild Card spots or speculation about who will raise the cup this year. Instead, many will focus on the NHL Draft Lottery which we now know will take place on April 18th.

Each team that fails to qualify for the 2015 Stanley Cup playoffs will have the opportunity to win the no. 1 pick, with the teams finishing the season with the worst record having better odds of landing the first overall pick.

Heading into Wednesday night’s games, the Buffalo Sabres sit in last place in the NHL with 47 points. The Arizona Coyotes are five up on Buffalo at 52 points. The two teams face each other twice in the remaining games of the regular season, making the lottery odds of the losing team even better.

The stakes are high for this years NHL draft as it contains two of the most highly praised prospects since Sidney Crosby in 2005. It’s widely believed that the no. 1 overall pick will be the OHL Erie Otter’s Connor McDavid, with Boston University’s Jack Eichel going no. 2 overall. You can even bet on which team will draft Connor McDavid, and see which team has the best odds to do so.

McDavid just finished his OHL regular season notching 120 points in 47 games with the Otters and winning gold in the Men’s junior national hockey tournament in January. Eichel finished his season with Boston University as the leading scorer in the NCAA with 66 points over 36 games. Both prospects are seen as can’t miss selections, which makes the battle for the bottom even more interesting.

Other top prospects include defenceman Noah Hanifin from Boston College, center Dylan Strome who also plays for the Erie Otters and forward Lawson Crouse from Kinstgon. Each will learn of their future NHL team June 26-27th when the draft will be held in Florida.