Saturday’s NHL Draft Lottery was the craziest in league history.
The No. 1 pick went to the New Jersey Devils, the No. 2 pick went to the Philadelphia Flyers, and the No. 3 pick went to the Dallas Stars.
The Devils had an 8.5% chance of receiving the first pick, the Flyers had a 2.4% chance of receiving the second pick, and the Stars had a 6.4 % chance of getting the third pick.
So, those organizations are certainly ecstatic with how things unfolded. One organization that is not happy, is the Colorado Avalanche.
The Avalanche were a disaster this season, recording the lowest amount of points (48) since the Atlanta Thrashers (39) did in 1999-2000 as an expansion franchise. But that record did allow them to get the highest chance for the No. 1 pick, at 18.0%, and gave them a 48.1% chance at a top-three pick.
Welp, they got the fourth pick, the lowest possible pick they could’ve gotten. And the Avs’ Twitter account didn’t hold back in showing their frustration:
It's a modern Greek tragedy. pic.twitter.com/wPJKnYbwTv
— Michael Castillo (@MichaelCastFS) April 30, 2017
No.
— Colorado Avalanche (@Avalanche) April 30, 2017
NO!
— Colorado Avalanche (@Avalanche) April 30, 2017
????
— Colorado Avalanche (@Avalanche) April 30, 2017
Yeah, the fourth pick isn’t exactly going to get the Colorado fan base pumped up after what was by far the worst team in the NHL this season. This is also a lesson in why tanking can be hard to make work effectively when there’s a lottery system.