What Are the Odds: Utah’s First Ever NHL Draft Lottery to Commence Today

The Arizona Coyotes never owned a top two draft selection in their 28-season history.

Despite suffering 13 seasons of losing since 2002, and only 4 playoff appearances in that same span, the draft odds were never fond of the desert dogs.

Per Reddit user, Sticks536, the Coyotes finished bottom ten in the NHL in 15 of their 28 seasons, roughly 54 percent of their existence.

And despite all that struggle, the hockey gods never felt inclined to throw them a coyote sized bone, let alone a small treat, as Arizona never even moved up in the draft.

Arizona stayed exactly where they were projected or fell in the draft order.

So, Utah fans can thank their lucky stars that the history of the Coyotes is not theirs to claim.

Despite inheriting the players, front office and so on of the Coyotes this offseason, Utah is by default a “brand new” franchise, determined to blaze their own trail.

And as lottery luck may have it, they have to be thankful that’s the case.

With a fresh slate, GM Bill Armstrong and Utah anticipate todays NHL Draft Lottery at 4:30 Utah time on ESPN.

The chase for Macklin Celebrini is on and Utah has a shot at landing the top prospect out of Boston University.

Defined by the folks at ESPN as “franchise altering”, Armstrong and the yet to be named Utah club would be ecstatic to have a chance with the first overall selection.

Unfortunately, that’s all it is. Just a chance, and a small one at that.

Utah currently sits sixth in the projections with a 7.5 percent shot at nabbing that sweet #1 spot.

Now, you don’t have to explain to Utah sports fan how the lottery works, the Jazz have made themselves familiar with it the last two seasons.

Despite being competitive for most of their existence in Salt Lake City, the Jazz have never won the NBA draft lottery when participating.

Fans are really hoping to see that trend ended as a high pick to start out their new franchises journey can go a long way in not only creating but sustaining interest and hype around the new squad.

And as fun as it is to hope, reality is often disappointing:

Either way, its time for Utah to officially kick off their first big time NHL activity and fans should be stoked to see “Utah” mentioned among the likes of the Blackhawks and Devils.

It was fun, exciting and amazing to witness the reception of the new team only weeks ago, but something as simple as lottery selection really drives home the point that Utah has real legitimate NHL team with high hopes of the future.