Chicago Blackhawks win NHL draft lottery, Vancouver Canucks will pick 11th

It was the likeliest outcome, and unfortunately, it’s the one that took place.

The Vancouver Canucks entered Monday’s NHL Draft Lottery with a 79.9% chance to select 11th overall with their first round pick in the 2023 NHL Draft, but also a 3% chance at winning the right to draft the highly-coveted Connor Bedard.

Bedard, a native of Lynn Valley, will undoubtedly be selected first overall by the Chicago Blackhawks, who came away as the winners of the 2023 NHL Draft Lottery. Adam Fantilli is slated to go second overall to the Anaheim Ducks, who beat out the Columbus Blue Jackets for the second overall pick.

There was no movement outside of the top three, as it came down to a combination of the bottom three teams — Chicago, Columbus, and Anaheim — to make up the top three of the draft.

And of course, the worst team possible came away as the winners.

No trade package will likely be enough for the Canucks to move up from 11th to draft 1st overall, meaning that in all likelihood, the dream for Bedard to become a Canuck will have to wait until the centre reaches free agency at the very earliest.

Canucks general manager Patrik Allvin is set to speak with the media at 5:30 PM Pacific Time and we’ll have coverage of that press conference up on the site shortly after it wraps up.