A final day guide to the Canucks’ season and what it all means for their chances at Connor Bedard

No, Canucks fans’ scoreboard-watching this evening will have nothing to do with the playoffs.

Instead, it will have everything to do with the club’s draft lottery positioning, and ultimately, their final odds at winning the draft lottery and being given the right to draft North Vancouver’s very own Connor Bedard.

Earlier this week, the Canucks’ loss to the Los Angeles Kings coupled with the Ottawa Senators’ win over the Carolina Hurricanes guaranteed that Vancouver would at least have a chance of winning the draft lottery. The rules of the lottery were changed recently to ensure that teams outside the bottom 11 of the league’s standings cannot win the first overall pick. With that loss to LA, the Canucks were guaranteed to not fall out of the bottom 11.

And that brings us perfectly to tonight and what Canucks fans should be looking for. Here’s how the standings look heading into tonight’s game, per Tankathon.

Here’s the scenarios for tonight.

For the Canucks to finish with the 11th-best odds, they would need a win in Arizona tonight and for the St. Louis Blues to lose. St. Louis plays the Central Division-leading Dallas Stars tonight. The Stars are on a five game win streak and will certainly be looking to continue their streak heading into the playoffs.

For the Canucks to stay where they are right now and finish with the 10th-best odds, the Canucks basically need both Detroit and Washington to lose, along with the Canucks losing themselves. Detroit plays Tampa Bay, and the Capitals play New Jersey, so this certainly isn’t out of the realm of possibility. If the Canucks win tonight, they could still remain with the 10th-best odds if St. Louis manages to beat Dallas as well.

In order to move up to the ninth-best odds, currently held down by Detroit, the Canucks would need to lose tonight and for Detroit to win. Either that, or the Canucks lose and get a win from Washington, as the Capitals have the “advantage” with regulation wins, meaning they and the Canucks both finishing the season at 81 points would give Vancouver the better lottery odds.

If you’re a Canucks fan, this is what you’re hoping for tonight: everybody but Vancouver wins.

In all seriousness, if the Canucks lose and the Red Wings and Capitals both secure victories, then Vancouver is back up where they were earlier this week with a 6% chance at drafting a franchise-altering player.

Tune in tonight for John Garrett’s final broadcast and be sure to head back to canucksarmy.com after the game to take part in our Instant Reaction and to read The Stanchies later in the evening!