Vancouver Canucks

NHL draft lottery odds set as Vancouver Canucks battle Coyotes for position
April 6, 2017, 3:56 PM ET [29 Comments]
Carol Schram
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Thursday April 6 - Vancouver Canucks at Arizona Coyotes - 7 p.m. - Sportsnet Pacific

Vancouver Canucks: 79 GP, 30-40-9, 69 pts, sixth in Pacific Division
Arizona Coyotes: 80 GP, 29-41-10, 68 pts, seventh in Pacific Division

It's a battle for the bottom as the Vancouver Canucks and Arizona Coyotes face off for the final time this season in Glendale on Thursday night.




The Canucks currently sit one point ahead of Arizona in the NHL standings—in 28th place overall. Vancouver also has a game in hand. After tonight, the Coyotes have just one more game on their schedule, hosting Minnesota on Saturday. The Canucks will close out their schedule with a home-and-home series with Edmonton this weekend.

According to Buffalo Hockey Central, TSN's Frank Seravalli has said that the Draft Lottery will take place on Saturday, April 29th. Here's how they broke down the lottery probabilities for the first-overall pick going into Wednesday night's games.

Colorado 17.9%
Arizona 12.1%
Vancouver 10.3%
Las Vegas 10.3%
New Jersey 8.5%
Detroit 7.6%
Buffalo 6.7%
Dallas 5.8%
Florida 5.4%
Winnipeg 4.5%


According to this list, if the Canucks do fall below the Coyotes in the final standings, their odds of obtaining the first-overall pick will increase by 1.8 percent. If you're a glass-half-empty person, that's a pretty negligible difference. If you're glass-half-full, you'd probably argue that the odds would be 17.5 percent better—gotta take every possible edge you can get.

Here's a graphic breakdown of the complete odds for all picks.




If the Canucks end up in 29th spot, they won't pick worse than fifth, and their most likely outcome is to pick fourth (34 percent). If they finish 28th, they could end up picking as low as seventh and their most likely outcome would be to pick sixth.

That's what's on the line in tonight's game.

As you might expect from two teams in this situation, there will be plenty of youth on the ice tonight in Glendale.




The Canucks had an optional skate this morning; word is that tonight's skaters will be unchanged.




Ryan Miller will return in net after Richard Bachman took the loss at the Shark Tank on Tuesday.

Looks like the boys were able to enjoy some downtime in the desert on Wednesday.




Back at home, here are a couple of updates on the wounded soldiers:







I've seen Jack Skille on crutches at Rogers Arena, so I'm pretty sure he also won't be back on the ice this year after being injured in Minnesota on March 25.

Time is also running out for Erik Gudbranson, who had hoped to see some NHL action after undergoing wrist surgery back in December.

A couple of other notes on prospects to finish up today:

• I got my wires crossed yesterday on the London Knights' second-round playoff schedule. Olli Juolevi and his team hit the ice in Erie to take on the Otters in Game 1 tonight, starting at 4:05 p.m. Pacific Time.

• Two Canucks draft picks from 2015 remain unsigned and could go back into the draft if they don't ink deals with the Canucks by June 1.

One is defenseman Tate Olson, who was chosen in the seventh round and has been playing with the Prince George Cougars. After putting up 47 points in 2015-16, he dropped back to 26 points this year.




The other is Carl Neill, also a defenseman, who was chosen in the fifth round.

Neill was traded mid-season from Sherbrooke to Charlottetown, but his overall point total increased from eight goals and 50 points in 2015-16 to 13 goals and 69 points in total this season. He also has four assists in Charlottetown's first-round sweep of Baie-Comeau; the Islanders' second-round series against Cape Breton begins tonig