34 NATIONAL SPORTS
CHAUTAUQUA STAR
FRIDAY, APRIL 18, 2014
Panthers Jumps Sabres, Win NHL Draft Lottery
Colorado won the lottery.
The top two projected prospects are left wing Samuel
NHL draft lottery losers last Bennett, of OHL Kingston,
year, the Florida Panthers
who finished first in the final
had their number come up
rankings released by NHL
this year.
Central Scouting last week,
and OHL Barrie defenseIn the meantime, chalk up
yet another loss for the Buf- man Aaron Ekblad.
falo Sabres.
The draft will be held in
Philadelphia on June 27-28.
The Panthers bucked the
odds Tuesday by jumping
The Panthers (29-45-8) had
up a spot and earned the
an 18.8 percent chance of
right to the top pick in June. winning the lottery, behind
Florida, which finished 29th only Buffalo (21-51-10),
in the league, vaulted ahead which had a 25 percent shot.
of the last-place Sabres, who The Sabres continued what's
had the best odds of winning been a losing trend since the
the lottery held in Toronto.
season began in October.
''It means a lot to us. We've
Buffalo's 51 losses were a
very excited,'' said Travis
franchise worst, and the
Viola, Panthers president of most losses in the NHL since
hockey operations. ''We're
the New York Islanders went
looking to continue to build 21-51-7-3 in 2000-01.
on our core talent of young
General manager Tim Murplayers. It's just a great opray took the latest loss in
portunity.''
stride, telling the team's webIt also marked a reversal of
site that he almost anticipated
fortune for Florida.
losing out on the No. 1 pick.
After finishing last a year
''We're very comfortable,''
ago, the Panthers were relMurray said. ''The other
egated to the No. 2 pick after way would've been gravy,
By John Wawrow
AP Sports Writer
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but it's kind of what we
thought would happen, and
we prepared for it.''
The Sabres were guaranteed
falling no further than second.
Florida will have the first
pick for the fourth time in
franchise history.
The Panthers are gradually rebuilding. They made a splash
this year by acquiring goalie
Roberto Luongo in a trade
with Vancouver. And they'll be
picking third or better for the
fourth time in five years.
Their previous top three
picks - defenseman Erik
Gudbranson (in 2010), wing
Jonathan Huberdeau (2011)
and center Aleksander
Barkov (2013) - all played
significant roles this season.
''We're anxious to put a winner in Florida,'' Viola said.
The Panthers' move up
marked the fourth straight
year in which the last-place
team failed to win the lottery. Since the NHL lottery
system was introduced in
1995, the last-place team has
earned the No. 1 pick only
six times.
The Panthers had the No. 1
pick in the 2002 and 2003
drafts, but traded them away
both t imes. They also had
the No. 1 pick in 1994, when
they selected defenseman Ed
Jovanovski.
The remaining 11 teams
maintained their draft order
based on the final standings,
starting with the Edmonton
Oilers staying with the No.
3 draft pick. Calgary will
select fourth followed by the
New York Islanders.
The top 10 picks are
rounded out by Vancouver
picking sixth, followed by
Carolina, Toronto, Winnipeg and Anaheim. The
Pacific Division champion
Ducks earned a lottery spot
by acquiring a first-round
pick in a trade with Ottawa,
which finished 21st.
The New Jersey Devils, who
finished 20th, were included
in the lottery to maintain the
weighted odds, but were not
eligible to be selected.
The Devils are already slotted to pick 30th after being
sanctioned by the NHL.
The league ruled New Jersey
circumvented the collective bargaining agreement
by attempting to skirt the
salary cap by signing Ilya
Kovalchuk to a 17-year, $102
million contract in 2010.
Center Sam Reinhart
(WHL Kootenay) and left
wing Leon Draisaitl (WHL
Prince Albert) were ranked
third and fourth among
North American skaters,
while the top-ranked European skater is Finnish right
wing Kasperi Kapanen.
The Sabres actually have a
shot at holding three firstround picks based on two
trades they made this year.
The Islanders have to until
June 1 to decide whether to
hand over their first-round
selection to Buffalo this year
or next year. Islanders head
amateur scout Trent Klatt
said the team has not yet
determined its plans.
The Sabres will also acquire
the Blues' first-round pick
should St. Louis reach the
Western Conference finals.
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