{"id":557032,"date":"2026-04-21T02:09:00","date_gmt":"2026-04-21T02:09:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/557032\/"},"modified":"2026-04-21T02:09:00","modified_gmt":"2026-04-21T02:09:00","slug":"got-a-chance-florida-panthers-in-running-for-nhl-top-draft-pick","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/557032\/","title":{"rendered":"Got a Chance: Florida Panthers In Running for NHL Top Draft Pick"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Florida Panthers did not expect to have a first round draft pick this year so, whatever chances they have at winning the lottery, they will take. <\/p>\n

The Panthers got back the pick they originally traded to the Chicago Blackhawks in the Seth Jones\/Spencer Knight trade of last March by virtue of it being one of the top 10 picks in this year\u2019s draft.<\/p>\n

The first-round selection that was traded to Chicago was on the condition that it would not be a top-10 pick; the Panthers, right now, have the No. 8 pick and can fall no further than No. 10 since only two teams (if any) can jump ahead of Florida.<\/p>\n

Of course, the Panthers could move all the way up to the very top of the draft. <\/p>\n

The NHL announced Saturday that the 2026 Draft Lottery will be held May 5 at the NHL Network studio in Secaucus, N.J. <\/p>\n

It will be broadcast live on ESPN.<\/p>\n

According to the NHL, this year\u2019s Draft Lottery broadcast will again feature a\u00a0live drawing of the lottery balls<\/a>\u00a0which allows viewers to see in real time the results of the lottery.<\/p>\n

As each lottery ball is drawn, odds change and teams are eliminated. The viewing audience learns which clubs are still in the running in real time.<\/p>\n

The lottery will determine the top 16 picks for the 2026 NHL Draft and will be conducted in two phases: The first will be to determine who gets the first overall pick; the second to determine the second overall pick. <\/p>\n

Since a team can only move up 10 spots, only the bottom 11 teams in the standings can win the top pick. The 12th team could move up to No. 2. <\/p>\n

The Vancouver Canucks had the worst record in the league this season, and will have an 18.5 percent chance at winning the top overall pick. <\/p>\n

Odds, obviously, go down from there. <\/p>\n

At No. 8, the Panthers have a 6 percent chance of laying claim to the top pick in the draft. <\/p>\n

\"\"2026 NHL Draft Lottery Odds \/\/ Courtesy NHL<\/p>\n

The Panthers have not had the top pick in the draft since taking Aaron Ekblad No. 1 in 2014.<\/p>\n

Florida has had two No. 1 picks in franchise history: Ekblad and Ed Jovanovski (1994). Ironically, both are defenseman from Windsor, Ontario.<\/p>\n

The Panthers, however, have won the Draft Lottery a few other times since it was instituted in 1995. <\/p>\n

Florida moved from third to first in 2002 but traded it to the Columbus Blue Jackets (Rick Nash) and moved down to No. 3 where it took Jay Bouwmeester. <\/p>\n

The next year, the Panthers moved from second to first in the lottery \u2014 and again traded it, this time to the Penguins (Marc-Andre Fleury). Florida again took the third pick, selecting Nathan Horton. <\/p>\n

Because they won the lottery in 2002 and 2003, the Panthers were not allowed to participate in the 2005 Draft Lottery which was won by the Penguins. <\/p>\n

They did not trade it to the Panthers, and selected Sidney Crosby. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n

ON DECK: FLORIDA PANTHERS\u00a0OFFSEASON<\/p>\n

NHL Draft Lottery:\u00a0May 5; Secaucus, NJ<\/a><\/p>\n

NHL Draft:\u00a0June 26-27; KeyBank Center, Buffalo<\/a><\/p>\n

NHL Free Agency:\u00a0Opens July 1<\/p>\n

Panthers Development Camp:\u00a0Late June\/Early July; IcePlex, Fort Lauderdale<\/p>\n

Panthers Rookie Camp\/Tournament:\u00a0Late August\/Early Sept.; Site TBA<\/p>\n

Panthers Training Camp:\u00a0Early\/Mid September; Fort Lauderdale\u00a0<\/p>\n

2026-27 NHL Season Opens:\u00a0Late September; Site, Opponent TBA<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Florida Panthers did not expect to have a first round draft pick this year so, whatever chances…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":557033,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5102],"tags":[7704,62,57,5141,5,4,591,63],"class_list":{"0":"post-557032","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-florida-panthers","8":"tag-2026-nhl-draft","9":"tag-florida","10":"tag-florida-panthers","11":"tag-floridapanthers","12":"tag-hockey","13":"tag-nhl","14":"tag-nhl-draft-lottery","15":"tag-panthers"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116440268954462495","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/557032","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=557032"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/557032\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/557033"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=557032"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=557032"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=557032"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}