Sharks win 2024 NHL Draft Lottery, get No. 1 pick for first time

The San Jose Sharks will have the No. 1 pick for the time ever later this summer after winning the 2024 NHL Draft Lottery on Tuesday night. 

The Sharks finished the regular season with the NHL's worst record and had the highest odds going into Tuesday's lottery. The top 16 picks followed the standings exactly with no team moving up or down in the lottery. It is the first time since the 2010 lottery that has happened. 

Along with the No. 1 overall pick, the Sharks will also have the No. 14 overall pick in the draft, acquired from the Pittsburgh Penguins, to complete a trade involving defenseman Erik Karlsson. That pick was top-10 protected, so if the Penguins had moved into the top 10 they could have kept that pick and instead sent their 2025 first-round pick to San Jose.

It is expected that the Sharks will use the top pick on Macklin Celebrini, the consensus top prospect in this year's class. While he does not project to be a star on the same level as Sidney Crosby, Connor McDavid or Connor Bedard, he is considered a potentially franchise-changing player and should give the Sharks' rebuild an immediate lift.

San Jose finished the 2023-24 season with the league's worst record at 19-54-9. 

The highest the Sharks have ever picked in the NHL Draft is No. 2 overall, which they did three times in the early part of their franchise existence. They used those picks to select Pat Falloon (1991), Andrei Zyuzin (1996) and Patrick Marleau (1997).

The 2024 NHL Draft will be held on June 28-29 at the Las Vegas Sphere.

Here is the rest of the 2024 NHL Draft Lottery results. 

1. San Jose Sharks

2. Chicago Blackhawks

3. Anaheim Ducks

4. Columbus Blue Jackets 

5. Montreal Canadiens

6. Utah

7. Ottawa Senators

8. Seattle Kraken

9. Calgary Flames

10. New Jersey Devils

11. Buffalo Sabres

12. Philadelphia Flyers

13. Minnesota Wild

14. San Jose Sharks (from Pittsburgh Penguins)

15. Detroit Red Wings

16. St. Louis Blues

The other big piece of news here is that the Senators will have 24 hours to decide if they are going to forfeit their first-round pick or push that decision back to the 2025 or 2026 draft. They have to forfeit one of those first-round picks as part of a league punishment for a voided trade involving forward Evgenii Dadonov during the 2022 season. 

Utah, formerly the Arizona Coyotes, will also pick No. 6 overall for its first-ever draft pick after the franchise relocates from Arizona.