San Jose Sharks win 2024 NHL Draft Lottery

The Sharks had the best odds of getting the No. 1 pick. After finishing with a 19-54-9 record, San Jose had a 25.5 percent chance of winning the lottery.

With that, the Sharks have the opportunity to select Macklin Celebrini. He has been the consensus first-overall pick for most of the season. Celebrini backed up the hype with an exceptional freshman season at Boston University, where the Vancouver native scored 32 goals and 64 points in 38 games, setting the record for most goals in an NCAA season by a 17-year-old.

Celebrini ended up becoming the youngest player to win the Hobey Baker Award as the best male player in college hockey. No winner of the honor has ever been selected first overall in the NHL Draft.

This is actually the second time the Sharks have won the Draft Lottery. San Jose was “victorious” in 1998, but the Tampa Bay Lightning had the right to swap picks with the Sharks as a condition of a trade that saw Bryan Marchment and David Shaw go to San Jose. The Lightning would go on to take Vincent Lecavalier.

What was a minor surprise was that the order did not fray from the lottery, marking the first time since 2010 that the draft order did not change.

While the eyes will be on Celebrini, there are a couple of other notable players who will be available in the first round. Defensemen like Anton Silayev (Torpedo, KHL) and Artyom Levshunov (Michigan State, NCAA) are expected to go high in the draft, while offensive threats like Cole Eiserman (USNTDP) and Ivan Demidov (SKA St. Petersburg) are projected to be snatched up early.

Here is the current order for the first round of the 2024 NHL Draft:

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 (via PIT)

15. Detroit Red Wings

16. St. Louis Blues

17. Washington Capitals

18. New York Islanders

19. Vegas Golden Knights

20. Chicago Blackhawks (via TBL)

21. Los Angeles Kings

22. Nashville Predators

23. Toronto Maple Leafs

24. Montreal Canadiens (via WPG)

The rest of the order will be determined as teams are eliminated from the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

The draft will take place at the Sphere in Las Vegas. Round 1 is set for June 28, while the last six rounds falling on June 29.