The Montreal Canadiens have just received the official verdict for the 2023 Connor Bedard lottery. Kent Hughes and his team will now have an 8.5% chance of securing the top overall pick and selecting hockey prodigy Bedard. If they had won their game against the Bruins, these chances would have been slightly reduced to 7.5%.
However, it was crucial for the Canadiens to lose this game against Boston in order to not surpass the Arizona Coyotes in the NHL standings. If that had happened, the Canadiens' chances of drafting in the top-5 would have dropped from 41.8% to only 15.4%.
"This defeat is therefore very important for the Canadiens, as there is a consensus among several experts that only the top six picks in this draft have exceptional talent, while the available talents decrease significantly after the top 6.
Therefore, with this defeat against Boston, the Montreal Canadiens now have great chances of selecting one of the six exceptional talents in the upcoming draft: Connor Bedard, Adam Fantilli, Matvei Michkov, Leo Carlsson, Will Smith, and Zach Benson.
"Indeed, there is a huge talent gap between the top six picks and the following picks in the draft. In summary, the verdict has been announced: the Montreal Canadiens have obtained an 8.5% chance of obtaining the first overall pick in the 2023 draft.
