I’m entering tomorrow’s draft lottery with a very different mindset than the one I had just 12 months prior.
For one, the Senators are entering with the tenth best odds — 4.5% chance at first overall — instead of the second and third best odds last year. Secondly, there are less disastrous outcomes. I don’t see a big difference between picking 10th and 12th in this year’s class, and vaunted rivals Montréal and Toronto also don’t have their hands in the cookie jar. Finally, the draft lottery has changed in hopes of bettering the odds of the league’s bottom-feeders actually receiving a top-three pick.