Detroit Red Wings

If Red Wings Miss Playoffs, They Need Bedard Lottery Ticket

Published

1 year ago

January 22, 2023

The Detroit Red Wings have a potential outcome this season that would be more disheartening than not qualifying for the NHL playoffs for the seventh consecutive season.

It would be worse to miss the playoffs and not finish low enough to earn a ticket to the Connor Bedard Lottery.

Connor Bedard just refuses to quit as he extends his point streak to 32 games.

He has 38 goals and 80 points over that span. 2.50 points-per-game.

Nuts. pic.twitter.com/TzYFVxQR9E

— /Cam Robinson/ (@Hockey_Robinson) January 22, 2023

The chances of the Red Wings winning Bedard would be remote — and all Red Wings fans understand that Steve Yzerman has no luck when it comes to the lottery. But even a three or five percent chance provides some hope.

There’s a higher level of excitement about Bedard than we saw last season about the high end guys. Scouts seem to believe he is a generational player.

“I would stay the one word that sums him up is ‘dangerous,'” said USA Hockey’s national teams director John Vanbiesbrouck, a former NHL goalie. “If you are a goalie, you have to know where he is on the ice. If you are a defenseman, you have to know where he is on the ice. As a coach, you have to create a plan around him. That’s a pretty high-level player when you have to craft a game plan around him.”

Vanbiesbrouck added: “Everytime (Bedard) has the puck he has a chance of doing something special. ”

Plus, if you get into the Bedard lottery, it means you will be picking in the upper half of the draft, even if you don’t win the draft.

Red Wings: Remote Bedard Shot

At this point, Detroit fans would rather be in the playoffs. But if you are going to miss the playoffs, you don’t want to finish with the 12th-worst record. Under the current lottery rules, a team can now only move up 10 spots if it wins the lottery. That means you have to finish with no better than the 11th-worst record if you want a shot at No. 1.

As of the morning, the Red Wings, based on points, have the ninth-worst record. If we use winning percentage, the Flyers’ have the ninth-worst record and Detroit would be 10th from the bottom. The Flyers have one more point, but Detroit has two games in hand.

Tankathon has Detroit this morning 10th from the bottom, giving the Red Wings a 3.5% chance of picking 1st, a 3.8% of picking second, a 73.3% chance of drafting 10th, an 18.4% chance of picking 11th and a 0.9% chance of picking 12th.

Montreal Hockey Now recently unveiled a 2023 NHL mock draft, and it has the Red Wings picking No. 10 and taking dynamic left wing scorer Andrew Cristall. He’s only 5-foot-10, 170 pounds, but he has 25 goals and 62 points in 36 games for the Western Hockey League’s Kelowna Rockets.

Oh lord, Andrew Cristall just picking corners out here.

Make it 24 goals and 60 points in 34 games. He's now just 4 points back of Connor Bedard for tops in the WHL pic.twitter.com/5Z7c85xfg3

— /Cam Robinson/ (@Hockey_Robinson) January 4, 2023

Draft analyst Russ Cohen of sportsology.com, who provides draft content for Sirius Radio, said Team USA player Oliver Moore could be a player the Red Wings might consider around the No. 10 spot. He draws some comparisons to Dylan Larkin.

“Oliver Moore is really emerging, with his speed,” Vanbiesbrouck said. “The way he drives the net is the way the NHL is made today.”