George Richards, FHN Publisher
The Florida Panthers were not successful in their bid to three-peat as Stanley Cup champions this season, but a victory tonight in the NHL Draft Lottery would at least make missing the playoffs a lot more palatable.
The Panthers, by virtue of finishing the season with the NHL’s eighth-lowest point total, were able to keep the first-round pick they sent to the Chicago Blackhawks in the Spencer Knight/Seth Jones deal last March.
That first-round pick was top-10 protected. Because only the top two picks in the 2026 NHL Draft can be claimed in tonight’s lottery (7 p.m.; ESPN), the Panthers can only fall down to No. 10.
Of course, they are hoping to move on up — first would be amazing, but second would be mighty fine as well.
Vancouver has the best odds to win the lottery at 18.5 percent, followed by the Blackhawks (13.5) and Rangers (11.5). The Panthers are at 6 percent.
This is a pretty deep draft by all accounts, and picking in the top 2 would give the Panthers not only a high-end prospect, but perhaps a player who immediately steps onto a team with Stanley Cup aspirations.
That would be a rarity.
Since the advent of the draft lottery, no team has gone from the Stanley Cup Final in one season to one of the top picks in the next.
The Panthers feel this past season was a blip on their championship radar so, being able to keep their first-round pick at a time when they had already traded away their next two feels like an absolute gift.
Now, the Panthers have won the draft lottery in the past — but they looked nothing like the kind of team they have now.
Not even in the same hemisphere.
The Panthers have only picked first in the NHL draft twice in their history: 1994 when they took Ed Jovanovski and then again in 2014 when they took another strapping defenseman from Windsor, Ont., named Aaron Ekblad.
The Jovanovski pick was not lottery aided; Florida was given the first overall pick for its second draft as part of the expansion agreement. The lottery actually did not start until 1995.
For Ekblad, the Panthers moved up from second to first.
Florida also won the draft lottery in back-to-back years in 2002 and 2003.
Then-general manager Rick Dudley made two moves those years — trading the top pick both times.
In 2002, the Panthers had a choice of Rick Nash, Jay Bouwmeester, or Kari Lehtonen.
Dudley traded the top pick to former Panthers coach and then-Blue Jackets GM Doug MacLean; Florida got Columbus’ third-overall pick. The Jackets wanted Nash — who became the team’s captain and currently works for the team’s front office.
The Panthers wanted Bouwmeester and, to make sure Atlanta didn’t take him at No. 2, Dudley sent a third and a fourth-round pick to the Thrashers to insure they would not take Bouwmeester.
“We got the guy we wanted, and that’s all we cared about,’’ Dudley said at the time. “We wanted Bouwmeester.”
Bouwmeester had his heart set on being the No. 1 overall draft pick and seemingly never forgave the Panthers for dropping down to No. 3. He left the team the minute he could, the Panthers trading his rights to Calgary just before he could bolt as a free agent.
The next year, the Panthers won the lottery again — and Dudley traded it, again.
In 2003, Florida sent the No. 1 pick to Pittsburgh in exchange for the No. 3 pick and 26-year-old forward Mikael Samuelsson as part of the deal. The 26-year-old Samuelsson had 24 points in 80 games with the Penguins and New York Rangers last season.
The top-rated player in that draft was goalie Marc-Andre Fleury and, because the Panthers had Roberto Luongo, they were not looking for another.
The problem was, Paul Maurice’s Carolina Hurricanes had the No. 2 pick. It went with the top-rated forward in the draft, one Eric Staal.
Florida went with Nathan Horton, then traded back into the first round to get Anthony Stewart at No. 25.
Staal, of course, quickly became captain of the Hurricanes and led them to the 2006 Stanley Cup. He did eventually play with the Panthers during the 2022-23 season.
Horton was traded to Boston by Dale Tallon in 2010, won the Cup that season with the Bruins, and retired after signing with the Blue Jackets due to back issues.
“That’s the guy we wanted,’’ Dudley said of Horton, who averaged 24 goals per season while with the Panthers. “We’d like to have 23 players like him. He’s a guy who skates very well, that can score and adds some bite to his game, so he’s kind of a perfect complement for what you’re looking for in an NHL player.’’
What the Panthers did not know in 2002 and 2003 was that the NHL was going to shut down for the entirety of the 2004-05 season.
When it came back in 2005, it held a draft lottery for the right to pick Sidney Crosby first overall. The NHL used a weighted lottery which was based on previous seasons. Teams that had not made the playoffs or previously won the lottery got three balls or a 6 percent chance to win.
Because the Panthers won the lottery twice before — even though they never used the pick — they only got one ball in the lottery which gave them a 2 percent chance.
The Penguins won the Crosby Sweepstakes, of course. The Panthers originally were to pick No. 29 in that draft, but made a deal with the Flyers to move up to 20th to select Kenndal McArdle.
Dudley was replaced in Florida by Mike Keenan in 2004, but returned to the Panthers in 2020 and is a trusted advisor to Bill Zito.
He seems to know how to win the draft lottery.
ON DECK: FLORIDA PANTHERS OFFSEASON
- NHL Draft Lottery: Tonight, 7 p.m. (ESPN); Secaucus, NJ
- NHL Draft: June 26-27; KeyBank Center, Buffalo
- NHL Free Agency: Opens July 1
- Panthers Development Camp: Late June/Early July; IcePlex, Fort Lauderdale
- Panthers Rookie Camp/Tournament: Late August/Early Sept.; Site TBA
- Panthers Training Camp: Early/Mid September; Fort Lauderdale
- 2026-27 NHL Season Opens: Late September; Site, Opponent TBA