The Athletic has live coverage of NHL Draft 2023
If all you are aware of this NHL Draft is that Connor Bedard is a safe bet to be selected No. 1, or if you’re wondering how exactly a generational talent fell into Chicago’s lap, you’ve come to the right place.
Let’s explore the who, when, where and how of the 2023 NHL Draft:
- Who won Round 1 of the 2023 NHL Draft?
- Ranking the best players available for Day 2
Top prospects
It’d be unnatural to talk top prospects without starting with Bedard, the 5-foot-10, 185-pound teenager who plays for the Regina Pats of the Western Hockey League. He’s the guy, and maybe the most promising draft talent of the last decade. Bedard is the hopeful future of the Blackhawks’ rebuild, even amid an above-average class of talent.
Bedard has elite puckhandling, shooting and passing abilities, and can score off his wrist shot nearly anywhere in the offensive zone. He’ll be a lethal addition to any power-play offense. His promise is immense, as he was the best player in the WHL this season at just 17 years old.
GO DEEPERPronman: How does Connor Bedard compare to recent No. 1 NHL Draft picks?For the second time in franchise history, the Blackhawks have the No. 1 pick. They have a small — but proven — track record of using the first selection wisely, grabbing forward Patrick Kane with the No. 1 pick in 2007. With Bedard in the mix, history might repeat itself, and he, too, could play 16 seasons for the Blackhawks and emerge as a leader in Chi-Town like Kane.
Below the Bedard tier sit Michigan forward Adam Fantilli and SKA St. Petersburg forward Matvei Michkov.
Fantilli won the Hobey Baker Award last season, given to the best player in college hockey. He scored 30 goals and recorded 35 assists in 36 games for the Wolverines. His puck skills and body control are exceptional for someone with a 6-foot-2, 195-pound frame.
Michkov projects as a game-breaking elite scoring winger with an unmatched hockey IQ among draft prospects. Drafting Michkov comes with risk, as the 18-year-old is signed with SKA St. Petersburg through the end of the 2025-26 KHL season. With that, issues and hesitations surface around the wait and need to get him signed, but some fan bases are pressing for the high-risk, high-reward move.
Leo Carlsson and William Smith round out The Athletic’s Corey Pronman’s top five prospects.
How many picks are in the NHL Draft?
No need to pop out the calculator. At seven rounds of 32 picks, 224 prospects will get a chance to join the big league this draft cycle.
That number isn’t always definite. The 2022 NHL Draft saw 225 picks named, as the Minnesota Wild received a compensatory second-round pick (which was an additional pick added to the draft order) for not signing their 2018 first-round selection Filip Johansson.
How the 2023 NHL Draft order is determined
Ping-pong balls hold the weight of some NHL clubs’ futures. Fourteen ping-pong balls are placed in a lottery machine and drawn out as each team hopes to hear its four-digit number combination (of the 1,001 different combinations possible). The teams with the worst record are assigned more combinations, so the Ducks — who had a league-low 58 points last season — got the most combinations.
They got 185, to be exact, representing an 18.5 percent chance of winning the first lottery draw.
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Starting in 2021, the NHL dropped the number of lottery draws from three to two, meaning that the team with the worst NHL record would pick no later than third if it lost the first or second lottery draws. The rule change also only allowed a team to move up 10 spots, so if teams slotted Nos. 12-16 won the lottery, they’d move up the corresponding 10 spots, but wouldn’t receive the No. 1 pick. If that happens, the team lowest in the standings moves into the first-pick slot.
Who are the biggest draft steals for each team of the last 20 years?
The second lottery draw follows the rules of the first.
But the Ducks weren’t so lucky, with the Blackhawks winning this year’s first pick.After the Blackhawks and Ducks, who won the second lottery draw, teams were slotted in order of worst regular-season records. After the Ducks, the team with the next lowest winning percentage — the Blue Jackets — assumed the third pick. The Sharks and Canadiens, respectively, round out the top five picks.
The 16 teams who made the playoffs are strategically placed in the back half of the draft order based on playoff performance and regular-season record. The Stanley Cup runner-up is assigned pick 31 and the Stanley Cup champion selects last.
NHL Draft 2023 order
Here’s the full first-round order for the 2023 NHL Draft:
- Chicago Blackhawks
- Anaheim Ducks
- Columbus Blue Jackets
- San Jose Sharks
- Montreal Canadiens
- Arizona Coyotes
- Philadelphia Flyers
- Washington Capitals
- Detroit Red Wings
- St. Louis Blues
- Vancouver Canucks
- Arizona Coyotes (from Ottawa Senators)
- Buffalo Sabres
- Pittsburgh Penguins
- Nashville Predators
- Calgary Flames
- Detroit Red Wings (from New York Islanders via Vancouver Canucks)
- Winnipeg Jets
- Chicago Blackhawks (from Tampa Bay Lightning)
- Seattle Kraken
- Minnesota Wild
- Philadelphia Flyers (from Los Angeles Kings via Columbus Blue Jackets)
- New York Rangers
- Nashville Predators (from Edmonton Oilers)
- St. Louis Blues (from Toronto Maple Leafs)
- San Jose Sharks (from New Jersey Devils)
- Colorado Avalanche
- Toronto Maple Leafs (from Boston Bruins via Washington Capitals)
- St. Louis Blues (from Dallas Stars via New York Rangers)
- Carolina Hurricanes
- Montreal Canadiens (from Florida Panthers)
- Vegas Golden Knights
Rounds 2-7 are in reverse order of the final standings following the playoffs.
One last thing to note: In 2021, the NHL also said a team cannot win the lottery more than twice in a five-year span. So while it’s unlikely, it’s not impossible to pair Bedard with another No. 1 pick next year in Chicago.
How to watch
The NHL Draft begins Wednesday at 7 p.m. ET at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tenn.
In the United States, Round 1 will air on ESPN and be available to stream on ESPN+. Rounds 2-7 kick off the next day and will air on NHL Network and ESPN+ starting at 11 a.m. ET.
The draft will air in Canada on Sportsnet (English) and TVA Sports (French) for the first round on June 28 and the remaining rounds on June 29. It is available to stream live on SN Now.
Required reading
- 2023 NHL Draft consensus big board: After Connor Bedard, which prospects will be selected?
- 2023 NHL Draft class superlatives: Ranking the best skaters, shooters, passers and more
- Pronman: Why NHL Draft prospect Matvei Michkov is worth the risk
- How do NHL teams and their fans feel about drafting Matvei Michkov?
(Photo: Mike Stobe / NHLI via Getty Images)
Lauren Merola is a staff editor on the news/live team. Before joining The Athletic, she covered hockey and football as a staff writer for both the NHL and AthlonSports. Based in New York, Lauren is a double graduate of the University of Southern California. Follow Lauren on Twitter @laurmerola
