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SALT LAKE CITY — Talk about a mammoth leap.
The Utah Hockey Club got lucky on Monday night. Utah won the second drawing of the NHL Draft Lottery, moving up the maximum 10 spots and will draft No. 4 in next month’s NHL draft.
Utah had the No. 14 pick entering the lottery with just a 1.5% chance of moving up. Those slim odds hit.
"We were in awe — like what just happened to us?" Utah general manager Bill Armstrong siad. "So it’s just an amazing moment. It really hasn’t sunk in, to be honest with you."
The fortuitous lottery draw means Utah has a chance to build on its already impressive list of prospects, and to a team that is on the verge of making the next step.
Armstrong has had success drafting in the top 10 — taking Dylan Gunehter (2021), Logan Cooley (2022), Dmitry Simashev (2023) and Tij Iginla (2024).
Guenther and Cooley have already emerged as young stars and Simashev and Iginla are seen as the team’s top prospects.
And he’s confident that he and his staff will identify another top player to add.
"The year that Cooley was picked, there was a lot of hype about a lot of different players, and we just stuck to our guns and drafted what we thought was the best player in the draft," he said.
Utah is also in a unique position to be at the top of the draft.
The Club has a good mixture of top prospects, young stars, young veterans and was in the playoff hunt until the final weeks of the season.
So, yes, Utah could add to an already impressive list of assets — or it could move the pick for a more NHL-ready player to help right now.
Armstrong knows that Utah will receive some calls to move off the pick, and he’s prepared to listen.
"I think people will try and get into that pick," Armstrong said. "They’ll want to acquire it. They’ll look at our team and say, ‘Listen, this team’s had more picks in the last four years than any other NHL team — can we go in there and give them a good player for exchange for the pick?’
"That’s something that obviously, we’ll always talk about. We’ll never shut that door. That’s always been an avenue for us to get players, and we’re at the position right now as a team where we’re trying to make that next step. So we’ll always look at that. That’s part of the process."
A process that got a little more interesting due to some luck on lottery night.
