Buffalo Sabres Looking for a Miracle in the NHL Draft Lottery

After twice losing out on the first overall draft pick as the league’s worst team, the Buffalo Sabres now find themselves in a different position, hoping to steal the coveted top spot.

Mention the NHL draft lottery around a Buffalo Sabres fan and it’s likely to be met by a groan. Bring up Connor McDavid and those groans will probably get louder.

For two consecutive years — in 2014 and 2015 — the Sabres finished with the worst record in the NHL. Unfortunately for the franchise, both times they missed out on the top pick in the draft and had to settle for second place.

(I can still picture Sabres’ former general manager Tim Murray visibly pouting, after missing out on McDavid. No matter how good Jack Eichel‘s professional career is, he will likely never reach the same level as the Edmonton Oilers’ young superstar.)

The Sabres and their fans must curse the day the NHL decided to introduce the draft lottery. Even more so in 2013, when the limit of moving up no more than four spots in the draft order was removed.

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However, the Sabres now find themselves in a position where they could take advantage of the current setup. Entering Saturday night’s Draft Lottery in Toronto, they will hope to move up from their current position of sixth overall.

The question is, how likely is this to happen? More specifically, how like are the Sabres to effectively steal the first overall pick in this year’s draft, which will be held in June, at the United Center in Chicago?

As reported by WGR 550‘s Paul Hamilton, the Sabres have a 7.6 percent chance of moving up to first. For perspective, the Colorado Avalanche — who had the league’s worst record this season — have the best chance, at 18.0 percent.

This is followed by the Vancouver Canucks, at 12.1 percent. Next is the NHL’s expansion franchise, the Las Vegas Golden Knights, at 10.3 percent.

Even if the Sabres don’t move up to first overall, they still have a 7.8 percent chance at second and 8.0 percent opportunity at third. As noted by Hamilton, they cannot draft fourth or fifth overall.

Of course, if you’re a Buffalo sports fan, the chances are you are fearing the worst. And with good reason, after all the bad luck the Sabres (and Bills) have suffered over the years.

In that respect, the odds are the Sabres will end up staying sixth, or moving to the seventh or eighth spot. The chances of this happening are 14.3, 38.2 and 21.4 percent respectively.

However, if you really want to consider the worst, there’s also a possibility the Sabres could drop down to ninth overall. There’s only a 2.6 percent chance of this happening, although Western New York sports fans wouldn’t be surprised if this is how things did pan out.

Overall, Sabres fans will hope for the best, while fearing the worst. We’ll find out for sure, some time shortly after 8:00 pm ET.

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As a Sabres fan, do you have any hope of grabbing the top pick, or have you already resigned yourself to the team once again missing out? Further, what is your take on the draft lottery setup in general? Share your thoughts in the comments section.