The NHL will hold the Draft Lottery on April 29, with the results announced during coverage of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
Drawings will be held for the top three selections.
The Colorado Avalanche hold the greatest odds to win the first overall pick after finishing last place with 48 points:
Team
Odds
Avalanche
18.0%
Canucks
12.1%
Golden Knights
10.3%
Coyotes
10.3%
Devils
8.5%
Sabres
7.6%
Red Wings
6.7%
Stars
5.8%
Panthers
5.4%
Kings
4.5%
Hurricanes
3.2%
Jets
2.7%
Flyers
2.2%
Lightning
1.8%
Islanders
0.9%
The expansion Vegas Golden Knights will enter the lottery holding the same odds as the third-worst club, the Arizona Coyotes.
The team who wins the top spot will have the right to make the first pick in the draft. Earlier Tuesday, NHL Central Scouting released its final rankings for the draft.
Brandon Wheat Kings center Nolan Patrick was ranked as the top available player, followed by Halifax forward Nico Hischier.
Patrick had an injury-riddled season with the Wheat Kings, but still finished with 46 points in 33 games. Hischier appeared in 57 games with the Mooseheads, tallying 38 goals and 48 assists.
The Los Angeles Kings made a major shakeup Monday, firing general manager Dean Lombardi and head coach Darryl Sutter after they failed to qualify for the playoffs for the second time in three seasons.
The dismissals came after Lombardi and Sutter led the Kings to Stanley Cup wins in 2012 and 2014. Assistant GM Rob Blake will replace Lombardi, while the team will begin the search for its next head coach.
"We are all grateful for what Dean and Darryl did for the organization. We are all forever indebted to them," AEG president Dan Beckerman told Helene Elliott of the Los Angeles Times on Tuesday.
Beckerman noted that the change was made in order to move the organization forward.
"This business is about success and we have not met our goals the last three years," Beckerman added. "We need to be competing for championships every year."
The shakeup also saw Luc Robitaille named as president of hockey operations. He was previously charged with the top job on the business side of the operations.
"We believe this team has the core in place to compete for the Stanley Cup," Robitaille said on Tuesday. "It's about creating an expectation that when you wear the Kings jersey, it represents something special."
Robitaille appeared in 1,077 games with the Kings between 1986 and 2006. He sits second all-time in franchise scoring with 1,154 points, behind only Marcel Dionne.
Whether the organization makes more changes remains unknown, with Blake noting the team has not yet made a decision on assistant coaches John Stevens and Davis Payne.
The team will also have a decision to make on Mike Futa, the vice-president of hockey operations. Futa is seen as a rising executive whose name has circulated open GM spots in recent seasons.
"Mike has been tremendous and we're going to sit with him over the next couple days," Blake said. "I'm going to lean on him."
One change will seemingly come to the team's offensive ranks, as Blake noted, "We don't score. There needs to be some emphasis on how to do that."
Only two Kings skaters finished north of the 20-goal plateau this season - Jeff Carter at 32 and Tanner Pearson with 24 tallies. League wide, Los Angeles finished sixth-worst in goal production, scoring just 201 times over 82 games.
Red Wings general manager Ken Holland announced Tuesday that Tatar will need the next four-to-six months to rehab following the procedure, according to Ted Kulfan of The Detroit News.
That timeline should have him ready for Red Wings training camp in the fall. Detroit will not compete in this year's playoffs after missing the postseason for the first time since 1990.
Tatar appeared in all 82 games this season, leading the team with 25 goals.
Tampa Bay Lightning bench boss Jon Cooper has been chosen to lead Team Canada at the upcoming World Championship, Hockey Canada announced Tuesday.
Philadelphia Flyers coach Dave Hakstol and former Florida Panthers coach Gerald Gallant were named assistants, alongside veteran bench boss Dave King. King was an associate coach with Canada at the 2016 Spengler Cup and last appeared behind an NHL bench in 2011 with the Arizona Coyotes.
"Canada has tremendous depth in both its player and coaching pool, and we are fortunate to welcome a blend of experience and new faces to our program for this year's IIHF World Championship," Hockey Canada president Tom Renney said in a statement.
Earlier this month, the Flyers' Ron Hextall was chosen as the general manager for Team Canada.
Canada's first game of the tournament comes May 5 against the Czech Republic.
It was a step in the right direction for Joe Thornton on Tuesday.
After practice, Thornton said he was confident he'd be ready to play in Wednesday's playoff opener against the Edmonton Oilers, but added he was still day to day with a lower-body injury.
Thornton missed the club's final three regular-season games after being forced from April 2's contest against the Vancouver Canucks.
The 37-year-old saw a dramatic dip in production this season. After posting 19 goals and 82 points last season, he managed just seven and 50, respectively. Nevertheless, Thornton and his 156 career playoff games will be relied on heavily if the team is to make another run at a Stanley Cup.
Luongo is coming off a season in which he posted a .915 save percentage and a 2.68 goals-against average. The GAA was his highest since 2005-06 - his last season in his first stint with Florida.
Despite his pedigree, it's possible the Panthers could expose him in the expansion draft in order to protect James Reimer. Given his $4.53-million cap hit through 2021-22 (his age 42 season), the Vegas Golden Knights may opt to pass on him if he does wind up getting exposed.
Filakov added that Luongo admitted he was concerned his hip injury - which held him out of action for the last 19 games of the regular season - could be chronic, but is also confident he can return to his elite self next year.
Both Larkin and Mrazek endured rough seasons in 2016-17 after showing great promise the year prior.
Larkin's point total fell from 45 to 32 and his plus/minus dipped from plus-11 to minus-28. Despite his sophomore slump, his electric speed will create mismatches for opponents on the big ice. He will attempt to help the United Sates end a World Championship gold medal drought that dates back to 1960.
After posting a .921 save percentage and a 2.33 goals-against average in 2015-16, Mrazek looked like he was poised to take the reins as Detroit's starting goaltender, but was outplayed by veteran Jimmy Howard all season long.
Of course, it's an accurate assessment. The club finished tied for the third-worst record in the NHL, ranking 28th in goals for and 25th in goals-against per game, certainly not a recipe for success.
As for Hall, his numbers were down slightly from the previous season, though he still finished tied for the team lead with 53 points in 72 games.
The Pacific Division's second-seeded Edmonton Oilers take on the Pacific's third-seeded San Jose Sharks in a classic battle of youth versus experience. It will also mark Oilers head coach Todd McLellan facing his former team.
The Oilers are in the playoffs for the first time since they lost the Stanley Cup Final in 2005-06. Outside of Milan Lucic, the roster has very little postseason experience. The Oilers won the season series 3-2, taking the final three games.
The Sharks will be looking to head back to the Stanley Cup Final after losing in the dance to Pittsburgh last season. The Sharks faded down the stretch, going 4-9 in the final 13 games. The roster is littered with postseason experience.
Players to watch
Oilers: Cam Talbot
Everyone will be watching Connor McDavid in this series, regardless of whether he's the player to watch.
Talbot provided the Oilers with stable goaltending for the first time since Dwayne Roloson did more than a decade ago. He was fantastic, actually, posting a 2.39 goals-against average and a .919 save percentage and leading the league with 42 wins. The concern with Talbot is that he played a league-high 73 games this year - seven more than the next goalie.
In fact, since the 2007-08 season there have only 25 instances in which a goaltender played 70-plus regular-season games. In only five of those instances did the goalie's team make it past the first round of the playoffs. Four of those teams were eliminated in Round 2. The fifth team was eliminated in the Conference Finals.
It will be interesting to see if Talbot can avoid fatigue in the early going.
Sharks: Logan Couture
Couture will have the toughest task of any player in the series: shutting down McDavid.
It's nearly impossible to actually shut down the league's most electrifying player, but if Couture is able to at least contain McDavid, the Sharks have a great chance at winning the series.
During the regular season, McDavid tallied four goals and four assists in five games against the Sharks. However, Couture wasn't present for the final two meetings, where McDavid picked two points in each contest.
Still, four points in three games is far from shutting down McDavid. He will have to be better if the Sharks are going to come out on top.
Weakest links
Oilers: Scoring depth
McDavid scored or got an assist on 41 percent of Edmonton's goals this year, while Leon Draisaitl was in on 31.6 percent of Edmonton's goals. If Edmonton is going to win this series, the second line of left winger Lucic, center Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, and right winger Jordan Eberle is going to have to produce.
This trio combined for a modest 144 points this season - not bad for a second line - but they will need to provide secondary scoring to take the burden (somewhat) off McDavid's shoulders.
Sharks: Speed
As mentioned, the Sharks are a veteran team. Five of their top six point producers are over the age of 30, including Joe Thornton, 37, Patrick Marleau, 37, and Joel Ward, 36. Even on the back end, Paul Martin is 35.
As is the case with older teams, the Sharks aren't the quickest bunch. The speed of the Oilers, specifically McDavid, could prove to be a handful.
Prediction
McDavid and the Oilers will prove to be too much to handle for the aging Sharks. The more pressure they have on the Sharks in the offensive zone, the more penalties they will draw. This is a recipe for success considering they own the league's fifth-best power play.
Furthermore, not only are the Sharks getting up there in age, but they are also banged up. Both of Joe Thornton's legs will need to be broken to keep him out of action, but it doesn't appear he'll be at 100 percent - or even close to it - thanks to a lower-body injury. He missed the last three games of the regular season.
In addition to Thornton, the aforementioned Couture is dealing with a mouth injury. Those are two very key players for San Jose and both are listed as day-to-day.
San Jose's experience should help them win at least a couple games, but Edmonton should be able to take this one in six games.
There are currently five head coaching vacancies in the NHL. The following list ranks each vacancy from most attractive to least attractive. The criteria is largely made up of the talent and age of the roster, but management stability and location were also factored in.
Top dog: Florida Panthers
The Panthers have two things every coach covets: A true No. 1 center and a franchise defenseman. Aleksander Barkov and Aaron Ekblad are legitimate organization cornerstones - and they're both just 21 years old.
There is some work to be done on the back end behind Ekblad, and there are question marks between the pipes with the aging Roberto Luongo and his massive contract, but the young core will be appetizing enough for any head coach.
In addition to the roster, Dale Tallon was just reinstated as the club's general manager. Knowing there won't be turnover in the front office anytime soon is a big deal when it comes to recruiting a coach. Oh, and who wouldn't want to live in sunny Florida, where there is very little market pressure?
(Photo courtesy: Action Images)
Second fiddle: Dallas Stars
The dynamic duo of Tyler Seguin and Jamie Benn makes the Stars gig a very appealing one. Few teams ice such a prolific offensive tandem.
There is a glaring weakness between the pipes, but both Kari Lehtonen and Antti Niemi will come off the books after the 2017-18 season.
(Photo courtesy: Getty Images)
Middle of the pack: Los Angeles Kings
Any coach would be thrilled to coach one of the best defenseman in the game, Drew Doughty, who is still just 27. That will be the major selling point for coaches considering the Kings' gig.
In addition to Doughty, the Kings have what many would consider two first-line caliber centers in Jeff Carter and Anze Kopitar, though the latter certainly didn't play like one this past season.
Even though Jonathan Quick is on the wrong side of 30, he is still one of the best goaltenders in the NHL.
On the negative side, the team is on the hook for some very bad contracts. Rob Blake in charge as the new GM indicates stability for the head coach, but it also means a rebuild could be on the horizon.
(Photo courtesy: Getty Images)
Bad, but not the worst: Vancouver Canucks
The Canucks have been in semi-rebuilding mode for a few years now. They do have some young talent on the roster, but nothing earth-shattering. Bo Horvat is a nice player, but he doesn't project to be the type of center you can build your entire team around.
The club's best prospect is goaltender Thatcher Demko, who should be NHL-ready within the next few seasons.
One of the negatives of taking the Vancouver job is dealing with media pressure in a hockey-crazed market. It's not Toronto- or Montreal-type crazy, but it's up there.
(Photo courtesy: @SinBinVegas/Twitter)
Last and definitely least: Vegas Golden Knights
The least appealing has to be the Golden Knights. Coaching an expansion team is never easy. With the exception of Jacques Lemaire in Minnesota, most inaugural head coaches of expansion teams don't last more than three or four seasons.
Vegas can be a great city to live in for the right person, but's hard to take a job with an organization whose only current player is Reid Duke.
