This story originally appeared in The Hockey News vol. 57, issue 33, on Apr 20, 2004.
BY THE HOCKEY NEWS
The Capitals scored their biggest win of the season in Game No. 83.
Washington won the Alexander Ovechkin sweep stakes April 6 by virtue of a fortunate drawing in the NHL draft lottery. Finishing with the NHL’s third-worst record, the Capitals had just a 14.2 per cent chance to win the lottery, while heavily favored Pittsburgh, had a 48.2 per cent chance.
“If you’re not going to be in the playoffs, you’d like to pick as high as possible,” said Ross Mahoney, Washington’s director of amateur scouting. “You’d like to pick the best player you can get.”
That player is sure to be 6-foot-2, 205-pound left winger Ovechkin. The 18-year-old has been playing with Dynamo in Russia’s top league for two seasons and is an outstanding two-way player with exceptional offensive skills. Scouts say he is a can’t-miss superstar.
The Caps have three picks in the first round (in trades via Detroit and Boston).
“We just feel in some way we were rewarded for the difficult task we undertook this year,” said Washington GM George McPhee. “We hope today is the first day in a new era for the Capitals.”
The Penguins are bumped back to second pick, then move back to first pick in each successive round.
Losing the top pick when the Pens had by far the best chance to win is a huge blow to an organization that had to be hoping Ovechkin could do for it what Mario Lemieux did 20 years earlier.
Pens GM Craig Patrick was on a scouting trip, but in a statement said he was “thrilled to have the second pick in the draft.”
Said coach Ed Olczyk: “You have to be a little lucky. And Washington was lucky with the percentage they had going in.”
The 2004 NHL entry draft is June 26 in Raleigh, N.C.
2004 NHL DRAFT ORDER OF SELECTION
By winning the draft lottery, Washington gets first pick at the 2004 entry draft in Raleigh, June 26-27. The draft order below is tentative. The actual order in each round will not be set until after the playoffs, when the Cup winner slips into the No. 30 slot preceded by division winners (denoted with an asterisk) with the most regular season points. First pick in each round after the first reverts back to Pittsburgh (1) followed by Chicago (2) and Washington (3).
1. Washington (3)
2. Pittsburgh (1)
3. Chicago (2)
4. Columbus
5. Phoenix
6. NY Rangers
7. Florida
8. Carolina
9. Anaheim
10. Atlanta
11. Los Angeles
12. Minnesota
13. Buffalo
14. Edmonton
15. Nashville
16. NY Islanders
17. St. Louis
18. Montreal
19. Calgary
20. Dallas
21. Colorado
22. New Jersey
23. Ottawa
24. Toronto
25. Philadelphia*
26. Vancouver*
27. Boston*
28. San Jose*
29. Tampa Bay*
30. Detroit*
