The Columbus Blue Jackets will hold the fourth overall pick at the 2024 National Hockey League Draft to be held from June 28-29 at The Sphere in Las Vegas, Nevada. The club’s draft position was determined by tonight’s NHL Draft Lottery. The San Jose Sharks won the initial drawing and will have the first overall pick, while the Chicago Blackhawks won the subsequent drawing and will select second overall.
The final results of tonight’s draft lottery: 1 – San Jose Sharks; 2 – Chicago Blackhawks; 3 – Anaheim Ducks; 4 –COLUMBUS BLUE JACKETS; 5 – Montreal Canadiens; 6 – Utah (formerly Arizona); 7 – Ottawa Senators; 8 – Seattle Kraken; 9 – Calgary Flames; 10 – New Jersey Devils; 11 – Buffalo Sabres; 12 – Philadelphia Flyers; 13 – Minnesota Wild; 14 – San Jose (from Pittsburgh Penguins); 15 – Detroit Red Wings; 16 – St. Louis Blues. The remaining draft positions will be determined at the conclusion of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
“This year’s draft class appears to be very good and while we would have loved to have won the lottery and the first overall pick, there are going to be exciting players available when we do make our selection,” said Blue Jackets President of Hockey Operations John Davidson. “Our scouts have done a great job all year. We will continue to do our work and be ready to add a very good player to an exceptional group of young players and prospects currently in our organization as we build towards a bright future.”
The Blue Jackets currently hold seven picks in the 2024 NHL Draft. Columbus holds its own pick in each of the first six rounds along with the Los Angeles Kings’ third-round selection acquired as part of a trade on Mar. 1, 2023. The club’s second-round selection is a conditional 2024 or 2025 pick as part of a three-team trade involving the Kings and Philadelphia Flyers on June 6, 2023.
The NHL Draft Lottery is a weighted lottery system that determines the order of selection for the first 16 picks of the Draft with the lottery assigning the top two slots in the first round of the NHL Draft for the fourth-straight year. Two draws were held with the first drawing determining the club selecting first overall and the second drawing determining the team selecting second. A team could only move up 10 selections if it won one of the draws. Clubs that did not qualify for this season’s Stanley Cup Playoffs participated in the lottery.
Under the lottery system, the Blue Jackets had the fourth-highest chance (9.5 pct.) of winning the first lottery. The percentage chance of being selected in the 2024 NHL Draft Lottery was as follows: San Jose (18.5 pct.), Chicago (13.5 pct.), Anaheim (11.5 pct.), COLUMBUS (9.5 pct.), Montreal (8.5 pct.), Utah/formerly Arizona (7.5 pct.), Ottawa (6.5 pct.), Seattle (6.0 pct.), Calgary (5.0 pct.), New Jersey (3.5 pct.), Buffalo (3.0 pct.), Philadelphia (2.5 pct.), Minnesota (2.0 pct.), Pittsburgh (1.5 pct.), Detroit (0.5 pct.) and St. Louis (0.5 pct.).
NHL Central Scouting’s 2024 Draft Prospect Rankings have center Macklin Celebrini of Boston University (Hockey East, NCAA) as the top North American Skater, followed by Michigan State University (Big 10, NCAA) defenseman Artyom Levshunov and Medicine Hat (WHL) center Cayden Lindstrom. Defenseman Anton Silayev of Nizhny Novgorod (KHL, Russia) finished as the top-ranked international skater, followed by SKA St. Petersburg Jr. (MHL, Russia) right wing Ivan Demidov and Jukurit (Liiga, Finland) center Konsta Helenius. The complete rankings can be found at https://www.nhl.com/draft/prospects/2024/.
Blue Jackets Draft Lottery History
2000: Lost expansion team coin flip with Minnesota (No. 3 pick) to earn No. 4 overall pick in 2000 Entry Draft.
2001: Entered in No. 8 position and earned No. 8 pick. Atlanta (No. 3) won Drawing and No. 1 overall pick.
2002: Entered in No. 2 position and earned No. 3 pick. Florida (No. 3) won Drawing and No. 1 overall pick.*
2003: Entered in No. 3 position and earned No. 4 pick. Florida (No. 4) won Drawing and No. 1 overall pick.
2004: Entered in No. 4 position and earned No. 4 pick. Washington (No. 3) won Drawing and No. 1 overall pick.
2005: No Drawing due to cancellation of 2004-05 season.
2006: Entered in No. 6 position and earned No. 6 pick. St. Louis (No. 1) won Drawing and No. 1 overall pick.
2007: Entered in No. 7 position and earned No. 7 pick. Chicago (No. 5) won Drawing and No. 1 overall pick.
2008: Entered in No. 6 position and earned No. 6 pick. Tampa Bay (No. 1) won Drawing and No. 1 overall pick.
2009: Not eligible for Drawing. NY Islanders (No. 1) won Drawing and No. 1 overall pick.
2010: Entered in No. 4 position and earned No. 4 pick. Edmonton (No. 1) won Drawing and No. 1 overall pick.
2011: Entered in No. 7 position and earned No. 8 pick. New Jersey (No. 8) won Drawing and No. 4 overall pick.
2012: Entered in No. 1 position and earned No. 2 pick. Edmonton (No. 2) won Drawing and No. 1 overall pick.
2013: Entered in No. 14 position and earned No. 14 pick. Colorado (No. 2) won Drawing and No. 1 overall pick.
2014 Not eligible for Drawing. Florida (No. 2) won Drawing and No. 1 overall pick.
2015: Entered in No. 8 position and earned No. 8 pick. Edmonton (No. 3) won Drawing and No. 1 overall pick.
2016: Entered in No. 4 position and earned No. 3 pick. Toronto (No. 1) won First Drawing and No. 1 overall pick.
2017: Not eligible for Drawing. New Jersey (No. 5) won First Drawing and No. 1 overall pick.
2018: Not eligible for Drawing. Buffalo (No. 1) won First Drawing and No. 1 overall pick.
2019: Not eligible for Drawing. New Jersey (No. 3) won First Drawing and No. 1 overall pick.
2020: Not eligible for Drawing. New York Rangers won Second Phase and No. 1 overall pick.
2021 Entered in No. 5 position and earned No. 5 pick. Buffalo (No. 1) won First Drawing and No. 1 overall pick.
2022: Entered in No. 12 position and earned No. 12 pick. Montreal (No. 1) won First Drawing and No. 1 overall pick.
^Entered in No. 6 position (Chicago) and earned No. 6 pick.
2023: Entered in No. 2 position and earned No. 3 pick.Chicago (No. 3) won First Drawing and No. 1 overall pick.
2024: Entered in No. 4 position and earned No. 4 pick. San Jose (No. 1) won First Drawing and No. 1 overall pick.
(*pick acquired by Columbus, which selected Rick Nash No. 1 overall)
(^conditional pick acquired by Columbus in trade with Chicago on July 23, 2021)
