The NHL Draft Lottery on April 9 set the order of the first 15 spots, held by teams that missed the playoffs or the playoff teams that own those picks. The New Jersey Devils won the lottery and have the No. 1 pick.
Non-division winning teams eliminated in the first two rounds of the playoffs were seeded in inverse order of regular-season points, followed by the four division winners. The Nashville Predators, the division winner with the fewest points, have the No. 24 pick, followed by the Washington Capitals, Calgary Flames and Tampa Bay Lightning.
The No. 28 pick will go to the Carolina Hurricanes, who lost to the Boston Bruins in the Eastern Conference Final. The No. 29 pick belongs to the Buffalo Sabres, who acquired it from the San Jose Sharks as part of the trade for forward Evander Kane on Feb. 26, 2018. The Hurricanes slot one spot ahead in the draft order because they had two fewer points (99) during the regular season than the Sharks.
The Bruins, who lost the Stanley Cup Final, will pick No. 30, and the No. 31 selection was earned by the Cup champion St. Louis Blues.
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Four teams have multiple first-round picks, including the the Colorado Avalanche, who have the No. 16 pick and own the No. 4 selection, acquired from Ottawa Senators as part of the three-team trade that sent forward Matt Duchene to Ottawa on Nov. 5, 2017.
The Los Angeles Kings have the No. 5 pick and the No. 22 selection, which was obtained in a trade with the Toronto Maple Leafs for defenseman Jake Muzzin on Jan. 28.
The Sabres (No. 7) and Anaheim Ducks (No. 9) also will have two selections, but the Ducks have some control over the second pick for each team.
In addition to San Jose's pick, Buffalo acquired St. Louis' first-round pick as part of the trade for forward Ryan O'Reilly on July 1, 2018.
When the Sabres traded for defenseman Brandon Montour from the Ducks on Feb. 24, they gave the Ducks the option to choose one of the picks acquired from the Sharks or Blues. The Ducks have until the day before the draft to decide which pick they'll take.
