The NHL released the actual lottery draft video, because everybody always manipulates the highest number as if it was the last drawn. You need the actual number draw to calculate the final odds. There were 11 possible combos left after the first 3 numbers were drawn: 5-13-4. 3 teams had 2 of the remaining numbers (Anaheim, Chicago, San Jose), 5 teams had a singleton. Nashville had a combo, which would have led them to 5th, with Anaheim picking first, so Anaheim had a 27% chance of picking first, Chicago and San Jose 18%, and the other 4 teams with 9% were Arizona, St Louis, Columbus, and Washington. If the final number was 3 instead of 9, the Capitals win. [Refreshed before I posted and ovikovy just wrote out the same thing.]
Also, because I wanted to do the math, there are 66 possible combinations left available after 5-13 are the first two numbers.
Team | Combos | Odds | Predraft Odds |
ANA | 9 | 13.64/16.66% | 18.5 |
CBJ | 6 | 9.09% | 13.5 |
CHI | 7 | 10.61% | 11.5 |
SJS | 12 | 18.18% | 9.5 |
MTL | 3 | 4.55% | 8.5 |
ARI | 7 | 10.61% | 7.5 |
PHL | 4 | 6.06% | 6.5 |
WASH | 6 | 9.09% | 6 |
DET | 3 | 4.55% | 5 |
STL | 5 | 7.58% | 3.5 |
VAN | 2 | 3.03% | 3 |
OTT | 1 | | |
NSH | 1 | | |
Those were the actual odds for the 1st pick after 2 draws. Ottawa and Nashville could not jump to 1st overall, thus Anaheim gets 2 further wins, increasing their odds from 13 to 16%.