“With the 1st overall pick in the 2026 NHL Draft, the Seattle Kraken select…”
Kraken fans are dreaming of hearing those words at the Draft on June 26 in Buffalo, when the top pick could be used on a franchise-altering youngster like Penn State forward Gavin McKenna.
To make that dream a reality, Seattle has to win Tuesday’s NHL Draft Lottery (4 pm Pacific time, ESPN). We know the 75 combinations of four numbered ping-pong balls – out of 1,001 possibilities – that would land a potential superstar. We’ve shared those winning combos below.
You Gotta Play (Badly) To Win
Jewels selected by past lottery winners include Sidney Crosby by Pittsburgh in 2005, Connor McDavid by Edmonton in 2015, and Connor Bedard by Chicago in 2023. Throughout the hockey pundit-verse, the consensus is that the Kraken must somehow acquire their own “generational talent” to rise from the ranks of also-rans.
The first of two draws will determine the team selecting first overall. The second draw of 14 numbered balls determines who picks second. The worse a club’s record last season, the better their lottery odds. That’s why the Vancouver Canucks have the best chance of having one of their four-number sequences selected. As 6th worst, the Kraken have a 7.5% chance.
Kraken Odds About 1-In-13
Two other details: (1) Teams can only move up a maximum of 10 spots. (2) The lottery only affects draft order for non-playoff teams in the 1st round. For rounds 2-7, teams are slotted in reverse order of their finish in the standings.
30 Years Of Anti-Tank Measures
The draft lottery has undergone continual tweaking since its introduction in 1995 as a way to disincentivize “tanking.” Some of the major changes, as detailed by EliteProspects.com:
- 1995-2015: Any non-playoff team could win the No. 1 pick; only one draw was held.
- 2016: The system expanded to include three draws, meaning the top three picks were all decided by the lottery.
- 2021: The current system was introduced, limiting teams to moving up 10 spots and preventing them from winning the lottery more than twice in five years.
The tinfoil hat-wearing conspiracy crowd has often cast a suspicious eye on the lottery. How else could the financially ailing Penguins move up to grab Crosby? How else could a major-market, original six club like the Blackhawks move up to select Bedard?
For the record, Chicago and the New York Rangers are the two franchises which have advanced the most spots in the three decades of the lottery (a cumulative 16 spots apiece). The Canucks (-8), Detroit Red Wings and Ottawa Senators (each -9) have been the unluckiest lottery participants.
In their five seasons, Seattle has experienced mixed lottery outcomes. They rose one spot to 2nd in 2021 when they ultimately selected Matty Beniers. They fell one spot to 4th in 2022, picking Shane Wright. The Kraken in 2024-25 finished with the 6th-worst record, but the lottery results pushed them down to the 8th pick, which they used on Jake O’Brien.
So You’re Saying There’s A Chance
Enough setup. Here are the number combos the Kraken hope to hear tonight.
How to read the chart below: Let’s say the first ping-pong ball shows the number 1. Then the Kraken are still in the running for the 1st overall pick as long as the second ball contains the numbers 2-9. In our example, let’s say the second ball has the number 5.
The Kraken then have two ways to win – if the third ball is a 6 an the fourth a 12, or if the third and fourth balls come up 8 and 9. For instance, a 1-5-6-12 combo would create a cheer from general manager Jason Botterill’s office that you could hear in Walla Walla.
Of course, if the Kraken do win the lottery, they have the option of taking their draft pick in one lump sum, or having him parceled out over the next 20 years. (I made that part up.)
Kraken Winning Combinations
Earlier Kraken:
— Simmer’s 9; New Kraken Rinks, 45 Shots, Utah Boys
