NHL Executives and Players Beginning to Turn on Gary Bettman After Bedard Lottery
It's expected after every draft lottery that fans will call it rigged, or claim the NHL fixed the lottery in favor of a specific team. It's another when league sources and NHL players are calling out the league for "rigging" the draft lottery, but that's exactly what's happening right now.
Executives and Players Alike Think Lottery Was Rigged For Chicago
It's not too often we get to hear players talk about the NHL's draft lottery, and for an understandable reason. They're concerned about the present day, and having success now. Unless the player their team drafts is going to make an immediate impact, why would they care?
Apparently, this draft is a special case. Probably due to the fact that the grand prize is NHL draft phenom Connor Bedard, who will become an NHLer immediately. Elliotte Friedman spoke on the issue of the draft lottery on the 32 thoughts podcast recently, and he shared that sources inside the NHL are suspicious of the results.
Friedman says that a surprising number of people who work for NHL teams came forward to both media and the league to express their concerns that the lottery was rigged. Friedman said that he knows people who he "considers to be very intelligent that were convinced the lottery was rigged."
It's normal to see this type of reaction from fans, but from players and team personnel? This is truly an odd case, and really makes you wonder if the NHL was doing Chicago a favor here.
As Seen on Instagram
| POLL | ||
MAI 11 | 3621 ANSWERS NHL Executives and Players Beginning to Turn on Gary Bettman After Bedard Lottery Do you think the draft lottery was rigged? | ||
| Yes | 2827 | 78.1 % |
| No | 794 | 21.9 % |
| LIST OF POLLS | ||
| G | A | PTS | ||
| Zachary Werenski | 2 | 3 | 5 | |
| Sean Monahan | 1 | 3 | 4 | |
| Jesper Bratt | 2 | 1 | 3 | |
| Frederick Gaudreau | 2 | 1 | 3 | |
| Jack Hughes | - | 3 | 3 | |
| Nikita Kucherov | - | 3 | 3 | |
| Mackenzie Weegar | - | 3 | 3 | |
| Kent Johnson | 2 | - | 2 | |
| Alexander Wennberg | 2 | - | 2 | |
| Mitchell Chaffee | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Anthony Cirelli | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Matthew Coronato | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Marcus Foligno | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Nick Foligno | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Conor Geekie | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Brandon Hagel | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Stefan Noesen | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Corey Perry | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Igor Sharangovich | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Dmitry Voronkov | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Complete stats | ||||
| STANDINGS 2024-2025 | ||||||
TOP 10 | GP | W | L | OL | PTS | |
Jets | 19 | 16 | 3 | - | 32 | |
Hurricanes | 18 | 14 | 4 | - | 28 | |
Capitals | 18 | 13 | 4 | 1 | 27 | |
Wild | 18 | 12 | 3 | 3 | 27 | |
Maple Leafs | 20 | 12 | 6 | 2 | 26 | |
Devils | 21 | 12 | 7 | 2 | 26 | |
Rangers | 17 | 12 | 4 | 1 | 25 | |
Panthers | 19 | 12 | 6 | 1 | 25 | |
Stars | 18 | 12 | 6 | - | 24 | |
Golden Knights | 19 | 11 | 6 | 2 | 24 | |
| Conference | Cumulative | ||||||