PENGUINS WIN DRAFT DRAWING,
OBTAIN FIRST PICK FOR 2005 ENTRY DRAFT
The Pittsburgh Penguins won the National Hockey League Draft Drawing, held today following the League's Board of Governors meeting in New York, and obtained the first overall selection for the 2005 Entry Draft, to be held Saturday, July 30 (noon, ET) at the Westin Hotel in Ottawa.
The Draft Drawing, a weighted lottery system, was used to determine the order of selection for all seven rounds of the Entry Draft. Under the weighted lottery system, the clubs that neither qualified for the Stanley Cup Playoffs in each of the 2001-02, 2002-03 and 2003-04 seasons, nor were awarded the first overall selection in each of the 2001, 2002, 2003 and 2004 Entry Drafts, had the greatest chance of receiving the first overall selection, 6.3 per cent. These clubs were the Penguins, Buffalo Sabres, Columbus Blue Jackets and New York Rangers.
Ten clubs met one of the seven criteria listed above and had a 4.2% chance of winning the Drawing, while the remaining 16 clubs met more than one of the criteria and had a 2.1% chance.
Forty-eight balls, numbered one through 48, were placed in a lottery machine. Three ball numbers were randomly assigned to each the Penguins, Sabres, Blue Jackets and Rangers; two ball numbers were assigned to the 10 clubs with a 4.2% chance; and one ball number was assigned to the 16 clubs with a 2.1% chance. The first ball expelled determined the winner of the first overall draft pick and it had been assigned to the Penguins.
After the first overall selection was awarded, another ball was expelled to determine which club, from among the 29 remaining, received the second overall pick. This process was continued until each of the 30 first-round draft positions was assigned.
PICKS IN SUBSEQUENT ROUNDS
The order of selection for the second round of the Entry Draft will be inverse of the order of selection for the first round (i.e. the club that selected 30th overall in the first round will select first overall in the second round). The order of selection for the third round will be the same as the order of selection of the first round and the order of selection will alternate each round thereafter.
Each club's overall draft pick positions will be determined next week, following the awarding of compensatory draft picks.
First-Round Order of Selection
1. Pittsburgh Penguins
2. Mighty Ducks of Anaheim
3. Carolina Hurricanes
4. Minnesota Wild
5. Montreal Canadiens
6. Columbus Blue Jackets
7. Chicago Blackhawks
8. Atlanta Thrashers
9. Ottawa Senators
10. Vancouver Canucks
11. Los Angeles Kings
12. San Jose Sharks
13. Buffalo Sabres
14. Washington Capitals
15. New York Islanders
16. New York Rangers
17. Phoenix Coyotes
18. Nashville Predators
19. Detroit Red Wings
20. Philadelphia Flyers
21. Toronto Maple Leafs
22. Boston Bruins
23. New Jersey Devils
24. St. Louis Blues
25. Edmonton Oilers
26. Calgary Flames
27. Colorado Avalanche
28. Dallas Stars
29. Florida Panthers
30. Tampa Bay Lightning
http://www.nhl.com/futures/2005draft/lo ... 72205.html
Crosby embraces Penguins, can't wait to play with Mario Lemieux
(CP) - Sidney Crosby is going to see the NHL from the bottom up.
The Pittsburgh Penguins have missed the playoffs the last three seasons, had the worst attendance in 2003-04 and owner Mario Lemieux has said the team will likely move if it doesn't get a new arena.
At 23-47-8-4, the Penguins were the NHL's worst team in 2003-04.
But the attraction Pittsburgh holds for Crosby - and a marketing coup for the NHL - is his opportunity to play alongside Lemieux, one of the game's greatest players in the autumn of his career.
"It would be unbelievable," Crosby said Friday in a conference call following the NHL draft lottery when the Penguins edged the runner-up Anaheim Mighty Ducks for the final pick.
Crosby met and skated with Lemieux last summer in Los Angeles.
"He's a very nice guy and a great role model and to be able to play with him would be something very special," Crosby said from his home in Cole Harbour, N.S.
The lottery was the NHL's first order of business following the ratification of the new collective bargaining agreement by the league's board of governors earlier in the afternoon.
The 2005 NHL entry draft will be held July 30 in Ottawa, but the suspense over the No. 1 pick has ended as the Penguins have no intention of trading their pick.
Even though Crosby's favourite team is the Montreal Canadiens, he intends to play for Pittsburgh.
The Penguins were one of four teams with the best chance of landing Crosby, who is the most anticipated NHL prospect since Eric Lindros in 1991. And for the second time in three years, Pittsburgh will have the first pick in the draft.
The Mighty Ducks will pick second and the Carolina Hurricanes third.
Crosby will enter the league at the same time as another highly talented rookie in Alexander Ovechkin, the Washington Capitals' first overall pick in 2004. Capitals owner Ted Leonsis thinks having two superstars developing at the same time will help the league in the long run.
"My dream scenario is would be that they're Magic Johnson and Larry Bird. The NBA had some hard times and came back and they were two great players and they helped drive interest in the league and they had a great rivalry. These are two very, very gifted players," Leonsis said.
"I thought this year's draft had a lot of drama around it. I'm happy that Pittsburgh won. He'll help us sell a lot of tickets in our building. I just hope we don't play them in the playoffs all the time again."
The economic landscape under the new CBA is designed to be friendlier to small-market teams like Pittsburgh, which operated with the lowest payroll of the 30 clubs in 2003-04.
Lemieux, a former first overall pick himself, is selling his majority interest in the team, but intends to keep a minority stake in the club and continue to play one or two more seasons.
The Penguins star bought the team in bankruptcy court in 1999 and has been keeping the franchise afloat on a shoestring the last few years.
The franchise had its problems since winning back-to-back Stanley Cup championships in 1991 and 1992, including the death of coach Bob Johnson, Lemieux's battle with cancer and the jettisoning of stars such as Jaromir Jagr, Alexei Kovalev and Martin Straka in recent years.
Lemieux said the arrival of Crosby will buoy the franchise and help the team get a new arena.
The Penguins' lease at Mellon Arena, the oldest rink in the league, expires in 2007.
"This is huge for all of us here in Pittsburgh, for the organization, for the fans here in Pittsburgh," Lemieux said. "We've been trying to rebuild the team for the last three years."
Lemieux said the addition of Crosby will revitalize the team, which added veteran Mark Recchi as a free agent last summer.
"I'm looking forward to training camp now," Lemieux said.
The Penguins have already slashed season tickets prices to create 8,700 seats available for under $30. Crosby should make selling them a lot easier.
Crosby feels better times are ahead for the franchise and not because he's going there.
"They had a great finish to the year the last year the NHL played and it's a team that I think is really coming up," he said.
Pittsburgh has other highly rated prospects in the fold in goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury, the first overall pick in 2003. The Pens have yet to sign Russian forward Evgeni Malkin, the second overall pick last year, to a contract.
"We certainly wouldn't put any pressure on Sidney to carry our team," Penguins general manager Craig Patrick said in New York. "He's going to be one of your young people on our team down the road that will help carry the flag, but not right away."
Still, one would expect Crosby to be on the ice with Lemieux when the NHL season opens Oct. 5, the same day Lemieux turns 40.
Crosby, who turns 18 on Aug. 7, can play any forward position. He has spent time on both the left and right wings this past season with the Rimouski Oceanic and the Canadian junior team.
Wayne Gretzky once said that Crosby is the best player he'd seen since Lemieux and the pairing Crosby and Lemieux on a line together will be much anticipated.
The five-foot-10, 193-pound Crosby is ready for the NHL after dominating major junior hockey the past two seasons. He has exceptional vision, anticipation and skills that translate into jaw-dropping passes and puckhandling.
He has developed core and leg strength to make him difficult to knock off the puck. His passion for the game, plus his considerable skills with the media at such a young age have made him a coveted package by the NHL.
The NHL's intention to crack down on obstruction and change rules to increase offence by taking out the red line and increasing the size of the offensive zones plays into Crosby's talented hands.
"That's hopefully going to open it up a lot and should make it more entertaining," Crosby said.
Crosby has not yet pulled an NHL jersey over his head but he has already signed big-league endorsement deals with Reebok and Gatorade. He did his TV interviews Friday in front of a Reebok backdrop.
Sports marketing experts have said Crosby could make 10 times more money in local sponsorships if he played in the Toronto, Boston, Chicago or New York markets.
The Penguins now have to get Crosby under contract. Under the new labour deal, Crosby can sign a three-year deal worth $850,000 US per year, plus signing and performance bonuses.
http://www.nhl.com/news/2005/07/230794.html
(love that name), etc., the more recognition they will get from the general public.
