Panthers to select 12th overall in 2020 NHL draft
The Florida Panthers were awarded the 12th pick in the first round of the draft during Phase 2 of the NHL draft lottery Monday evening after parting ways with longtime general manager Dale Tallon earlier in the day.
“As we begin our search for the next general manager of the Florida Panthers, we are confident that this draft selection will be an excellent building block for our club’s future,” said Panthers president and CEO Matthew Caldwell in a statement.
NHL Central Scouting ranks left wing Alexis Lafreniere the top-ranked North American skater. Left wing Tim Stuetzle is the top-ranked European skater.
The order of selection for the draft is as follows: 1. New York Rangers; 2. Los Angeles Kings; 3. Ottawa Senators (from San Jose Sharks), 4. Detroit Red Wings; 5. Ottawa Senators; 6. Anaheim Ducks; 7. New Jersey Devils; 8. Buffalo Sabres; 9. Minnesota Wild; 10. Winnipeg Jets; 11. Nashville Predators; 12. Florida Panthers; 13. Carolina Hurricanes (from Toronto Maple Leafs); 14. Edmonton Oilers; 15. Pittsburgh Penguins.
The final 16 spots in the draft will be tied to postseason results. The draft is tentatively scheduled for October 9 and 10 after initially being scheduled for June.
The Panthers were eliminated from the playoffs on Friday, falling to the New York Islanders in four games. The ouster, the end of yet another season of high expectations that didn’t deliver as planned, sealed Tallon’s fate.
Tallon’s contract as president of hockey operations and general manager expired July 1, and was extended by Panthers owner Vincent Viola to get through the remainder of a season that was stretched out by the coronavirus pandemic. He left the franchise after 10 years in Florida.
The Rangers, who won the draft lottery despite a 12.5% chance at the top pick, will likely select Lafreniere.
The sturdy, 6-foot-1 Lafreniere had 114 goals and 297 points in 173 games in the Quebec Major Junior League. The 18-year-old winger also captained Canada’s gold medal-winning team and earned MVP honors at the world junior championships earlier this year.
New York was among eight teams that lost in the qualifying round of the playoffs with a chance to claim quite a consolation prize Monday night. The Rangers have the No. 1 overall pick for the first time since 1965 when they selected Andre Veilleux.
The league was forced to make a lot of changes after the COVID-19 pandemic paused the season and the lottery was turned into a two-phase process. The league’s bottom seven teams had their seasons end March 12. Those teams also ended up not winning the lottery in June.
NHL commissioner Gary Bettman said the process was fair because the eight teams that were in the expanded playoffs would have had a chance to win the lottery if the pandemic didn’t alter the season.
Information from the Associated Press contributed to this report.
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