Pens holding breath for Crosby
Penguins head scout Greg Malone may love the NHL's system for determining draft order this year, or he may hate it.
"I'll tell you (today)," Malone said Wednesday, two days before today's weighted NHL draft lottery will take place in New York, essentially announcing which of the 30 NHL teams will get to select consensus No. 1 pick Sidney Crosby.
The Penguins, Buffalo Sabres, Columbus Blue Jackets and New York Rangers will have three balls in the hopper and a 6.25 percent chance each, or 1 in 16, of getting the top pick. Ten teams have two lottery balls (odds are 1 in 24 of getting the top pick), and 16 teams have one ball (1 in 48).
"We have as many balls as can be possible, but I also know it's the luck of the draw," Malone said. "My feeling on the whole thing is, no matter what cards they give us, we'll play them and do a good job. It doesn't matter which pick we'll have, we'll readjust and go with the flow."
It is the first time in the history of the entry draft that each team will have the chance to select first overall. Crosby, 17, is one of the most highly-regarded prospects ever and whom many say would have been the consensus No. 1 pick had he been allowed to enter the draft in 2004 as a 16-year-old.
The lottery will be conducted after the NHL Board of Governors votes on the new collective bargaining agreement and a set of rules changes.
ESPNews will present the lottery results between 4-4:30 p.m. It will also be Internet streamed via NHL.com.
The process will be identical to the NBA draft lottery: The actual lottery will be conducted at 3 p.m., proceeding from No. 1 to No. 30. NHL commissioner Gary Bettman will then reveal the order of selection in reverse from the 30th spot to the first for television beginning at 4 p.m.
NHL spokesman Frank Brown said that team representatives inside the lottery room will be required to stay until the television broadcast is over.
The NHL Entry Draft will be July 30 in Ottawa. This year's event will be drastically scaled back as the league slowly comes back to life after a 301-day lockout.
Malone believes that only the top 20 prospects, as ranked by the service Central Scouting, will be invited to attend. The draft will be cut down to seven rounds this year instead of the usual nine, and all rounds will be completed Saturday instead of over a two-day span.
The event will also be closed to the public.
Teams will be limited to six people at the draft table, and this year's Penguins scouting contingent will consist only of the full-timers: Malone, European scout Mark Kelley, Gilles Meloche and Chuck Grillo.
The NHL will make conference rooms available for teams who want to bring more scouts, but Malone said the Penguins' part-time scouts will simply be told to stay by their phones.
"I talked to the staff (Tuesday) and we're going to touch base on Monday and see if there are any concerns or any more information about a kid's character or whatever," said Malone, who will arrive in Ottawa on Thursday. "Then, they'll be on standby come that Saturday. I feel very confident doing it that way."
