The Vancouver Canucks didn’t win the actual draft lottery in April, but general manager Jim Benning got lucky and hit the jackpot when he selected skilled defenceman Quinn Hughes with the seventh pick.
Nobody really knows why or how, but Hughes somehow slipped all the way down to the Canucks at seven. The Montreal Canadiens passed on Filip Zadina and Brady Tkachuk to take centre Jesperi Kotkaniemi at No. 3.
It was the Arizona Coyotes who went off the board and took centre Barrett Hayton with the fifth pick — who was expected to go outside of the top 10.