The Chicago Blackhawks won the NHL draft lottery on Tuesday and will have the first selection when the draft begins on Friday, June 22 in Columbus, Ohio.



Chicago, which finished the season with the fifth worst record in 2006-07 at 31-42-9, had an 8.1 percent to obtain the first pick.









Under the lottery system, only the five teams with the fewest points had the chance to win the first overall selection, and no team could have moved up more than four spots and no team could have slid backward more than one.



This will be the first time in the Blackhawks history that the team has the top selection in the draft. The highest the club has ever picked in the NHL Draft's modern day format (since 1969) was third overall, four times (1980, Denis Savard; 1984, Eddie Olczyk; 2004, Cam Barker; and 2006, Jonathan Toews).



Philadelphia, which had the worst record in the NHL in the 2006-07 season and a 25 percent chance to win the first pick, will hold the second pick. Phoenix will select third, followed by Los Angeles, Washington, Edmonton, Columbus, Boston, St. Louis, Florida, Carolina, Montreal, Toronto and Colorado



The remaining positions in the draft will be determined by the results from the playoffs.



St. Louis had the No. 1 pick in last year's draft and selected defenseman Erik Johnson.

By: Sports Handicapper

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