Coyotes to draft No. 6 and No. 12 after 2023 NHL Draft Lottery

The Arizona Coyotes will select No. 6 and No. 12 in the 2023 NHL Draft after the ping pong balls ordered the top 16 picks on Monday.

They finished with the sixth-fewest points in the NHL in the 2022-23 season, with a 28-40-14 record and 70 points.

The draft order went exactly how the regular season standings ended, with no team moving up or down from where it finished outside of the top three picks. The Chicago Blackhawks jumped the Columbus Blue Jackets and Anaheim Ducks to land the No. 1 pick.

High-scoring forward Connor Bedard is the top prize as the consensus No. 1 overall prospect, but University of Michigan star Adam Fantilli would be quite a return for whichever team gets the No. 2 pick. The tantalizing talent of Bedard and Fantilli was an undercurrent throughout a season when the bottom of the standings was almost as interesting as what was going on at the top.

Matvei Michkov and Leo Carlsson also are expected to go in the top five.

Arizona had a 7.5% shot of landing the No. 1 draft pick and a 7.7% shot at No. 2.

The Coyotes were most likely to select seventh (41.4%) or sixth (34.1%) but could not have fallen further than eighth (9.1%).

Additionally, due to a trade with the Ottawa Senators that sent Jakob Chychrun in return for a top-5 protected first-round pick in this year’s draft,  Arizona will be drafting No. 12 as well.

2023 NHL Draft Lottery order

1. Chicago Blackhawks
2. Anaheim Ducks
3. Columbus Blue Jackets
4. San Jose Sharks
5. Montreal Canadiens
6. Arizona Coyotes
7. Philadelphia Flyers
8. Washington Capitals
9. Detroit Red Wings
10. St. Louis Blues
11. Vancouver Canucks
12. Arizona Coyotes (trade with Ottawa)
13. Buffalo Sabres
14. Pittsburgh Penguins
15. Nashville Predators
16. Calgary Flames

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