Utah Lands 6th Pick in the 2024 NHL Draft

The Utah to-be-named-later hockey team didn’t win the lottery in this year’s NHL Draft and will select 6th.

The moribund San Jose Sharks, the team with the worst record in the NHL this past season and the best odds to win the right to draft first, won the lottery and will have their choice of players in the 2024 class.

Utah had the 6th best odds and a 7.5% chance to land the top spot, but failed to land the ping-pong balls needed.

After determining the first pick, the NHL drew to determine the second overall pick.

Again the right combination of numbers eluded Utah and the Chicago Blackhawks, the team with the second worst record in the league in 2023, maintained their position.

The Sharks winning the lottery and the Blackhawks getting the second pick meant that the final draft order went unchanged and Utah neither gained or lost a position, which would have been possible if a team who finished with a better record than Utah had jumped them by winning either of the drawings.

Sitting between Utah and their selection will be the San Jose Sharks, followed by the Chicago Blackhawks, Anaheim Ducks, Columbus Blue Jackets and Montreal Canadiens.

For the first time since 2010, no teams moved up in the NHL Draft Lottery. 🤯 pic.twitter.com/s9AphLHLGO

— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) May 7, 2024

Most pundits predict the Sharks will take the consensus number one rated prospect, Boston University standout Macklin Celebrini.

As for who Utah will pick, much depends on who is still on the board. TSN Insider Bob McKenzie predicts the club will pick the 7th ranked player in the 2024 class, London Knights defenseman Sam Dickinson. The 6th ranked prospect is Tri-City left wing Trevor Connelly, who he has going at number 15. However, this year the consensus on who the best players are seems to be more subjective than usual according to Bob.

 “…there appears to be a wider divergence of opinion than we usually see within the top five, and the bandwidth between Nos. 6 to 15 appears to be a lot tighter than we’ve seen before.”

This is the second year in a row the team (formerly the Arizona Coyotes) will draft at number six. Last season, general manager Bill Armstrong picked KHL defenseman Dmitri Simashev. A surprise pick, Simashev only scored 10 points for Lokomotiv Yaroslavl this past season.

Utah only has one pick in the first round this year, but will have three selections in the second round and 13 total. The team owns the 6th, 38th, 49th (via the Washington Capitals) and 63rd (via the Florida Panthers) overall picks in the first two rounds.

The NHL Draft Lottery was held at the NHL Network studio in Secaucus, New Jersey.