Oilers win NHL draft lottery

Associated Press

TORONTO

After finishing with a league-low 62 points, the Edmonton Oilers won the NHL draft lottery for the first overall pick in June.

Boston, the sixth seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs, will pick second in the June 25-26 draft after acquiring Toronto’s first-round pick in an offseason trade that sent Phil Kessel to the Maple Leafs.

The Oilers (27-47-8) came into the annual lottery Tuesday with a 25 percent chance of securing the top pick and will select first for the first time.

Florida will select third, followed by Columbus and the New York Islanders — who picked first in 2009. Tampa Bay, Carolina, Atlanta, Minnesota and the New York Rangers round out the top 10.

Barring a trade, the Oilers will become the first Canadian team to select first since 1996, when Ottawa chose defenseman Chris Phillips.

“It’s such an important step for us to have the ability to take the first overall pick, especially where we are with our cycle of development,” Oilers general manager Steve Tambellini said. “We’re more into a reshaping, a rebuilding mode right now. Everybody’s clear about that. This will be a wonderful building block to add on to some of the other draft choices we have in place now.”