Live Blog: NHL Draft Lottery

8:21 pm - The Islanders have won the draft lottery. This is huge for the Island. No matter what Brian Burke tries to do, the Islanders HAVE to keep this pick. They desperately need this type of franchise player to not only bring some excitement back to Long Island, but to bring back better hockey there as well. The Islanders already have a decent amount of young prospects and Tavares would put them over the top. As for the Lightning, they get what they desperately need in a good young defenseman. They may have used the #1 pick to get Hedman, anyway, so they do not lose much.

8:18 pm - drum roll… #5 pick goes to… LA KINGS… no change there… #4 goes to ATLANTA THRASHERS.. no changes… #3 COLORADO AVALANCHE…. #1 pick… come on Isles… NEW YORK ISLANDERS!!! WOOOOO

8:17 pm - holy smokes.. let’s go Duthie.

8:10 pm - another great new Molson Canadian commercial. Great time to debut it.

8:08 pm - the bottom 5 team’s representatives are sitting at a round table. Come on, TSN and NHL, can’t you make this more of a quality show. The NBA has a nice little podium and nice wooden seating during their lottery. They look like they are jammed together sitting at this table. They should be given individual seating or something classy. I mean, we are talking about a major professional sport.

8:05 pm - The consensus top 2 picks: Tavares and Victor Hedman are live via satellite. Tavares is wearing a golf shirt and a hat; how Canadian. Hedman, in Sweden, is wearing a nice collared shirt, has his hair combed, topped with a leather jacket. That’s more like it.

8:02 pm - In case if you didn’t catch it, earlier today during the pre-lottery press conference, Brian Burke did not beat around the bush and told the hockey world that he will do everything he can to get the #1 overall pick and draft John Tavares. Pretty bold statement.

7:59 pm - WOOOOO! The ping pong balls are poppin and we are ready to go here at 50MC for the 2009 John Tavares sweepstakes. Just to refresh, the New York Islanders were the worst team in the 2008-2009 season, so they have the best chances at getting the #1 overall pick. Only the bottom 5 teams can get the top pick. Islanders have a 48.2% chance at landing it. Lightning at 18.8%.