April 8th

LIGHTNING WIN DRAFT DRAWING

The Tampa Bay Lightning won the National Hockey League Draft Drawing and retained the first overall drafting position for the 2008 NHL Entry Draft, June 20 and 21 at Scotiabank Place in Ottawa, Ontario.

The Lightning had the greatest percentage likelihood, 25%, that one of the numbered sequences assigned to them would be the winning combination. Under the lottery system, only the five teams with the fewest points had the chance to win the first overall selection; no team could move up more than four spots and no team could move backward more than one.

The Los Angeles Kings, Atlanta Thrashers, St. Louis Blues and New York Islanders own the second, third, fourth and fifth drafting positions in the first round.

The Lightning have selected first overall twice before in franchise history. With those picks, the team selected Roman Hamrlik (1992) and Vincent Lecavalier (1998).

The order of selection for the first 14 drafting positions in the first round, only, of the 2008 Entry Draft is as follows:

1. Tampa Bay Lightning
2. Los Angeles Kings
3. Atlanta Thrashers
4. St. Louis Blues
5. New York Islanders
6. Columbus Blue Jackets
7. Toronto Maple Leafs
8. Phoenix Coyotes
9. Nashville Predators (from Florida)
10. Vancouver Canucks
11. Chicago Blackhawks
12. Anaheim Ducks (from Edmonton)
13. Buffalo Sabres
14. Carolina Hurricanes

The remaining drafting positions will be determined at the conclusion of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

The 2008 NHL Entry Draft will take place at Scotiabank Place in Ottawa, Ontario. The first round will take place on Friday, June 20 the subsequent rounds will take place on Saturday, June 21.

Results of Previous Draft Drawings

Year--Selected--Effect On Draft Order (Player Selected)

1995--Los Angeles--Moved from 7th to 3rd (D Aki Berg)
1996--Ottawa--Retained 1st selection (D Chris Phillips)
1997--Boston--Retained 1st selection (C Joe Thornton)
1998--Tampa Bay--Moved 3rd to 1st via trades (C Vincent Lecavalier)
1999--Chicago--Moved from 8th to 4th (RW Pavel Brendl) *
2000--NY Islanders--Moved from 5th to 1st (G Rick DiPietro)
2001--Atlanta--Moved from 3rd to 1st (LW Ilya Kovalchuk)
2002--Florida--Moved from 3rd to 1st (LW Rick Nash **
2003--Florida--Moved from 4th to 1st (G Marc-Andre Fleury) ***
2004--Washington--Moved from 3rd to 1st (LW Alex Ovechkin)
2005--Pittsburgh--n/a (C Sidney Crosby)
2006--St. Louis--Retained 1st selection (D Erik Johnson)
2007--Chicago--Moved from 5th to 1st (RW Patrick Kane)
2008--Tampa Bay--Retained 1st selection

* NY Rangers obtained Chicago's pick in a trade (via Vancouver and Tampa Bay). The Rangers selected RW Pavel Brendl fourth overall.

** Columbus obtained Florida's pick in a trade. The Blue Jackets selected LW Rick Nash first overall.

*** Pittsburgh obtained Florida's pick in a trade. The Penguins selected G Marc-Andre Fleury first overall.