In a few weeks, on May 8th, the NHL lottery will be held to determine who will be the lucky team to get the future NHL sensation Connor Bedard. Currently, the Habs have an 8.5% chance of winning the lottery and getting Bedard. At first glance, that seems like a very small chance, while most experts believe that the Tricolore has little chance of selecting this generational talent. However, we shouldn't jump to conclusions, as there have been several instances since 2016 where teams beyond the fifth spot have won the lottery. For example, last year the New Jersey Devils selected Slovak defenseman Simon Nemec after advancing to the second spot from the fifth spot initially. In 2017, those same Devils also selected Nico Hischier at No. 1 after starting the lottery at No. 5. The Rangers have also been very lucky twice recently, as they selected Kaapo Kakko in 2019 after starting at sixth. The scenario repeated itself in 2020, quite dramatically thanks to the one lottery that was affected by the pandemic. Due to the season being cut short because of COVID-19, the NHL ran a 3 of 5 series before the real playoffs to give teams an extra chance to qualify. That was the year the Habs beat the Pittsburgh Penguins to earn a playoff spot, despite a 31-31-9 record. In a first round lottery, a team that was not eliminated from the qualifying round ended up winning the first pick of the draft with only a 2.5% chance. To give an example, it's like the Senators winning the Bedard lottery this year with the 12th best odds. However, this situation is not even plausible anymore, since a rule was subsequently introduced stating that a team cannot jump more than 10 spots. Going back to 2020, this meant that there would be a second lottery between the teams eliminated from the preliminary round, which included eight teams. The odds were 12.5% between each of them. It was finally the Rangers, once again, who won the lottery and got the first overall pick. All this to say that the history of the lottery clearly shows that the game is not over for the Habs. Fans can still hold out hope that the team will be able to select Bedard or Adam Fantilli in the top two picks of the draft. <a href='https://www.habsolumentfan.com/canadiens/voici-la-preuve-que-le-canadien-a-d-excellentes-chances-de-repecher-connor-bedard' class='lien_marqueur' target='_blank' rel='noopener'>HabsolutelyFan</a>