The Tampa Bay Lightning will retain the number three selection in the upcoming NHL amateur draft. The NHL Draft Lottery presented the possibility of the Lightning being slotted anywhere between first overall to fourth, however the process resulted only in the Colorado Avalanche swapping places with the Florida Panthers, leaving the rest of the teams unaffected, ranked in order from worst to first based on their 2013 regular season record.
On April 24th, the National Hockey League Central Scouting Bureau released their final rankings of prospects prior to the draft. Topping the list was Defenseman Seth Jones of the WHL’s Portland Winterhawks. He’s 6’4″, 205 lbs., a three-time gold medalist and a native of Frisco, Texas.
He’s followed by Finnish center Aleksander Barkov, goaltender Zachary Fusale from Quebec, Nathan MacKinnon, a center from Nova Scotia, left wing Jonathan Drouin of Quebec, defenseman Darnell Nurse from Hamilton, Ontario, and Sean Monahan, a center from Brampton, Ontario.
The 2013 NHL Draft will take place at the Prudential Center in New Jersey on Sunday, June 30..
