Craig Conroy Sets Nhl Draft Lottery Date Focus on May 5
The nhl draft lottery date is May 5, and the Calgary Flames are in line to learn exactly where they will pick after a season that already ended. Their odds are 9.5 per cent, fourth-best in the NHL, with the result set to shape the top of the draft board and the Flames’ own range from first overall to no lower than sixth.
Craig Conroy said he is looking at that range with a clear focus. “I’m very excited about the top six players, because I know it’s going to be one of those,” he said at his end-of-season availability, adding that, “We’re going to get a very good player, one to six.”
Craig Conroy and the top six
Conroy’s comments put the spotlight on the part of the board that matters most to Calgary. The Flames are not chasing a single name so much as the entire top tier, because their position guarantees a pick somewhere in that group and keeps them in the lottery mix without giving them the worst odds.
“Everybody wants the first overall pick, everybody in that draft lottery wants it,” he said. “Just like we want to make the playoffs, we want to win every night, we want to win the draft lottery. That’s the way we are, the way we were built.”
Flames lottery odds and range
That is the practical edge for Calgary. With 9.5 per cent odds, the Flames enter May 5 with the fourth-best chance to move up, but their floor is sixth overall, which means the lottery cannot push them out of the top six.
For a team whose season is already over, the date now becomes the pivot point for the next stage of the summer. The lottery will sort out where Calgary lands inside that top-six window and determine whether the Flames add the top name on the board or settle lower within the same tier.
May 5 decision day
May 5 is the next marker on the calendar, and it carries immediate consequences for the Flames’ draft planning. Their range is already set, their odds are known, and Conroy has made the target clear: Calgary expects to come away with a player who can anchor the next phase of the roster, whether the ball bounces its way to first or keeps it at six.
