The Tampa Bay Lightning won the NHL entry draft lottery on Monday night and will have the top spot in the Stamkos Sweepstakes. Los Angeles will pick second, then the Atlanta Thrashers third, the St. Louis Blues fourth and the New York Islanders fifth. The lottery was shown live on TSN, and the NHL network. It was nice to see the hockey draft getting solid coverage as do the NBA and NFL drafts. It will never be on the scale of the NFL, but if the NHL does it right, there’s an audience waiting to watch the lottery, the draft and draft related stories.

Steve Stamkos, the consensus top prospect, joined the program via satellite and said he was trying to focus on the OHL playoffs instead of the draft, which is scheduled for June 20 and 21 in Ottawa. In fact, Stamkos didn’t look too enthused about the Lightning choosing first, saying, “nothing’s etched in stone”, but he also appeared nervous as well.

The Anaheim Ducks will use the much talked about first round pick from Edmonton in the Dustin Penner signing picking 11th in the first round.

This hockey scribe was pulling for the Kings to get the pick because as FASTHockey radio show regular Todd Carroll (currently based in L.A. as an actor), put it after the lottery:

“The Kings need a jumpstart for the franchise and that would’ve been huge. Enough of these franchises that will never garner the attention! If you ever got a Stanley Cup finals with the Rangers and Los Angeles, the two biggest media markets in the states, then you would really get the media attention and viewers the game needs here.”

Totally agree Toddy! But as I told you, I wouldn’t mind Drew Doughty patrolling the blue line with Jack Johnson (third overall in 2005 by Carolina). Maybe the Kings can build up front via free agency and trades. Remember Jonathan Bernier, who was recently called up to Manchester in the AHL, will most likely crack the lineup next season as well.

Big news here in Boston is that Patrice Bergeron has been cleared for full contact and practiced without the red jersey today for the first time since he suffered a concussion, broken nose and whiplash after being hit from behind on October 27th. Word is that Bergeron will not be ready for Game 1, but there’s a chance he can play in Game 2. The belief here is that they give him almost a week of practice and number 37 returns to the ice at the T.D. Banknorth Garden on Sunday for Game 3 to a 2002 Saku Koivu like ovation! If the Bruins could somehow split in Montreal and come back 1-1, such a boost might give them a chance to beat the top-seeded Canadiens.

The take here is that it may not be worth Bergeron possibly being hurt permanently and suffering another concussion. Is the slight chance that they beat Montreal worth it? I trust the doctors, the Bruins and Bergeron that he’s alright and the Bruins and Bergeron have done a great job of taking every precaution to this point. But as Eric Lindros pointed out in a recent Globe column, there is no exact science or prognosis with concussions. But as I said, it still would be a welcome sight for Bruins fans and no one involved would let him play unless they were completely confident Bergeron is ready. The question is remains, will we ever know when a concussion victim is ready to return?

Playoff predictions with analysis come tomorrow and mark it on your calendar that we’ll be live from Montreal at the Team 990 studio for the FASTHockey Radio Show Saturday 2-4 PM ET!

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Slainte,

Murph