The Chicago Blackhawks won the NHL draft lottery Monday night and with it the right to select Connor Bedard with the first pick, parlaying one of their worst seasons in decades into a potentially franchise-altering player.
It's the second time the Blackhawks have won the lottery in the past two decades, and the previous victory in 2007 netted them Patrick Kane, who helped them win the Stanley Cup three times between 2010 and 2015. Bedard can now step into the void filled by the departures of Kane and longtime captain Jonathan Toews and become the new face of the Original Six organization currently in the midst of a full-scale rebuild.
