The Pittsburgh Penguins won the National Hockey League Draft Drawing, held today following the League's Board of Governors meeting in New York, and obtained the first overall selection for the 2005 Entry Draft, to be held Saturday, July 30 (noon, ET) at the Westin Hotel in Ottawa.

The Draft Drawing, a weighted lottery system, was used to determine the order of selection for all seven rounds of the Entry Draft. Under the weighted lottery system, the clubs that neither qualified for the Stanley Cup Playoffs in each of the 2001-02, 2002-03 and 2003-04 seasons, nor were awarded the first overall selection in each of the 2001, 2002, 2003 and 2004 Entry Drafts, had the greatest chance of receiving the first overall selection, 6.3 per cent. These clubs were the Penguins, Buffalo Sabres, Columbus Blue Jackets and New York Rangers.

Ten clubs met one of the seven criteria listed above and had a 4.2% chance of winning the Drawing, while the remaining 16 clubs met more than one of the criteria and had a 2.1% chance.

Forty-eight balls, numbered one through 48, were placed in a lottery machine. Three ball numbers were randomly assigned to each the Penguins, Sabres, Blue Jackets and Rangers; two ball numbers were assigned to the 10 clubs with a 4.2% chance; and one ball number was assigned to the 16 clubs with a 2.1% chance. The first ball expelled determined the winner of the first overall draft pick and it had been assigned to the Penguins.

After the first overall selection was awarded, another ball was expelled to determine which club, from among the 29 remaining, received the second overall pick. This process was continued until each of the 30 first-round draft positions was assigned.

PICKS IN SUBSEQUENT ROUNDS

The order of selection for the second round of the Entry Draft will be inverse of the order of selection for the first round (i.e. the club that selected 30th overall in the first round will select first overall in the second round). The order of selection for the third round will be the same as the order of selection of the first round and the order of selection will alternate each round thereafter.

Each club's overall draft pick positions will be determined next week, following the awarding of compensatory draft picks.

First-Round Order of Selection
1.		Pittsburgh Penguins
2.		Mighty Ducks of Anaheim
3.		Carolina Hurricanes
4.		Minnesota Wild
5.		Montreal Canadiens
6.		Columbus Blue Jackets
7.		Chicago Blackhawks
8.		Atlanta Thrashers
9.		Ottawa Senators
10.		Vancouver Canucks
11.		Los Angeles Kings
12.		San Jose Sharks
13.		Buffalo Sabres
14.		Washington Capitals
15.		New York Islanders
16.		New York Rangers
17.		Phoenix Coyotes
18.		Nashville Predators
19.		Detroit Red Wings
20.		Philadelphia Flyers
21.		Toronto Maple Leafs
22.		Boston Bruins
23.		New Jersey Devils
24.		St. Louis Blues
25.		Edmonton Oilers
26.		Calgary Flames
27.		Colorado Avalanche
28.		Dallas Stars
29.		Florida Panthers
30.		Tampa Bay Lightning