Colorado entered the lottery with the best odds of obtaining the No. 1 pick at this summer's selection at 18.5 percent after acquiring the Ottawa Senators' first-round selection in a three-team trade on Nov. 5, 2017 that also involved the Nashville Predators. The pick was for either the 2018 or 2019 draft, but the Senators decided to keep their choice last summer (No. 4 overall, Brady Tkachuk).
Ottawa finished the regular season with a 29-47-6 record and 64 points, which ranked last in the NHL and granted the Avalanche the best odds at the lottery.
The New Jersey Devils won the No. 1 overall selection, while the New York Rangers secured the second spot. The Chicago Blackhawks moved up to the third position after initially being slotted at 12th.
There were three lottery drawings to determine the first three picks of the draft, with the first of which being for the first-overall selection. The odds changed proportionately based on the next two drawings. This is the fourth year that this lottery format has been used (since 2016).
While Colorado entered the draft with the highest odds of winning the No. 1 pick, the team had around a 50 percent chance of picking fourth overall.
The 11 other clubs not selected in the drawings were assigned selections 5 through 15, in inverse order based on regular-season points.
This is the third time in Avalanche franchise history that the club will pick fourth overall in the draft, with the most recent being in 2017. That year the club selected defenseman Cale Makar, who is up for the Hobey Baker Award as college hockey's top player this season. The Quebec Nordiques chose Todd Warriner in the No. 4 spot in 1992.
The 2019 NHL Draft will be held this summer at Rogers Arena in Vancouver, British Columbia, with the first round on Friday, June 21, and rounds 2-7 on Saturday, June 22.
