No one ever thought that the Blue Jackets would purposely tank the remainder of the season to increase their odds of winning the draft lottery. That was never in the cards with the pride this organization has, nor would, management or the players actively allow that to happen.
Columbus is currently residing in 25th place in the NHL with 20 games remaining in the regular season. If they finish in their current position, the Blue Jackets would have a 7.5 percent chance of winning the 2015 NHL Draft lottery and drafting one of the two generational players at the top of the board.
The percentages go up the closer a team finishes to dead last in the standings, but not exponentially, so whichever team finishes last in the standings (currently Buffalo), will have a 12.5 percent better chance of winning the draft lottery than do the Blue Jackets, as of the morning of March 2.
NHL.com has the breakdown of the changes to the draft lottery for this season and show that by using a weighted system, Columbus has a decent chance. NHL Draft Lottery
The Blue Jackets have a record of 26-32-4, garnering them 56 points. They sit just one point behind the fifth and fourth place teams in the lottery (Carolina and Toronto, respectively). At this point, it is likely a safe bet that they will finish in the top-ten for the lottery, in what is arguably the deepest draft in the last ten-plus years.
You can enjoy the lottery simulator by clicking this here: Tradecentre Lottery Simulator.
While the luck of the lottery has not been with Columbus in the past, they should end up with a player that is very close to being able to play in the NHL.
Once again, this is not to say that the Blue Jackets are actively tanking their season. Until just a few days ago, there was a belief within the room that they might be able to pull off a miracle run and win enough games to see them grab a wild card position for the playoffs.
As of Monday morning, Columbus' chance of making the playoffs resides at 0.01 percent (playoff chance courtesy of sportsclubstats.com). The question at this point is one of where will they finish in the standings after they play their final game of the 2014-15 season on April 11?
They still want to finish the season as best they can and are still looking at the next game in front of them. Tuesday they host the Washington Capitals, currently seventh in the conference and merely three points behind the third-place Pittsburgh Penguins in the Metropolitan Division.
Pride is on the line for the Blue Jackets as they finish this season, lick their wounds and set their sights on next year. The hope is that the injury situation they experienced this year was an aberration. A healthy Columbus team would have been competitive this year. By extension, a healthy and more mature Blue Jackets team next year should be competitive also.
