By Allan Muir

Taking a defenseman first overall in the NHL draft has always been something of a risky proposition. Of the 12 blueliners that have been taken in the top spot, only Denis Potvin (1973) and perhaps Ed Jovanovski (1994) have lived up to the hype.

GALLERY: Defensemen taken at No. 1

Even so, the NHL’s Central Scouting Service couldn’t help but list Portland Winterhawks defender Seth Jones as their consensus first choice for the 2013 draft. The midseason favorite remained at the top of the CSS final prospect ranking, which was released today.

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Anze Kopitar, who was so vital to the Kings in their Cup run last season, has struggled to produce lately. (Jae C. Hong)

By Allan Muir

An annotated guide to this morning’s must-read hockey stories:

• The Kings are rolling, but star center Anze Kopitar is fighting it with just one goal in his last nine games. And he’s not the only one struggling: Jonathan Quick ranks 24th in goals against and 41st in save percentage but he hasn’t lost the trust of his teammates.

• Funny thing about lousy teams dressing a bunch of kids down the stretch: they sometimes find a way to win. The Dallas Stars were buzzing on the energy provided by newcomers Alex Chiasson and Lane MacDermid in an unexpected 3-1 win over the Ducks that pushed them two points further from the Seth Jones Sweepstakes.

• “Hey, Rob…what are you doing tonight?” 43-year-old former roller hockey star Rob Laurie was an emergency backup in net last night for the Ducks.

• The new-look Buffalo Sabres found another way to win Friday night. Luke Adam, Jochen Hecht and Brian Flynn broke long scoring droughts to lead the effort.

• Cory Conacher was “decent, if not spectacular”  in his debut with the Senators.

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John Tavares, now with the Islanders, was the first player to earn exceptional status. (Bennett Cohen/Icon SMI)

By Allan Muir

When Hockey Canada came up with the exceptional player status as an option to advance the development of high-end players in the Ontario Hockey League, the thinking was that this sort of athlete might come around once in a decade.

But with today’s news that Sean Day had been granted the status, it seems the exceptions are becoming the norm.

Day, a 15-year-old defenseman from Detroit’s highly regarded Compuware program, becomes the fourth player to be allowed to enter the OHL a year early, and the third in three years.

Despite the surprising streak, it’s clear the bar hasn’t been set too low. John Tavares was the first player to earn the distinction in 2005. Four years later, he was the first overall pick in the NHL draft.

Two years ago, it was defenseman Aaron Ekblad. He went first overall in the OHL draft to Barrie, and is expected to be a top-10 pick in the 2014 NHL draft. Connor McDavid earned the exemption last spring. He was Erie’s best player this year, and USA Today compared him to LeBron James in terms of his potential to impact his sport.

And now Day, a proud Canadian who has never lived in the country, gets the chance to prove he’s up to the challenge of the world’s toughest junior circuit.

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Even under the complicated new formula, want to bet the first pick goes to Edmonton again? (Jeanine Leech/Icon SMI)

By Allan Muir

The good news for this year’s wait’ll-next-year teams? More of them than ever can harbor the illusion of a shot at the first overall pick in the 2013 NHL Draft…and they won’t have to wait long to learn if they’ve actually won something for a change.

The 2013 NHL Draft Lottery, slated for Apr. 29, will be the first in which all 14 clubs that do not qualify for the playoffs (or a team that’s acquired their pick) will have a chance at winning the right to make the first overall choice.

Previously, a team could move up no more than four spots, so only the five teams with the fewest point totals could claim the first selection.

The lottery itself will work the same as always, meaning the Oilers will defy the odds and win the first pick. (I kid, I kid!) Fourteen balls will be placed in a lottery machine. Four are expelled, forming a four-digit number that will be matched against a probability chart that divides the possible combinations among the 14 participating clubs. Seriously. They can’t just chunk in a certain number of balls with each team’s logo and have the machine spit one out because, well, maybe they’d have to lay off the league’s crack staff of mathematicians or something.

Here is the likelihood of each team gaining the right to the first pick. Team 1 is Columbus (come on, we’ve all seen this movie before) with the other teams in reverse order of finish:

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