Ottawa needs to have a direction. If that direction is trading Karlsson than it's really difficult to keep this years pick and essentially potentially the worst team in the league next year without your pick. I think if that's the direction they go they give up the pick and hope they can get some small sweetener from Colorado to get the 4th overall pick this year. It's possible The Avs prefer to have next years pick but I think they'd probably prefer 4th overall this year, and wouldn't mind giving up something small like say a 2nd round pick to make it happen.
From Ottawa's perspective lets assume both drafts(2018, and 2019) are identically equal. If you are certain you're a bottom 5 team next year what is the right decision mathematically? Well for simplicity sake lets say there's a 20% chance that Ottawa finishes in each of the 5 worst positions. The following are their pick odds
| 1st Pick | 2nd pick | 3rd Pick | 4th Pick | 5th Pick | 6th Pick | 7th Pick | 8th Pick |
Last Place | 18.5 | 16.5 | 14.4 | 50.6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
2nd Last | 13.5 | 13.0 | 12.3 | 33.3 | 27.9 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
3rd Last | 11.5 | 11.3 | 11.1 | 13.2 | 37.7 | 15.2 | 0 | 0 |
4th Last | 9.5 | 9.6 | 9.7 | 2.8 | 26.1 | 34.0 | 8.3 | 0 |
5th Last | 8.5 | 8.7 | 8.9 | 0 | 8.4 | 34.5 | 26.7 | 4.3 |
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Now the odds of getting each pick if the odds of finishing in each of the last 5 places were identical would be the average of the possibilities
1st Pick | 2nd Pick | 3rd Pick | 4th Pick | 5th Pick | 6th Pick | 7th Pick | 8th Pick |
12.3 | 11.82 | 11.28 | 19.98 | 20.2 | 16.87 | 7.0 | 0.86 |
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So if we assumed Ottawa had equal chance of finishing from last to 5th last next year they'd have a 44.93 chance of getting a worse pick, and a 34.5 chance of getting a better one. Along with a 19.98 chance of getting the same pick next year. Those odds would say if you assume Ottawa is a bottom 5 team next year, with equal chance of every spot then keep the pick this year. However with increasing value of picks I think I'd gamble the 45% chance of getting a worse pick for the 35% chance of getting a better one with a 12.3% chance of getting the 1st overall pick. Especially if I could get something small out of Colorado to make it happen.
As for the Avs side of things in an asset only world you could say the reciprocal of Ottawa's situation applies. But I'd suggest it doesn't. While Ottawa should be in an asset collection spot with the possibility of being bad on purpose or out of necessity(can't lose Karlsson for nothing) next year, and can afford to play the odds to try to get that 1 special prospect Colorado is on it's way up and could really use a 4th overall pick and a prospect like Zadina(if Montreal takes Kotkaniemi) now instead of playing the odds and waiting a year to possibly get a worse pick. If a player like Zadina is on the board I think Colorado would be very content with getting him right now.
For that reason I think it makes more sense for both teams to have the Avs have the 4th overall pick this year, though I don't believe that's what will happen. It would be an interesting game of chicken to see exactly how much Ottawa could pry out of Colorado to make that a reality. I'd suggest a 2nd round pick would be sensible, but like I said I expect Ottawa to keep the pick so I don't think it will happen