Because the commissioner didn’t know he could start the draft until two astute GMs told he could, the Season 4 EURO draft has began abruptly. And fans in Northern Ireland received a pleasant surprise as their team jumped from its scheduled 6th pick to number one by winning the draft lottery.

GM Chris Patton will have a lot of options if he chooses to keep the pick. He will have two teenage defensemen with immense potential in Olli Maatta and Aaron Ekblad; two excellent goaltending prospects who could immediately challenge  Devan Dubnyk as Cory Schneider’s backup; or he might opt for the player ranked No. 1 by Central Scouting: 22-year-old Ondrej Palat, a left winger who has excellent offensive skills but even better defensive instincts.  Palat would join Nathan MacKinnon, Nazem Kadri, Matt Duchene and Mika Lehtonen in a star-studded stable of young forwards in Belfast who will be maturing as Sidney Crosby and Tony Martensson (age 27 and 28, respectively) enter their twilight seasons.

Stockholm, which suffered through an inexplicably poor season last year, will pick second and will be followed by Prague, which owns three first-round picks in the draft.