Hawks will pick 11th

The Blackhawks will pick 11th in the first round of the June 20 draft as a result of the NHL draft lottery conducted Monday.

The Tampa Bay Lightning, which finished with the worst regular-season record, won the lottery and retained the No. 1 pick.

It's expected that Sarnia forward Steve Stamkos will be the first player taken. Stamkos, a potential franchise player, scored 58 goals in 61 games in the Ontario Hockey League.

It will be the third time Tampa Bay has drafted first. The Lightning took Roman Hamrlik No. 1 overall in 1992 and Vincent Lecavalier in 1998.

Picking 11th will be the deepest the Hawks have drafted since 2003, when they selected Brent Seabrook 14th overall.

The Hawks picked Patrick Kane first overall last June, Jonathan Toews third overall in 2006, Jack Skille at No. 7 in 2005 and Cam Barker third overall in 2004.

The top five picks in this year's draft belong to Tampa Bay, Los Angeles, Atlanta, St. Louis and the New York Islanders.

The 14 non-playoff teams participated in the lottery.

• In a surprising move Monday, the Hawks fired Jim DeMaria, their longtime director of communications, broadcasting and community outreach.

DeMaria was with the Hawks for more than 20 years, serving mostly as director of media relations. No replacement was named.

DeMaria became the third marketing/media person let go since John McDonough took over as club president.

Earlier in the season, Jim Blaney was fired as director of public relations and community outreach and Jim Sofranko was let go as executive director of sales and marketing.