can i play?
bulldog tournament

A wildcard isn't going to solve your problem, you'll have 9 players next round.
I'd randomly select three players to form a three-man group, while everyone else is paired off. The 3-group play two games, and the one with the most points qualifies for the next round, where there will be 8 winners and all is nice and even again.
So long as whoever is in the 3-group is random, then it's fair.
Not that I care, I'm not involved. But 17 is a super awkward number and a wildcard isn't the answer.

nah I don't want any more games yet. Also, if another person joins, then you'll need an extra group of three, since that's now ten players needed to be eliminated first round.

2) rychessmaster1
3) vickalan
4) Waredude
5) hitthepin
6) supersam1
7) Fly-Eagles-Fly
8) JohnHS
9) HorribleTomato
10) thegreatauk
11) BadDobbyFischer
12) ScootaChess
13) aidanB1
14) HorusTheThird
15) evert823
16) Yo-thats-fresh.
17) Donkey256

Yesterday I played an OTB Superchess tournament. OTB playing with weird pieces is gr8. Perhaps I should start a crowdfunding project and have someone create wooden Witches.

I think that it should be completely randomized, except the wildcard maybe should be the highest rated player currently. maybe.