2020 NHL Draft
The NHL announced the protocol for the 2020 NHL Draft Lottery, with its first phase held June 26.
The First Phase of the draft lottery will be held June 26, prior to the Qualifying Round. It will consist of three drawings and include the seven teams that did not qualify for the postseason and eight placeholder positions. The eight potential losing teams from the Qualifying Round will be represented in the First Phase of the draft lottery as unassigned picks.
The first drawing of the First Phase will set the team selecting No. 1 in the draft, the second drawing will set the team selecting No. 2, and the third drawing will set the team selecting No. 3.
If a team not in the bottom seven wins any of the first three drawings, a Second Phase will be conducted among the eight teams eliminated in the Qualifying Round. That would take place between the end of the Qualifying Round and the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
The odds for the first lottery drawing are as follows (bottom-seven teams’ point percentage in parentheses):
Detroit Red Wings — (.275) 18.5 percent chance for No. 1 pick
Ottawa Senators — (.437) 13.5 percent
Ottawa Senators (from San Jose Sharks, .450) — 11.5 percent
Los Angeles Kings — (.457) 9.5 percent
Anaheim Ducks — (.472) 8.5 percent
New Jersey Devils — (.493) 7.5 percent
Buffalo Sabres — (.493) 6.5 percent
Qualifying Round Team A — 6.0 percent
Qualifying Round Team B — 5.0 percent
Qualifying Round Team C — 3.5 percent
Qualifying Round Team D — 3.0 percent
Qualifying Round Team E — 2.5 percent
Qualifying Round Team F — 2.0 percent
Qualifying Round Team G — 1.5 percent
Qualifying Round Team H — 1.0 percent
After the first drawing, the odds for the remaining teams will increase on a proportionate basis for the second drawing, and again for the third drawing, based on which team wins the second drawing.
If each of the three First Phase drawings is won by a bottom-seven team, the Second Phase will not be necessary. The remaining four teams from the bottom seven will be assigned picks No. 4-7 in inverse order of their regular-season point percentage, and picks No. 8-15 will be assigned to the teams that are eliminated from the Qualifying Round in inverse order of their point percentage.
The number of drawings in the Second Phase would depend on how many picks in the First Phase are won by teams that lost in the Qualifying Round.
The odds for each losing team in the Qualifying Round for the first drawing of the Second Phase are 12.5 percent.
The point percentages for the 16 participants in the Qualifying Round (in inverse order, by tiebreaker):
Montreal Canadiens, .500
Chicago Blackhawks, .514
Arizona Coyotes, .529
Minnesota Wild, .558
Winnipeg Jets, .563
Calgary Flames, .564
New York Rangers, .564
Vancouver Canucks, .565
Nashville Predators, .565
Florida Panthers, .565
Columbus Blue Jackets, .579
Toronto Maple Leafs, .579
Edmonton Oilers, .585
New York Islanders, .588
Carolina Hurricanes, .596
Pittsburgh Penguins, .623
The top four teams in the Eastern and Western conferences — Boston Bruins, Colorado Avalanche, Dallas Stars, Philadelphia Flyers, St. Louis Blues, Tampa Bay Lightning, Vegas Golden Knights and Washington Capitals — will not participate in the draft lottery.
Forward Alexis Lafreniere is expected to be the No. 1 pick. Other top prospects include forward Tim Stuetzle, forward Quinton Byfield, defenseman Jamie Drysdale and defenseman Jake Sanderson.