The NHL Draft Lottery is a system used to determine the order of selection for the first picks in the NHL Draft. The Lottery gives several teams that did not make it to the playoff a chance of picking first overall. The system is super valuable for the teams because early picks can be game-changers, to rejuvenate the team's rosters. The system ensures fair competition in the league, preventing teams from intentionally losing games to secure the top pick.
NHL Draft Lottery Format
All non-playoff teams and teams that have acquired the first-round picks of non-playoff teams are eligible to participate in the draft lottery.The Lottery consists of two draws to decide the teams that will be selected first and second overall.
First Draw: Determines the team that will select first overall.
Second Draw: Determines the team that will select second overall.
Each non-playoff team is assigned odds based on their regular-season performance, with the team having the fewest points given the highest odds of winning the lottery. The odds decrease as the team's regular-season performance improves.
A team can move up a maximum of 10 spots in the draft order as a result of winning a lottery draw.
Therefore, only the top 11 teams in terms of draft lottery odds are eligible to win the first overall pick.
Teams can move down no more than three spots in the draft order as a result of the lottery.
After the lottery winners are placed, the remaining non-playoff teams are given the slot in order of their regular-season points, from lowest to highest. If there are 16 non-playoff teams, the team with the lowest regular-season record might have an 18.5% chance of winning the first draw, while the non-playoff team with the best record might have a 1.0% chance. If the team with the worst record does not win any of the draws, they could end up selecting as low as fourth overall.
Recent Changes as of 2021
The NHL announced some changes in the draft lottery system, reducing the number of lottery draws from three to two (affecting only the first and second overall picks). They also reduced the number of spots a team can move up to 10. They added another rule which is, a team cannot win the lottery more than twice in a five-year period. These rules were made to promote fairness and competitive balance in the league.
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