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Phase 2 of the 2020 NHL Draft lottery will take place Monday night, which means we’re going to find out which team will grab the No. 1 overall pick and the chance to draft Alexis Lafreniere, considered by experts to be the top talent in the upcoming draft.
And we’re about to see a team that lost in the play-in round of the NHL bubble have that top pick.
Look, it’s all very confusing since we’ve already experienced Phase 1. Luckily, we’re going to run through all of that now.
Okay, so what the heck is going on here?
The NHL holds a draft every year. In times when the sports world isn’t dealing with a global pandemic that paused the season, the league holds a draft lottery with weighted odds for its worst teams that didn’t make the playoffs. That determines the draft order for the top picks.
What happened this year?
Due to the way the NHL reconfigured its 24-team postseason for its return to play, teams who weren’t toward the top of the standings played in a round-robin format to determine seeding. Those who were vying for a playoff spot would participate in a best-of-five series, with each series winner moving on to the postseason. The teams who lost in those series were given lottery odds to win the top overall pick in the 2020 draft.
That’s super weird.
Oh yeah. It gets weirder!
Really?
Yeah. The NHL will end up with a two-part lottery. In the first phase, which took place in June before we knew which of the teams in play-in series would be in or out, the league revealed who would be drafting in the first eight spots. That included teams left totally out of the bubble vying for the top pick. The other eight spots went to “placeholder” teams, representing the squads that would lose in the play-in series in the bubble.
And one of those placeholder spots won the entire lottery with just a 2.5 percent chance.
My brain hurts.
I know.
Did any other teams actually figure out where they’re drafting?
Yes! Here’s the order thus far with the seven teams who didn’t make it to the postseason:
2. Los Angeles Kings
3. Ottawa Senators (they got this pick from the Sharks)
4. Detroit Red Wings
5. Ottawa Senators
6. Anaheim Ducks
7. New Jersey Devils
8. Buffalo Sabres
Okay, so now what happens?
Now, the eight teams who lost their qualifying round series are in new lottery (phase 2) with the same odds — 12.5 percent — to grab the 1st overall pick. They are:
New York Rangers
Toronto Maple Leafs
Nashville Predators
Minnesota Wild
Florida Panthers
Winnipeg Jets
Edmonton Oilers
Pittsburgh Penguins
One of those teams will get the top pick. Those who don’t will be given positions 9 to 15 in the order from worst points percentage to best.
And now my brain is leaking out of my ears.
It’s a lot.
So a team good enough to make it to nearly make the playoffs is about to get a top talent?
You got it.
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