Your guide to the NHL Draft Lottery and the top 2 projected picks

2017 NHL Draft Lottery
When: Saturday, April 29, 8 p.m. ET
Where: Toronto, Ontario
TV: NBC, Sportsnet, CBC, TVA Sports (Coverage on Sportsnet, CBC begins at 7:30 p.m. ET)

It's ping-pong balls time.

The NHL Draft Lottery will be held Saturday to determine which team will select first overall at the 2017 NHL Draft in Chicago, Ill., on Friday, June 23.

The most significant change to this year's lottery is a 15th team - the Vegas Golden Knights are in the mix. If it hasn't yet hit home that the NHL is expanding, it will this weekend.

Vegas has been afforded the same lottery odds as the 28th-place team (the Arizona Coyotes), while "the odds for all other participating teams have been reduced proportionally from the odds utilized in last year's NHL Draft Lottery," according to a league release.

Odds

The Colorado Avalanche and Vancouver Canucks are sitting prettiest among non-playoff teams, which all have a shot at No. 1.

Vegas, meanwhile, in its first draft, is guaranteed to pick no worse than sixth overall:

Like last year, the top three picks are in play. There will be a first Lottery Draw, a second Lottery Draw, and a third Lottery Draw, after which the clubs (4-15) will be slotted in based on how many points they had in the regular season (in inverse order).

The Prizes

Let's get this out of the way: This year's class isn't like 2015's or 2016's. There's no Connor McDavid and Jack Eichel, or Auston Matthews and Patrik Laine - not that there's anything wrong with that.

Like previous years, though, it's thought to be a two-horse race: Canadian center Nolan Patrick, who earned NHL Central Scouting's No. 1 ranking among North American skaters, and Swiss center Nico Hischier, who slots in behind him at No. 2.

Nolan Patrick

Here's what you need to know about Patrick:

• He's 6-foot-2, 198 pounds, shoots right, and is from Winnipeg, Manitoba.
• He had 20 goals and 46 points in 33 games with the WHL's Brandon Wheat Kings this season, which was shortened by injury that also kept him out of the world juniors.
• He had 41 goals and 102 points in 72 games with Brandon in 2015-16. He added 13 goals and 30 points in 21 playoff games that season, leading the Wheat Kings to their first title in 20 years. He was named playoff MVP.

Nico Hischier

(Photo courtesy: Getty Images)

Here's what you need to know about Hischier:

• He's 6-foot-1, 176 pounds, shoots left, and hails from Naters, Switzerland.
• As a QMJHL freshman this season, he had 38 goals and 86 points in 57 games with the Halifax Mooseheads. He was named Rookie of the Year.
• He impressed at the world juniors, finishing with four goals and seven points as Switzerland advanced to the quarterfinals, earning one more point than Finland.

The Takes

1. The Canucks have to be praying they land the top pick - but either No. 1 or No. 2 will do. Anything less will be a major disappointment, because in an unsexy draft headlined by two players, it would be very Vancouver-like for the Canucks to drop.

Vancouver needs top-flight offensive talent. Bad. This draft could ignite a true rebuild out West, or keep it sputtering.

2. The Avalanche are poised to add another dynamic young player to an already young core, but you have to think that adding one of Patrick or Hischier means a trade of Gabriel Landeskog or Matt Duchene is all but guaranteed.

If you're rooting for fireworks this summer, you want the Avalanche to come out on top. And if you're an Avalanche supporter, you've earned that No. 1 pick.

3. It would be great for Vegas and for the NHL if the Golden Knights land the top pick. The club is already shaping up to be more competitive than your standard expansion outfit, thanks to some well-thought-out expansion draft rules.

With the NFL on its way to Sin City, hockey on the strip is going to need all the help it can get.

The Rest

The top six ranked North American skaters are centers, and nine of 10 are forwards.

Six of the top 10 European skaters are forwards.

You can view all of the draft prospect rankings on the NHL's website.