NHL draft lottery set for June 26 under multifaceted plan
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The NHL Draft Lottery will be held June 26, and it will feature a few new wrinkles due to the league's 24-team playoff, commissioner Gary Bettman said Tuesday.
There are three lottery spots up for grabs. The teams included in the lottery will be the seven clubs that failed to qualify for the expanded playoff, and eight "placeholders" to represent the squads that don't advance out of the qualifying round.
Odds for the picks will be the same as in years past. Here's how the teams stack up:
| Team | Points % | Odds |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Detroit Red Wings | .275 | 18.5% |
| 2. Ottawa Senators | .437 | 13.5% |
| 3. Ottawa Senators* | .437 | 11.5% |
| 4. Los Angeles Kings | .457 | 9.5% |
| 5. Anaheim Ducks | .472 | 8.5% |
| 6. New Jersey Devils | .493 | 7.5% |
| 7. Buffalo Sabres | .493 | 6.5% |
| 8. Team A | n/a | 6.0% |
| 9. Team B | n/a | 5.0% |
| 10. Team C | n/a | 3.5% |
| 11. Team D | n/a | 3.0% |
| 12. Team E | n/a | 2.5% |
| 13. Team F | n/a | 2.0% |
| 14. Team G | n/a | 1.5% |
| 15. Team H | n/a | 1.0% |
The Senators' second pick was acquired from the San Jose Sharks in the Erik Karlsson trade. The Devils get the higher odds over the Sabres due to Buffalo recording more regulation and overtime wins.
If the top three spots are awarded to any combination of the first seven teams, those clubs nab the corresponding pick and the rest of the list carries on as usual. Teams eliminated from the qualifying round would then take up spots eight to 15 based on inverse order of the regular-season points percentage.
However, if one or more of the placeholders moves up and wins a top-three selection, the rights to those picks will be determined in the second phase of the draft lottery. If necessary, that will be held between the qualifying and first rounds of the playoffs.
The draws during a potential second phase will only include the eight teams that failed to advance out of the play-in best-of-five series.
The date of the draft is still undetermined, but it will occur after the playoffs.