Your guide to the 2020 NHL Draft Lottery

2020 NHL Draft Lottery
When: Friday, June 26, 8 p.m. ET
How to watch: NHL Network, NBSCN, Sportsnet, TVAS

It's finally time for the NHL Draft Lottery.

Nearly everything about this year's lottery will be different. It's taking place months after it was originally supposed to. It will include eight unnamed teams as we await the results of the NHL's play-in rounds. It may have to be conducted in two phases depending on Friday's outcome. Some top prospects and executives will be available - virtually. Even the exact date of the actual draft is still unknown.

But as always, we do know one lucky team will eventually emerge with the No. 1 overall pick.

Let's explore everything you need to know heading into Friday's televised lottery draw.

Odds to win No. 1 pick

The Detroit Red Wings finished the abbreviated regular season with the worst record in the league and thus own the top individual odds of landing the first overall selection. The Ottawa Senators, however, own the San Jose Sharks' first-round pick, giving them the second- and third-best odds, and therefore the best chance to wind up picking first overall.

Though the Buffalo Sabres and New Jersey Devils finished the campaign tied in points percentage, the Devils have a better shot at landing the No. 1 selection by virtue of their inferior winning percentage in regulation and overtime.

Format

Fourteen teams are vying for the top picks of the draft. Eight of those teams are currently unidentified; they will be the clubs eliminated from the play-in rounds of the league's 24-team postseason.

Friday night's event is the first phase of the lottery. The eight losing teams from the play-in round will be represented in this phase as unassigned picks, as illustrated above. There will be three draws in Phase 1: The first will determine the team selecting No. 1, the second will decide the team selecting No. 2, and the third will set the team selecting No. 3.

If a team participating in the play-in round wins a top-three pick, a second lottery phase conducted at some point between the end of the qualifiers and the first round of the 16-team playoffs will determine the final draft order.

Should all three top picks go to teams in the bottom seven, a second phase won't be necessary. The remaining bottom-seven teams will be assigned picks No. 4-7 in inverse order of their regular-season points percentage, and picks No. 8-15 will be assigned to teams eliminated from the play-in round in inverse order of points percentage.

Projected top picks

There's not much uncertainty surrounding the No. 1 pick in this year's draft. But what happens after that is far from certain in what many are calling one of the deepest drafts in recent memory. Let's take a look at some of the top prospects expected to join the teams that win the lottery.

Alexis Lafreniere

The native of Quebec is the undisputed top pick of this year's draft. The dynamic winger has dominated the QMJHL with the Rimouski Oceanic over the past three seasons, and he's the only player besides Sidney Crosby to ever win back-to-back CHL Player of the Year awards.

Not only did Lafreniere bolster his case with 35 goals and 112 points in 55 games with Rimouski this season, but he also earned tournament MVP honors while helping Canada win gold at the 2020 world juniors.

Quinton Byfield

Byfield was once seen as a legitimate threat to challenge Lafreniere at No. 1. Although Lafreniere has since widened the gap, Byfield will be a significant prize for another lottery-winning team.

The big-bodied center is nearly a full year younger than Lafreniere, and his raw skills and physicality make him one of the most intriguing players of the class. He amassed 32 goals and 82 points in 45 games in just his second season with the OHL's Sudbury Wolves.

Tim Stuetzle

Playing in Germany's top professional league as a teenager is impressive. Dominating Germany's top professional league as a teenager is even better. Stuetzle, now 18, cracked the Mannheim Eagles' roster at 17 and never looked back.

The winger posted seven goals and 34 points in 41 games this season, showing he can keep up with more developed players. Stuetzle was a top-50 scorer in the league and enters the draft as the top international prospect.

Best of the rest

Anything can happen when the 2020 NHL Draft finally rolls around. With such a strong class, players could easily rise and fall unexpectedly.

The top two defensemen in this selection are Jamie Drysdale and Jake Sanderson. Forwards Cole Perfetti, Marco Rossi, Lucas Raymond, Alexander Holtz, and Jack Quinn round out the top 10 prospects.

Any of the aforementioned players - and many not named here - could become NHL stars, and teams picking at or near the top of the draft will have some tough decisions to make. The NHL's complete prospect rankings can be found here.