Key takeaways from a historic NHL Draft Lottery
Phase 2 is needed after ‘Team E’ wins the lottery
History was made in the 2020 NHL Draft Lottery as the team awarded the first overall pick is unknown.
A “placeholder” team landed the 2020 Entry Draft’s first overall selection, and a Phase 2 of the Draft Lottery will determine which team that will be. The teams eligible for the first overall pick will be the eight losers of the league’s play-in round games set to begin July 30. The lottery’s second phase will take place at some point between the play-in and opening rounds of the Stanley Cup playoffs.
In Friday’s lottery, the Los Angeles Kings were awarded the second overall pick and the Ottawa Senators claimed the third. The remainder of the picks (4–8) were awarded to the team’s not included in the league’s Return to Play format in reverse order of their regular season points percentage. The Detroit Red Wings were awarded the fourth pick, followed by the Senators, Anaheim Ducks, New Jersey Devils, and the Buffalo Sabres.
One of the Senators’ picks had been acquired from the San Jose Sharks in 2018 via the Erik Karlsson trade. The Senators will be the first team possessing two top five picks since 2000, when the New York Islanders selected Rick DiPietro and Raffi Torres first and fifth overall.
If the NHL Return to Play is not completed, the eight lowest ranked teams who qualified for a play-in matchup will have equal odds (12.5 percent) at the first overall pick during Phase 2 of the Draft Lottery.
The controversy over who receives the first overall pick questions the validity of the lottery. The pick could be awarded to a team as highly ranked as the Pittsburgh Penguins, the East’s fifth-seeded team. The Penguins finished the regular season with 86 points, 47 more than the last place Red Wings.
The Red Wings, despite having the league’s lowest points percentage, had the second best odds at landing the first pick at 18.5 percent. The Senators with two lottery picks, had a 25 percent chance at the top spot in the draft.
Alexis Lafrenière is the projected first overall pick and had the league’s lowest-ranked teams eyeing him ahead of Friday’s lottery. However, with the placeholder team still to be determined, it is now more likely that a team already stacked with talent can end up with the talented Canadian winger.
Lafrenière, 18, scored 35 goals along with 77 assists for a total of 112 points in 52 games this past season with Rimouski Oceanic of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League. He has also featured with Team Canada for both the 2019 and 2020 World Junior U-20 Championships.
With Lafrenière almost guaranteed to be 2020 Entry Draft’s top pick, the debate now shifts to who the Kings and Senators will land at the second and third picks. Forwards Tim Stutzle and Quinton Byfield along with defenseman Jamie Drysdale are the draft’s next highly rated prospects.
