As per an announcement from the NHL on Tuesday, the NHL regular season is officially over. Teams and players that finished their respective seasons where they are before the pause are now the Presidents’ Trophy winners and individual award winners.
There is a lot going on with regards to the NHL Draft, which will now happen after the entire season (regular season and playoffs are done) and the biggest questions are coming out of the news related to the Draft Lottery.
What About the Playoffs?
The 24 teams chosen to be a part of Phase 1 in the playoffs will resume play based on the top-12 teams in each conference according to a points percentage calculation at the pause as of March 12.
The top-four teams in each conference will play in an intra-conference round robin to determine the Round 1 seeding with regular-season overtime rules applying in these games. In the East, it’s the Boston Bruins, Tampa Bay Lightning, Washington Capitals and Philadelphia Flyers. In the Western Conference, it’s the St. Louis Blues, Colorado Avalanche, Vegas Golden Knights and Dallas Stars.
The remaining eight teams in each conference will play in a best-of-five qualifying-round series which would look like the following:
Eastern Conference:
5 Pittsburgh vs. 12 Montreal
6 Carolina vs. 11 Rangers
7 Islanders vs. 10 Florida
8 Toronto vs. 9 Columbus
Western Conference
5 Edmonton vs. 12 Chicago
6 Nashville vs. 11 Arizona
7 Vancouver vs. 10 Minnesota
8 Calgary vs. 9 Winnipeg
The winners of these match-ups will move on, the losers will join the NHL Draft Lottery.
This format will allow bye teams to get in some action. So too, it gives teams that might have been able to play their way into the playoffs had the regular season continued, a chance to compete for the league’s grandest prize. Finally, it won’t eliminate the odds that play-in teams can’t get a shot at the top draft selections.
The NHL Draft Lottery Procedure
NHL Draft Lottery will be on Friday June 26. Here is how the lottery will work considering the regular season is now officially over and teams haven’t completed all 82 games, with a 24-team playoff play-in format to come.
Bob McKenzie of TSN did a good job of breaking down how all of this will work:
The Nos. 1, 2 and 3 picks in this year’s draft will be up for grabs. The seven teams who won’t be included in the playoffs this season have a shot, as will eight teams that have been included in the 24-team play-in, currently identified as Teams A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H. The lottery odds that existed in prior years will exist this year.
The teams currently identified by letters (A-B-C-D-E-F-G-H) will be the eight losing teams from the best-of-five play-in or qualifying round. Which teams will get what letters after the play-in rounds are over will be determined after Phase 2 of the lottery — that phase will be conducted after the qualifying round but before the “official” playoffs.
If the winner of the No. 1 pick draw comes from the bottom seven teams (DET, OTT, SJ (belongs to OTT), LA, ANA, NJ, BUF), that team is awarded No. 1 pick, no adjustments required. If the winner of the No. 1 pick draw comes from the other eight teams currently included in the play-in, the No. 1 pick will be awarded in the Phase 2 lottery.
The same goes for the No. 2 pick and the No. 3 pick.
Once the top three picks have been awarded in Phase 1 or Phase 2, the remaining 12 spots will be assigned. Those assignments will come from the teams that didn’t win a draw and based on inverse order of their regular season points percentage at the time of the pause.
If all three of the top picks are awarded to the known bottom seven teams that are not included in the play-in playoffs, there is no need for a Phase 2 lottery. If any of the top three picks are won by an 8 to 15 alpha-designated team, the Phase 2 lottery is required.
It Sounds Confusing… But Is It?
As McKenzie tried to clear up later, he wrote:
Draft lottery stuff sounds really complicated but not really. Same odds as past years. Nothing changes for bottom 7 teams. The eight mystery teams are the losers of play-in series. They’ll get a shot at the Top 3 picks but failing that, points percentage used for picks 4-15.
The argument a lot of fans are making today, based on their understanding of this format, is that the NHL has just told seven teams their season is officially over today. Then, they told eight others they have a chance to now Stanley Cup if they win a play-in series, but should they not, they still get a crack at the first overall pick.
