NHL draft lottery's Phase 1 to be held Friday night
A general view of the 2019 NHL Draft at Rogers Arena on June 22, 2019, in Vancouver. Credit: Getty Images/Rich Lam
There’s still no makeup date announced for the draft but the NHL will conduct the first of potentially two phases of its draft lottery on Friday night to determine the order of the first 15 selections.
Six of the seven teams who did not qualify for the 24-team tournament to determine the Stanley Cup under the league’s return-to-play format based on points percentage will participate in Friday’s drawing. The exception is the Sharks, who traded their first-round pick to the Senators.
There are also eight slots as placeholders for the losers of the NHL’s best-of-five qualifying series for the 16-team playoffs.
The Islanders, seeded seventh in the Eastern Conference, will face the 10th-seeded Panthers, while the No. 11 Rangers meet the sixth-seeded Hurricanes.
The Islanders traded their first-round pick to the Senators as part of their deal for Jean-Gabriel Pageau on Feb. 24, but it is top-three protected. If the Islanders, against heavy odds, wind up in the top three, they will send their 2021 first-round pick to the Senators.
The Red Wings have an 18.5% chance to get the first pick after having an NHL-low .275 points percentage when the season was paused. The Senators, with a .437 points percentage, are next with a 13.5% chance to draw the first pick and they also have the Sharks’ pick, which has an 11.5% chance of getting the top pick. The other four teams are the Kings (9.5%), the Ducks (8.5%), the Devils (7.5%) and the Sabres (6.5%).
The first drawing of the first phase will determine the first pick. The second drawing will determine the second pick and the third drawing will set the third pick. If one of the placeholder slots wins any of the first three drawings, a second phase to the draft lottery will be conducted among the eight teams eliminated from the qualifying round immediately before the playoffs’ first round.
Left wing Alexis Lafreniere of Rimouski of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League is widely expected to be the first pick in the NHL draft, which is likely to be conducted virtually rather than at a central site.
Both the NHL Network and NBC Sports Network will televise Friday’s draft lottery.
Andrew Gross joined Newsday in 2018 to cover the Islanders. He began reporting on the NHL in 2003 and has previously covered the Rangers and Devils. Other assignments have included the Jets, St. John’s and MLB.
