Phase 1 of 2020 NHL Draft Lottery to take place Friday
Jun 22, 2020, 10:10 AM
A general view of the draft floor prior to the first round of the 2019 NHL Draft at Rogers Arena on June 21, 2019 in Vancouver, Canada. (Photo by Rich Lam/Getty Images)
(Photo by Rich Lam/Getty Images)
The first part of the 2020 NHL Draft Lottery will be held on Friday, the league announced Monday.
The second phase, if necessary, will be held at a later date that’s to be determined.
Fans can watch Phase 1 of the 2020 NHL Draft Lottery at 5 p.m. Friday on NBCSN and NHL Network. This week’s lottery is to determine which teams pick first, second and third in this year’s draft.
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The league announced previously that it will return to play with a 24-team format that includes a qualifying or “play-in” round to reduce the field of teams to the normal 16-team Stanley Cup Playoff group. The seven NHL teams excluded from the 24-team restart are part of this week’s NHL Draft Lottery.
But because the NHL Draft Lottery normally includes 16 teams, there will be nine placeholder spots in the draft lottery, too, and the corresponding teams for those spots in the lottery will be determined by the results of the play-in round.
If the first, second and third picks in the 2020 NHL Draft are awarded in the lottery to teams 1-7 in the table above, the rest of the draft pick positions are determined by inverse order of the standings. If any of the placeholder teams gets one or more of the top three selections in Friday’s lottery, Phase 2 of the draft lottery will be conducted after the play-in round and draws will be made to determine the top drafting teams.
