NHL Draft Lottery Is On Saturday

It's that exciting time of year again!

No, not the playoffs, it's the NHL Draft Lottery!  Although, the Hurricanes have had about as much recent success doing well in the lottery as they have done making the postseason.  Nada.

The NHL, in their infinite wisdom, has revised the format again this year.  In an effort to keep teams from "tanking" (hello Buffalo and Edmonton), the odds have been changed so that the worst team in the league only has a 20% chance of winning the first overall pick.

This year Toronto will have the best odds at 20%, followed by Edmonton at 13.5% and Vancouver at 11.5%.  The Hurricanes have a 2% chance of winning that coveted first pick.

(Try your luck at the draft lotto simulator) - NHL Draft lottery simulator

After a team wins the first pick, the league will have a drawing for the next two picks as well, with the remaining teams having similar odds.  (Carolina's odds go up to 2.2% for the second pick and 2.5% for the third).  After the third selection, the remaining teams will just fall behind the top three in the same order where they finished the season.

Here are the participating teams and their respective odds for the first pick-

Non-Playoff Teams
(Fewest Points to Most) Odds

Toronto Maple Leafs 20.0%
Edmonton Oilers 13.5%
Vancouver Canucks 11.5%
Columbus Blue Jackets 9.5%
Calgary Flames 8.5%
Winnipeg Jets 7.5%
Arizona Coyotes 6.5%
Buffalo Sabres 6.0%
Montreal Canadiens 5.0%
Colorado Avalanche 3.5%
New Jersey Devils 3.0%
Ottawa Senators 2.5%
Carolina Hurricanes 2.0%
Boston Bruins 1.0%

Will the Hurricanes finally get some luck?  They certainly are due for some.

The lottery will take place at 7 p.m. and will be televised by CBC, with the announcements to be made about the results at 8 p.m. on the other affiliated NHL networks.  (No, it's not fixed.)

Check out the following link for an FAQ put out by Sportsnet.ca which will inform you about everything you wanted to know about the lottery but were afraid to ask.

NHL Draft Lottery FAQ