NHL Draft Lottery date set and changes finalized
Anthony Scultore
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The NHL Draft Lottery will take place on June 2nd. For this season, the only change being implemented is the reduction of three lottery picks to two. More changes are coming in 2022.
NHL Draft Lottery Changes finalized
The 2021 NHL Draft Lottery will be reduced from three drawings to two as part of changes announced Tuesday.
The changes, approved by the NHL Board of Governors, will determine the order of the NHL Draft for the teams that do not qualify for the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
Two other changes will begin with the 2022 NHL Draft Lottery:
- Teams will be restricted from moving up more than 10 spots if it wins one of the lottery draws.
- Teams cannot win the lottery more than twice in a five-year period. Wins in the lottery prior to 2022 will not be counted toward this total.
Upset GM’s last season is how we got here
Steve Yzerman and the Detroit Red Wings were livid behind closes doors and let the NHL know about it. Calls for change were demanded and it sounds like they got what they wanted.
“NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly confirming to me that the league is working on changing the format for the draft lottery,” Pierre LeBrun said on Insider Trading. “Something’s going to be presented to the Board of Governors sooner rather than later.” The endgame was to increase the chances of the lower teams to land the first pick, and indeed these changes do that.
The NHL reviewed several changes to the Draft Lottery system in March. One rule starts with this upcoming lottery which only the first two picks are up for grabs. Meaning the worst team in the league is guaranteed to pick third if they don’t win it.
Starting in the next draft no team can move up more than 10 spots and you can’t win the lottery if you’ve won it twice in a five year period. Per Bettman the system was screaming for change, but it’s not because he thinks there’s any tanking going on.
“There are some clubs who recently think it’s important that the teams that are struggling the most get the most help. There are other teams … that think there is nothing wrong with the present system at all,” Bettman said to media via Zoom Thursday. “I don’t believe there’s tanking in the game. I think our players, and our organizations, our coaches, are too professional.”
via TheScore