2020 NHL Draft Lottery Procedure
Ducks have fifth-best odds at 8.5% and a chance to pick first overall for the first time in franchise history
Jun 26, 2020First Phase: Friday, June 26 at 5 p.m. PT
TV: NHL Network, NBCSN
Second Phase: TBD*
The Anaheim Ducks enter Friday's NHL Draft Lottery with the fifth-best odds at 8.5% and a chance to pick first overall for the first time in franchise history. The Ducks also have a 26.1% chance to win one of the three lotteries and select in the top-three.
Anaheim will produce a Pre and Post Show hosted by Kent French and Brian Hayward on Facebook, Twitter and Twitch starting at 4:45 p.m. PT and immediately following the NHL Lottery.
If Anaheim picks in the top five, it will mark the club’s highest draft pick in 15 years (Bobby Ryan, second overall in 2005), and only the sixth time in the club’s 28 all-time drafts it would select in the top five: Vitaly Vishnevski (fifth overall in 1998), Chad Kilger (fourth overall in 1995), Oleg Tverdovsky (second overall in 1994) and Paul Kariya (fourth overall in 1993).
Despite not having a recent top-five pick, the Ducks have drafted 30 NHL players over the last 10 years (2010) who have played 5,893 games, the most in the NHL. The list is led by Cam Fowler (679), Hampus Lindholm (502) and Rickard Rakell (447). John Gibson (287) has played more games than any other goalie drafted in 2011. Since the 2010 draft, 119 players selected by Anaheim have played for the club’s primary affiliates in San Diego (2015-present), Norfolk (2012-15) and Syracuse (2010-12). In five seasons, 35 players dressed for the Gulls in a combined 2,287 AHL games. To date, 60 players have appeared in a game for both Anaheim and San Diego the last five seasons.
This also marks the second consecutive year the Ducks have had two first-round picks, following last year’s selections of Trevor Zegras (ninth overall) and Brayden Tracey (29th overall). Zegras was named by The Athletic (January 2020) as the top prospect outside the NHL. The Ducks are currently scheduled (barring future transactions) to be the only team with multiple first-round selections in each of the last two NHL Drafts (2019 and 2020).
DRAFT LOTTERY PROCEDURE
*The First Phase will consist of three drawings and include the seven teams whose season ended and eight placeholder positions. If a team not in the bottom seven wins any of the first three drawings, a Second Phase will be conducted among the eight teams eliminated in the qualifiers. That would take place between the end of the qualifiers and the first round of the playoffs.
The draft lottery will determine the first 15 picks in the 2020 NHL Draft based on 3-6 drawings over one or two phases. It'll include the seven teams that didn't make the Stanley Cup Qualifiers, plus eight teams that lose in the qualifiers.
The First Phase of the draft lottery will be held June 26, prior to the qualifiers. It'll consist of three drawings and include the seven teams whose season ended and eight placeholder positions.
The lottery odds for the seven non-qualifying teams were determined by their points percentage during the 2019-20 regular season, which was paused March 12 due to concerns surrounding the coronavirus and was ended May 26 with the Return to Play Plan announcement.
The eight potential losing teams from the qualifiers will be represented in the First Phase of the draft lottery as unassigned picks.
The first drawing of the First Phase will set the team selecting No. 1 in the draft, the second drawing will set the team selecting No. 2, and the third drawing will set the team selecting No. 3.
If a team not in the bottom seven wins any of the first three drawings, a Second Phase will be conducted among the eight teams eliminated in the qualifiers. That would take place between the end of the qualifiers and the first round of the playoffs.
After the first drawing, the odds for the remaining teams will increase on a proportionate basis for the second drawing, and again for the third drawing, based on which team wins the second drawing.
If each of the three First Phase drawings is won by a bottom-seven team, the Second Phase will not be necessary. The remaining four teams from the bottom seven will be assigned picks No. 4-7 in inverse order of their regular-season points percentage, and picks No. 8-15 will be assigned to the teams that are eliminated from the qualifier in inverse order of their points percentage.
If a team that loses in the qualifiers wins each of the top three picks, the bottom seven teams will be assigned picks No. 4-10 in inverse order of their points percentage.
If a team that loses in the qualifiers wins one or two of the top three picks, any bottom-seven team not in the top three will be assigned their pick in inverse order of points percentage.
The number of drawings in the Second Phase would depend on how many picks in the First Phase are won by teams that lose in the qualifiers.
The odds for each losing team in the qualifiers for the first drawing of the Second Phase are 12.5 percent.