NHL announces changes to Draft Lottery format
The National Hockey League announced changes to its Draft Lottery process on Tuesday, to be phased in over a two-year period beginning in 2015.
As per the official release, the Draft Lottery is defined as "a weighted system implemented and utilized to determine the order of selection in the first round of the NHL Draft for the 14 Clubs not qualifying for the Stanley Cup Playoffs (or the clubs that have acquired the first-round drafting positions of those non-playoff teams)."
Here's how things will work for the 2015 Draft Lottery:
The odds of winning the first overall selection in the NHL Draft for the 14 non-Playoff teams will be adjusted to more appropriately reflect the current state of competitive balance in the league. This will result in a more evenly-balanced allocation of odds, with the 10 highest-finishing non-Playoff qualifying teams receiving higher (better) Draft Lottery odds than they received previously and the four lowest-finishing teams receiving lower (worse) odds.
Thus, the following odds will be in place for the 2015 Draft:
[Courtesy: NHL.com]
What this means is a team like the Buffalo Sabres' (random example) chance of winning the Lottery in the year the likes of Connor MacDavid and Jach Eichel will be available is now significantly less.
Ouch.
Things change even further in 2016:
Beginning in 2016, the Draft Lottery will be utilized to assign the top three drafting slots in the NHL Draft, an expansion over previous years when the Draft Lottery was used to determine the winner of the first overall selection only.
Three draws will be held: the 1st Lottery draw will determine the Club selecting first overall, the 2nd Lottery draw will determine the Club selecting second overall and the 3rd Lottery draw will determine the club selecting third overall.
As a result of this change, the team earning the fewest points during the regular season will no longer be guaranteed, at worst, the second overall pick. That club could fall as low as fourth overall.
The allocation of odds for the 1st Lottery draw will be the same as outlined above for the 2015 NHL Draft Lottery. The odds for the remaining teams will increase on a proportionate basis for the 2nd Lottery draw, based on which Club wins the 1st Lottery draw, and again for the 3rd Lottery draw, based on which Club wins the 2nd Lottery draw.
The 11 Clubs not selected in the Draft Lottery will be assigned NHL Draft selections 4 through 14, in inverse order of regular-season points.
Add it all up, and the notion of "tanking" in today's NHL is no longer all that advantageous.