How the NHL Botched the 2020 NHL Draft Lottery
The NHL doesn’t look good after the 2020 NHL Draft Lottery.
The NHL made a brilliant move making the 2020 Stanley Cup Playoffs a 24 team Tournament because of the regular season games lost due to the novel coronavirus pandemic stoppage. How the NHL handled the 2020 NHL Draft Lottery, in fairness to the seven nonqualifying playoff teams, was not nearly as brilliant.
The NHL Draft Lottery was held on Friday night, June 26th, 2020. The team that won the lottery is still yet to be determined after Friday night’s action. Because the top pick was won by a qualifying playoff team’s “placeholder” slot, this bumped the seven non-playoff teams back to slots two through eight overall.
That top pick will be awarded in a second lottery consisting of the eight losing teams in the qualifying round of the 2020 Stanley Cup Playoffs, on a date yet to be determined. Confused? So am I.
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An unprecedented 24 team playoff will take place coming off the heels of losing 10 to 12 regular season games per team since the stoppage on March 12th, 2020. Seeds nine through 24, based off the regular season standings point percentages, will face each other in the qualifying round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
The eight qualifying round losers will all have an equal chance of getting the first overall pick with that second lottery, with the rest of those teams filling in the nine through 15 overall slots.
The seven non-qualifying playoff teams should have automatically been awarded the top seven slots in the draft in my opinion under this unique 2020 playoff format. These seven teams miss out on the playoffs altogether this season, which is consistent with the lottery teams year to year.
Under regular circumstances, 15 teams would completely miss the playoffs. The 15 teams were still in the running for the lottery, with seeds eight through 15 being held by a placeholder. Now one of the 24 teams that qualified for the 2020 Stanley Cup Playoffs will win the first overall pick in the draft.
The main reason for a lottery is to prevent teams from tanking at the end of the regular season for better draft positioning. It compromises playoff races when teams tank at the end of the season and the overall integrity for the fans of those skidding teams, especially the ones in attendance on those nights that their team doesn’t give it their all for the price the fans pay to be there.
What is unique about this season is with 10-12 games lost to end the season, teams didn’t even have a full chance to tank even if they wanted to. The Los Angeles Kings, who were awarded the number two pick in the upcoming 2020 Draft and possibly the most affected by missing out on the first overall pick, were on a seven-game winning streak when the stoppage took place. The Kings definitely weren’t tanking.
Canadian-born left-wing prospect Alexis Lafrenière from Rimouski Océanic of the Québec Major Junior Hockey League (QMJHL) is widely considered the consensus top prospect in the upcoming 2020 Draft. The six non-playoff teams who had a shot to select him will now watch him come off the board to a team that made the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Not only will one of these teams lose out on Lafrenière, but it sends a ripple effect through the first eight slots of the upcoming draft.
In a normal 82 game season with 16 qualifying Stanley Cup Playoff teams and 15 non-qualifying playoff teams, this would be a non-issue. This unique season and playoff season has been far from normal. I just don’t think this year’s unique Draft Lottery was fair to the non-qualifying playoff teams as it relates to the way they have handled fairness with past non-qualifying playoff teams.
Next. 2020 NHL Mock Draft. dark
The NHL should have at least given the six teams who owned seven slots to have their full chance of getting the first through seventh overall picks since they missed the playoffs completely. A 2020 Stanley Cup Playoff qualifying team will win the first overall draft pick, and not via a previous trade acquisition which would be the only other normal way that would happen. Now those six teams not only missed the playoffs completely but also missed the first overall pick in the upcoming 2020 NHL Draft.