After agreeing to change the NHL Draft Lottery format back in March, the National Hockey League has reportedly set a date for the 2021 NHL Draft Lottery.
TSN hockey insider Frank Seravalli reported during Tuesday's edition of "Insider Trading" that the 2021 NHL Draft Lottery will take place virtually on Wednesday, June 2.
This year's draft lottery will have a couple of nuances, with the most notable one being just the top-two picks being drawn in the lottery process. This change comes after the league agreed to draw the first three picks for the lottery starting in 2016.
The other noticeable difference coming to the 2021 NHL Draft Lottery is the inclusion of the league's 32nd franchise, the Seattle Kraken. Seattle will have the third-best odds of winning the first overall pick in the 2021 NHL Draft.
There are two more changes to the draft lottery format slotted to take place starting in 2022:
1.) The maximum amount of slots a team can move up by winning the draft lottery will be 10. Instead of all 16 teams being eligible to win the No. 1 overall pick, only the top-11 teams will be eligible.
2.) To limit the same teams winning the NHL Draft Lottery in multiple years (i.e., the Edmonton Oilers, New Jersey Devils and New York Rangers), no team can win the lottery more than twice in a five-year period.
As of right now, the Buffalo Sabres hold the best odds to win the 2021 NHL Draft Lottery with the worst record in the NHL. The Sabres currently hold a 13-30-7 record through 50 games with 33 points in the standings. They are two points behind the Ducks in the overall standings, while the Devils are ahead of Anaheim by just one point.
With the Kraken entering the picture next season, the Devils now hold the fourth-best odds to win the draft lottery, while the Ottawa Senators, at the time being, hold the fifth-best lottery odds.
One team who could be in the running for the 2021 NHL Draft Lottery is the Arizona Coyotes, but they currently sit just one point out of a playoff spot in the Pacific Division. However, the Coyotes were forced to forfeit their 2021 first round pick due to penalties handed down by the NHL for violating the NHL combine testing policy.
According to Seravalli, if the Coyotes were to win one of the top-two picks in the 2021 NHL Draft, the league will re-draw the pick that Arizona happened to win in the lottery.
The 2021 NHL Draft is also set to be held virtually with Round 1 of the draft on Friday, July 23 and Rounds 2-7 to take place on Saturday, July 24.
More details of the 2021 draft lottery, including odds for each team's chances of winning the first and second overall pick, are expected to be released some time in the near future.
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