Some of these changes will be implemented beginning in 2021 draft lottery.
On Tuesday, it was announced that the NHL’s Board of Governors had approved changes to the league’s draft lottery.
Some of these changes will be implemented for the first time in the 2021 lottery and will remain the standing rules thereafter, while others will be phased in.
A brief summary of said changes:
• The number of lottery draws will be reduced from three to two, which will serve to benefit the worst-finishing club, who will now be unable to drop lower than third.
• A team can no longer move up more than 10 selections in the event that it wins a lottery draw, meaning the number of teams that have a chance to draft first overall will drop from 16 to 11.
• A team cannot advance its draft order by winning the lottery more than two times in five years.
The reduction in the number of draws will be implemented in 2021, but the “moving up” limitation as well as the winning more than twice in five years rule will not be implemented until the 2022 draft lottery.
Changes to the rules come a few months after the New York Rangers, who were invited to play in the Toronto bubble “playoffs”, won the 2020 draft lottery, a year after drafting second overall.
They also come after the Edmonton Oilers drafted very high on multiple occasions within a short span of time. They won the draft lottery in 2010, 2011, and 2012, drafted third in 2014, won the lottery again in 2015, and drafted fourth in 2016.
