Everything you need to know about the NHL Draft Lottery
By the end of Saturday night, we’ll know which NHL teams will be selecting at the top of the 2018 NHL Draft.
While the NFL Draft might be the talk of the weekend, hockey has its own notable event to offer on Saturday night.
The 2018 NHL Draft Lottery is finally upon us, and come the end of the night, we’ll know which team has the best shot at landing consensus top defenseman prospect Rasmus Dahlin from Sweden, who has been compared to Erik Karlsson and Victor Hedman.
Not bad company to be in.
Here’s all the information you need to know to tune in to the draft lottery tonight, including an interesting wrench the NHL has thrown into the process in the hopes of increasing its viewing audience.
NHL Draft Lottery Live Stream and TV Info
Date: Saturday, April 28
Location: Hockey Central Studios, Toronto, Ontario
Time: 7:30 p.m. ET (first three selections revealed during second intermission of San Jose Sharks at Vegas Golden Knights)
TV: NBC (United States)
Live Stream: NBC Sports Live
Odds: Here is every team’s odds* of earning the No. 1 overall pick:
Buffalo Sabres (18.5 percent)
Ottawa Senators (13.5 percent)
Arizona Coyotes (11.5 percent)
Montreal Canadiens (9.5 percent)
Detroit Red Wings (8.5 percent)
Vancouver Canucks (7.5 percent)
Chicago Blackhawks (6.5 percent)
New York Rangers (6 percent)
Edmonton Oilers (5 percent)
New York Islanders (3.5 percent)
Carolina Hurricanes (3 percent)
New York Islanders (from Calgary; 2.5 percent)
Dallas Stars (2 percent)
St. Louis Blues (1.5 percent)
Florida Panthers (1 percent)
The actual process of the lottery is a mathematical marvel, and much of it happens off the screen. Each team is assigned a number of possible combinations — and the lower each of the 15 teams finished in the regular season, the more combinations it receives. Then, four balls are randomly selected to form a combination, which is then compared to every team’s results to find a match — the winner. The same thing happens for the No. 2 and No. 3 overall picks, and then the remaining 12 teams slot in based on their regular-season records.
Tonight, the league will wait to announce the first through third picks until the second intermission of the game between the San Jose Sharks and Vegas Golden Knights — a plan that has drawn amusement on Twitter.
But the NHL knows that it has information people desperately want to know, and if you tuned into any of the three-day spectacle that is the NFL Draft at all this weekend, then what’s wrong with the NHL wanting to get a little showy on TV, too?
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