NHL Teams Hope for a Miracle: Understanding the Draft Lottery System As the NHL season draws to a close, teams are eagerly awaiting the draft lottery, a system designed to shake up the traditional order of the draft. But how does it work? The lottery, which will take place on May 8th, gives teams outside of the top three a chance to move up in the draft order. The system involves a weighted lottery, where teams are assigned a certain number of balls based on their standings. The team with the worst record receives the highest number of balls, while the team with the best record gets the fewest. The team whose ball is drawn first gets the first overall pick, with subsequent balls determining the order of the next picks. With the potential to drastically alter the future of their franchises, teams are holding their breaths as they wait to see where they'll land in the lottery.
How does the NHL draft lottery work? What you need to know ESPN
